With Election Day on April 7th just days away, Elmbrook voters deserve accurate information about the candidates on their ballot. Recent actions by two local media outlets have raised serious questions about whether that standard is being met — and whether all candidates in this race are being treated equally.
FREEMAN MISIDENTIFIES INCUMBENT IN AT-LARGE RACE
In recent days, the Waukesha Freeman distributed an unsolicited free trial edition to homes across the Elmbrook community. For many residents, it may have been the first copy of the Freeman they had seen in years.
Inside that edition, a voter guide identified Jen Roskopf as the incumbent in the Elmbrook School Board At-Large race.
That is factually incorrect.
This is an open seat with no incumbent.
The timing of this distribution — an unsolicited free trial mailed broadly across the community in the final stretch of a contested local election — combined with a factual error that directly benefits one candidate over another, is a matter that Elmbrook voters should be aware of.
Whether the misidentification was an editorial oversight or something more intentional, the practical effect is the same: thousands of households received a piece of voter information that was wrong. In a local race that may be decided by a narrow margin, that distinction matters.
The Freeman has not, to date, sent an updated letter to the homes that received the incorrect piece.
Image of article here
ELM GROVE NEWS INDEPENDENT: ONE COMMUNITY, TWO SETS OF RATES?
A separate concern has emerged regarding the Elm Grove News Now Independent, a local publication that many in our community rely on for coverage of school board and municipal affairs.
Multiple sources have indicated that candidates affiliated with the local progressive organization Blue Sky appear to receive discounted or complimentary advertising rates in the publication, while candidates without that affiliation — including my campaign — are charged full market rate for equivalent placement.
If accurate, this represents a meaningful and undisclosed subsidy to one side of a contested local election. It raises the question of whether the publication’s advertising practices align with the basic journalistic standard of treating all candidates and viewpoints equally.
Local media plays an important role in informing voters, particularly in school board races where name recognition and information access can be decisive. When a publication with that kind of influence applies different rules to different candidates based on their political alignment, the community deserves to know.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Elmbrook voters are among the most informed and engaged in the state. They take school board elections seriously — and they should. The board oversees a $120 million annual budget, sets curriculum and policy direction, and is ultimately accountable to every family in the district.
Those voters deserve a level playing field when it comes to the information they receive. They deserve accurate identification of who is and who is not an incumbent. And they deserve confidence that the local outlets covering this race are applying consistent standards to all candidates.
I raise these concerns not to distract from the issues that matter most in this race — academic outcomes, fiscal transparency, parental rights, and trust — but because an informed electorate is the foundation of a functioning democracy. Elmbrook voters can handle the truth. They just need to receive it.
Election Day is April 7th. Please vote early if you plan on being out of town.
— Sam Hughes
Elmbrook School Board At-Large
No responses yet