INTRODUCING THE PORT TOWNSEND FREE PRESS

What is it?     

More than a blog.  The PT Free Press will be a source for original reporting, investigation, and commentary. Any opinion pieces will be labeled “Editorial” or “Commentary.”  Reporting will rely heavily on documents and images when available.  No “unnamed sources” will ever be mentioned on this site.  Whenever possible, stories will link to sources upon which statements of fact are based. 

Our local newspapers are stretched far too thin to cover all the news that matters to the people of Jefferson County.  Often decisions of the Port Townsend City Council and the Jefferson County Commission are not covered at all, and then, rarely in depth.  Our local newspapers are not staffed and funded to provide investigative reporting that takes time to develop.

We live in a diverse community.  Yet not all our stories are being told.  Many important issues go unreported because there are just not enough journalists at work. 

Who is Port Townsend Free Press?

It starts with Jim Scarantino, me.  I am launching this site and will remain the editor.  There are people helping with photography, technology and design (which will improve as we get going).  The site is open to reporting and guest commentary by citizen journalists.  We will especially welcome video reporting and photographs.  It is absolutely true that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Who is this Scarantino guy?   

I practiced law as a trial attorney for over 25 years, starting as a prosecutor in Philadelphia and concluding my career as the New Mexico ACLU Lawyer of the Year in 2006.  I was a partner in a sizable law firm then set up a solo practice that took me to just about every state west of the Mississippi.  I even managed to litigate a case in the United States Supreme Court (I won, little old me, against 27 state attorneys general).

I saw a need for more and better reporting at the same time as I made the decision that I’d had enough fun as a lawyer.  I started writing a column for New Mexico’s largest alternative weekly and was recognized as one of the nation’s best political columnists in that segment of the newspaper industry.  I then went on to write a column for The Albuquerque Journal.  And then I got bit.

Bit by the investigative journalism bug.  I surrendered a column that reached over a hundred thousand people with each publication to launch the New Mexico Watchdog investigative journalism site.  It was part of a nationwide effort to fill the void in state and local investigative reporting caused by the disappearance of state house reporting desks and the general contraction of newspapers.  I broke several stories that went national.  My stories exposed large dollar fraud, corruption and waste, and more than a few incidents very embarrassing to politicians and bureaucrats.

I have been in Jefferson County going on five years.  I love this place, but I think the community is being hurt by inadequate information and very limited forums for exploration of the important issues around us.  Let’s be frank:  The Port Townsend Leader really speaks for and to only a slice of Jefferson County.  I know plenty of people who refuse to subscribe because they believe it is so biased.  "The Misleader," they call it.  I think that unfair, though I have also been disappointed in the paper's reporting more than a few times.   Our other paper, The Peninsula Daily News, does a great job, but Jefferson County needs and deserves more attention than a paper based in Port Angeles can provide.

“’Hey, but you’re a player.  You’re not impartial.’”

Yes, I was very involved in the fight to defeat Prop 1 in 2017, a regressive property tax increase pitched as the answer to our community’s affordable housing crunch.  In the course of that effort I saw up close the need for another news and opinion forum. 

The Prop 1 contest was a crash course for me in learning about our county, its divisions, its inequities, its struggles, its poverty and the power structures calling the shots.  I had to ask, how come I didn’t know about these things before?  Where are our newspapers? 

“You’re a Republican!”

Not only that, I am head of the Republican Party in Jefferson County.

Or so I was told by a Democratic activist with whom I had a long, friendly conversation after Prop 1 was rejected by over 2/3 of the voters.  Apparently, much of the Democratic establishment in Port Townsend thought I had come out of nowhere to lead the local GOP in defeating that push for a property tax hike.

That gave me a good laugh.  My Republican friends will tell you I am definitely not a Republican.  My Democratic friends will say the same about my relationship to their party.

I am independent, in party affiliation and philosophy.  In the past I have worked on the campaigns of and contributed to both Democrats and Republicans.

By way of full disclosure, before deciding to launch this effort I contributed to the campaigns of two candidates:  Jodi Wilke and Ryan McAllister.  Jodi is a Republican running for State Representative for the 24^th District.  Ryan is a Democrat running to represent District III on the Jefferson County Commission.  Now that I am writing for this site, those are my last political contributions.

I may not be making any money from this, but I’m certainly saving a few bucks by swearing off political contributions.

So, what’s next?  

The first in-depth investigation to be reported by your Port Townsend Free Press.  Coming Monday.