Oh boy, do we have an interesting mess on our hands. In the ongoing battle for control of the Rutherford County Election Commission Administrator position, enter DNJ Executive Editor Jimmy Hart and Murfreesboro Post Editor Mike Pirtle.

This fair and balanced duo disrupted the regularly scheduled Election Commission meeting last night when Chairman Tom Walker attempted to briefly adjourn (read: recess) the meeting in order to discuss the 90-something applicants who submitted resumes to fill the soon-to-be-vacant Administrator position.

Allegedly, Hart and Pirtle stormed through the doors of the Election Commission ranting on about violations of the “Sunshine Law,” which requires governmental bodies to conduct meetings in view of the public. Whether or not Walker and the Election Commission were violating Sunshine Law is up for interpretation. Were they planning to conduct official business in a back office? According to Walker, they wanted to review possible applicants away from the media so that names of potential applicants would not be published because some applicants were county employees. No decisions would have been made during what amounted to “workshop.”

John Taylor – a belligerent old Democrat (replaced by Walker as Chairman) – expressed his distaste for the procedure, according to an article.

What is disheartening about this event is that the victim is not governmental transparency, but rather it is decorum and representation of the facts by the corporate-owned local finger stainer and the non-corporate owned local finger stainer. Let’s take a look.

The DNJ reported on the incident selectively; however, The Murfreesboro Post blatantly skewed the events:

Walker was indignant in defense of his point, saying he didn’t think it was a violation of state laws to conduct public meetings in private. He said his concern was not protecting the rights of voters, but the privacy of the job applicants.

Walker then asked Davis and Willard to leave again. When they refused, he appeared to call the Murfreesboro Police Department (who never showed).

Post Publisher Mike Pirtle and DNJ Editor Jimmy Hart arrived on the scene with Pirtle informing Walker of the law and asking him to call county attorney Jim Cope for an opinion.

Walker pulled out his cell phone and made a call, while walking to the back of the building.

“If we can’t get this resolved tonight, then the meeting is adjourned,” he said.

He emerged several minutes later and said, “Meeting adjourned,” and stormed out the door without a backward glance.

Media are quick to cry “Sunshine Law!” when a governing body closes its doors to the public, but there are instances when meetings should take place where no official business is being discussed and decisions are not being made that said body should be able to close its doors to the public.

The presentation of information provided by both local newspapers should make readers think twice about the source of information viewed or consumed. As we watch while print media convulses into irrelevency, expect more and more newspapers to produce sensationalized or exaggerated information in an attempt to stay afloat.