ThirdCoast Digest partner Chris Abele running for County Exec

If you’re following the race for Milwaukee County Executive, you’ve probably heard by now that local philanthropist Chris Abele has filed his papers and is actively fundraising. He even has the beginnings of a website up and running.

What you might not know is that Mr. Abele is a 19% owner of Vital Media Group, LLC, publishers of ThirdCoast Digest. According to our operating agreement, he holds a silent interest, has no direct responsibilities and only votes on the selling of stock and certain major investments and expenditures, as befits any investor. And it was by investing in VITAL Source Magazine in 2006 that Mr. Abele obtained his ownership shares. Since then, he has had no hands-on involvement in the company.

Still, it’s unusual for a political candidate to be a media owner, though Michael Bloomberg, of course, jumps immediately to mind. This is the first time any of the managing partners in Vital Media Group, LLC – myself, Mehrdad J. Dalamie and Tom Strini – have dealt with this situation, so we wanted to share our intentions with our readers about how we plan to cover the coming County Executive election.

And it starts with Mr. Abele being in no way connected to the editorial process here, just as he never has been.

TCD, like VITAL Source before it, has always avidly covered political races, social issues and public policy. We’ve published many editorial pieces in addition to straight-up news coverage, and our campaign coverage is typically a mixture of both, though we stop short of endorsements, believing that people are smart enough to make their own decisions.

But this race, we believe, needs to be covered carefully by ThirdCoast Digest, given the circumstances. So, between now and April, ThirdCoast Digest will provide in-depth news coverage of the County Executive race and talk to the candidates, keeping our focus on the issues, the polls and the stories that will inevitably arise. We will no doubt engage in some analysis, but we will not publish editorials written to favor one candidate over another. We realize this is a fine line, but we will work hard to keep your trust – and our reputation as a smart, credible source for local political coverage – intact.

Thank you for your support, and please drop me <a href=”mailto:jwillow@urbanmilwaukeedial.com”>a line</a> anytime and let me know how you think we’re doing. We’ll see you at the polls in April.—Jon Anne Willow, Editor in Chief and CEO, VITAL Media Group, LLC