With the 2022 midterm primary election behind us, we have a few months of relative normalcy while partisan nominees circle the wagons, recoup and prepare for the general election in November, which will be more frantic and more concentrated than the August primary.
But in the meantime while the politicos are pivoting to the general election — and trying to “un-say” all the outlandish and dumb things they said to win over the base in the primary that will turn off independents and moderates — we have breathing room to discuss normal issues.
Perhaps that’s a bit hyperbolic, but in any event, we are always eager for your letters to the editor to fill our opinion page.
School is back in session, the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided into a low-level spread like a bad flu, monkeypox is now a thing, inflation is devastating incomes, the “great resignation” is upending the workforce as businesses struggle to find workers, the lack of affordable housing causes paid for everyone, there’s a war in eastern Ukraine to which we are giving billions of dollars in weapons and munitions, Americans want an end to tribalism and partisanship and questions about what to do stretch from Capitol Hill to city and town halls to our own living rooms, so there are plenty of issues to address.
That’s just the big stuff. There are scores of local issues affecting our towns, cities and counties. We and other readers want to hear from each other about local opinions on all these topics. We run letters from all sides of the political spectrum and letters that disagree with my editorials, other letters, or public officials’ statements.
The rules for our letters are relatively simple:
⬛ Letters discussing a local issue or addressing a national issue in a local context take priority over letters solely addressing national issues.
⬛ Letters must be 300 words or less. Our word limit is a strict one. If letters are slightly over, we’ll cut them to fit, but if letters are more than 350 words, we’ll ask the authors to cut them and resubmit. Authors should determine which points they want to make rather than have us guess.
If you have a lot to say, break it up and send letters addressing different topics.
⬛ Letters must include the author’s name, street address and phone number, in case we have a question and to property include the author’s name and hometown at the end of the letter. Without this information, the letter won’t be published.
⬛ No personal attacks. You can address previous letters, but direct your commentary on the content of the letter, do not attack the author nor private persons.
⬛ Elected officials have less protection from criticism on their actions because of their status as “public figures.” While many government employees can be “private citizens” when off-duty, elected officials are never so. Elected officials are always “public figures” whether on the dais, speaking at a podium, at a grocery store, promoting themselves on Facebook or when standing on the corner.
When people criticize “the mayor” or “school board president” for his or her actions they criticizing “the chair” not “the person.” That said, remember that ranting against a politician doesn’t win readers to your side of an argument like a logical analysis about his or her behavior does.
⬛ If you spend the time writing to us, have the courage to put your name, address, phone number and email address on the letter so we can contact you if we have questions or need clarification.
No anonymous letters have been nor ever will be published in our newspaper. We don’t even read them, so don’t bother.
⬛ Guest perspectives are reserved for elected officials and experts in the field the letter covers. Guest perspectives are also reserved for people representing a government agency or organization making a official statement.
⬛ Letters citing facts must have supporting documents. Yes, we check. If you include statistics, attach the document or website link to it so we can double check your numbers. Likewise, if you quote someone or a document, include the email, website screenshot or website link so we can verify the quote you include. If you already found it, you can help us and streamline the fact-checking process.
Letters stating just opinions with no numbers, however, don’t need any documents.
If you make a seemingly wild claim, include a link to the news story. “Well, I heard at the grocery store …” or “well, I read on Twitter …” is more rumor than fact. If it’s true, you can prove it.
⬛ You can drop letters off at our newsrooms at 298 Van Deren, Sedona, in Uptown, or 830 S. Main Street in Cottonwood, or email them to editor@larsonnewspapers.com. We prefer email so we don’t have to retype your letter and possibly make an error.
Christopher Fox Graham
Managing Editor
Please note our guidelines for political letters in election season:
First published Feb. 2, 2022
This year is an election year. With every election comes the desire to voice views on political issues. As Sedona’s only newspaper and the largest news outlet in the Verde Valley, we’ve had long standing policies about how to how to handle letters to the editor regarding campaigns, elections issues, ballot propositions and candidates.
Firstly, if you want to voice support for a candidate or issue, you can always do so with a paid political ad. These are guaranteed to be published because you’re paying for us to do so. They can be large or small, color or black and white and state what you want to say. Contact our Advertising Department and General Manager Kyle Larson at (928) 282-7795 Ext. 114 or klarson@larsonnewspapers.com to purchase a political ad.
Political ads requires the purchaser to put “Paid by …” at the very bottom of the ad so everyone reading the paper knows exactly who is funding the advertising.
Letters to the editor, conversely, go into the general letters queue and are published generally in the order they are received. Like all letters, they are limited to 300 words.
If you want to criticize the actions of an active elected official — president, governor, member of Congress, state official, county supervisor, Sedona City Council member — that’s always fair game. Officials have to serve the public and deserve criticism whether it’s an election year or not.
The primary election this year is Tuesday, Aug. 2. Wednesday, July 6, is the first day to vote early in person and the day when early ballots get mailed out. Thus, the last edition for letters regarding local election issues is Friday, July 1, so letters must be sent by the deadline of Monday, June 27.
This only affects letters to the editor — anyone can still buy a political ad after this date and up to election day itself.
That said, between now an then, letter writers can send us letters about issues this specifically relates to ballot issues — such as Home Rule, which will be on the Sedona ballot this year — or state, county or local ballot propositions, should there be any.
After the candidate filing deadline on Monday, April 4, we notify local candidates about our letters to the editor and elections policies when we begin discussing how we will cover their campaigns. Depending on the seat, we do profile stories, candidate-written essays, or both, and try to make page placement equitable.
We do not run any letters for or against any local candidates out of fairness. If we run one letter supporting one candidate, we would be on the hook to run one equal-length letter for every other candidate. In a multi-seat race like Sedona City Council, this could get messy especially if one candidate gets 10 letters and other candidate gets zero.
But again, if you want to support a specific candidate, contact our advertising department and they’ll be happy to help you.
By the time election day rolls out around, our policies have been set for months and at the same from year to year. Despite all this, some candidates’ followers are not passed on our guidelines by the candidates themselves, who then think we are being “unfair” by not running their candidate’s hagiographies or lambasts of competitors.
Side note: The candidates who complain the most about our fairness being unfair tend to be the ones who lose by the widest margins — there’s something to that which has nothing to do with us and our coverage.
The same rules apply for political letters as they do for general letters to the editor: No longer than 300 words, no personal attacks, authors must include their name, phone number and home address. If there are any numbers or hard facts [i.e., “Proposition 101 will raise taxes 1.45%”], they must be validated with either a document, a link, or something independently verifiable. If it’s just an opinion [i.e., “Proposition 101 will raise taxes, which are bad”], then that’s fine.
We preferred letters sent by email, so we don’t have to retype them. Send them to me at
editor@larsonnewspapers.com, or mail them to 298 Van Deren, Sedona AZ, 86339 or drop them off at our newsroom in Uptown.
