By Steve Hunley

Hypocrisy in politics is nothing new.  Hypocrisy on editorial pages is nothing new for this community.

I will have to give State Senator Stacey Campfield credit, as his latest publicity stunt takes the cake.  Some might think it was not only clever and funny that Campfield listed former Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale as an “in-kind” contributor on his latest financial disclosure form.  But I do not. Campfield’s claim that Ragsdale’s support for his primary opponent Commissioner Richard Briggs is worth at least $1,000 to his reelection campaign is as ridiculous as he is. Campaign financial disclosure documents are also official documents and are governed by specific laws.  Deliberately reporting misinformation is a serious offense.

Yet where is the thundering editorial of dismay and outrage from the News-Sentinel?  Where are the calls for transparency as there were over the robo-call fiasco?  Frankly, the robo-call debacle was quite likely a genuine mistake, an error in computer programing.

According to news reports, Senator Campfield alledgedly filled out an inaccurate financial disclosure. He has been asked by state election officials to correct the report or face potential fines.

The Sentinel has always had a habit of picking and choosing what it considers to be righteous, but this omission is especially egregious and shows the episode for exactly what it is: playing politics.

The fact that there is no outcry about this latest Campfield publicity stunt is revealing.

The entire concept of justice is that is should apply equally. Politics has no place in administering justice.

And the Sentinel just followed the skunk into the wilderness. We all know that probably won’t turn out very well.