Gleaners Food Bank donation coverage helps illustrate the conservative media bias

As was first reported here last week, the Livingston County Democratic Party raised more than $700 and 100 pounds of food for the Gleaners Community Food Bank distribution center in Brighton as part of an annual drive to feed the hungry. Since then a couple of things have happened. First, a late contribution put that total at $1,000, and I got hammered and called a hypocrite because last month I called out both the local newspaper and the local Republican Party over a $500 donation for Toys to Tots.

The fact that the majority party in Livingston County that holds the Congressional seat, the state Senate seat, the two state House seats, all the nine Board of Commissioner seats and control of all 16 of the township boards in the county can only raise $500 after the campaign season just a month ago where their candidate for governor spent a record $42.5 million to buy the seat seems a bit cheap to me.

Rep. Chris Ward could have given some of that more than $10,000 the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association gave to him last year alone for trying to get a bill passed for them that rips off consumers and local wineries that favors the association. He could have directed a fraction of that money to the cause.

However, what really raised my ire was the coverage the donation received. The story received front-page coverage in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus with a front-page photo and another photo on the inside jump page. This after all we hear from them is their smear campaign disguised as a political strategy called the “liberal media bias” myth.

I told commentators here that if the donation that the party I am a member of gets the same or similar coverage from the newspaper I would apologize. Luckily, that will not happen now. Here’s what we got. A mention in a sidebar to a story on the inside of the newspaper is the coverage it received.

Also, the Livingston County Democratic Party gave $700 in cash and 100 pounds of food this month. Democratic officials said the donation will become an annual event.

The constant cries of “liberal media bias” lie in an era when almost every newspaper in America is owned by a huge corporation has swung the pendulum to the right so far it’s ridiculous. This is a perfect example.

In today’s edition, the OP-ED page featured an editorial on the main story about the Gleaners food drive. Jack Berry, a county resident and co-founder of the Pet Supplies Plus pet store, organized a food drive for the food bank. It’s an admirable job by Mr. Berry. He paid for a fundraising campaign that inserted pre-addressed envelopes into the newspaper to send to the food bank.

Now, I’m sure I’m going to be called cynical, a hypocrite and lots of other names for bringing this up, but one of the biggest benefactors of that campaign is the newspaper, unless they waived the insertion fee. I don’t know if that’s the case.

Livco Democrats exercise their core values with donations to local community food bank

BRIGHTON - Needy people and the hungry in Livingston County will receive more than 11,300 meals in the coming weeks thanks to the efforts of the Livingston County Democratic Party and their supporters.

Party Chairman Matt Evans said Thursday that local Democrats had collected more than $700 in cash and 100 pounds of food to feed the hungry. Party officials delivered the donations to the Gleaners Community Food Bank distribution center in Brighton on December 28th.

Evans said plans are to make this effort by Democrats to remember those in need during the holiday season an annual event. Evans said compassion for those who are less fortunate is a core Democratic value, and this fund drive on behalf of Gleaners gave local Democrats a chance to put their values into action.

Gleaners is the third-oldest food bank in the United States, and it distributes 25 million pounds of good annually, equivalent to 65,000 meals per day. It is the only source of emergency food for persons in need. Gleaners officials said the food bank can convert each $1 donated into 16 meals -or 16 pounds of food - by buying food wholesale. Using the Gleaner’s formula, the $700 donated by local Democrats amounts to 11,200 meals, and the 100 pounds of donated food represent another 100 meals.