Local: Don’t hold your breath waiting for Journal Star editorial praising Ardis

My, how time flies.

About this time last year, Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis had the audacity to stand up for Peoria and complain about how Peoria’s one and only daily newspaper was portraying his city. He complained that the newspaper over-emphasized bad news the city, including an unusually high murder murder rate.

The response from the editorial page was typical of the Journal Star. They started a silly little jihad against the mayor. They complained that Ardis had the audacity to use graphic images to make Peoria’s rising murder rate an issue during his run for mayor in 2005, which is supposed to make him a hypocrite for complaining about the Journal Star’s negative coverage of Peoria two years later.

I saw the attack as a way for the Journal Star to start campaigning on behalf of whoever decides to run against Ardis in 2009 (which is less than a year away, folks). Remember that Ardis was most definitely NOT the Journal Star’s choice for mayor. Instead, the PJS endorsed then-incumbent David “The Liar” Ransburg, as well as two members of the Peoria City Council who were part of the “progressive” wing of the council.

But the Journal Star will never admit that it’s criticizing Ardis out of spite or to soften Ardis up for the next election. Instead that say they are simply criticizing a politician for pandering to fears to get elected and then backtracking once he’s in charge.

Well, the PJS knows about pandering to fear. That’s what they did in the months prior to the 2005 election when their editorials suggested Ardis and other essential-services-first candidates were racists. What fears were columnist Pam Adams pandering to when she suggested Ardis and at-large councilman Eric Turner were also pandering to racists by making crime as issue? And even the news side got into the act by counting black faces at staged, invitation only political events and commercials.

Today, there’s a front-page article about how the city’s murder rate is way down from last year. The funny thing about this and the other three articles (here, here and here) is that Ardis isn’t mentioned once. It’s a striking contrast to just 11 months ago, when the city’s newspaper of record was all over Ardis for reigning over a city with a rising murder rate. And even if there wasn’t this back story, wouldn’t it be considered, well, good journalism to ask a mayor what he thinks of a massive drop in crime in the city’s he’s leading?

And today’s editorial page? They are running an editorial how people should thank their mothers. If there is ever an editorial out of these people praising Ardis in the slightest for the drop in murder and crime, I’ll let my readers know. I suppose anything is possible.

Most of the praise for the improved crime stats should go, I believe, to Police Chief Steve Settingsgaard. He’s made personnel and scheduling changes that have put more cops on the street at the times they are needed. He has the respect of the council, which is essential when one is bringing charge to a police department that had been ill-run for so many years. I give Ardis credit for leading the council in supporting these changes. His calling for a 40 days of prayer against crime and violence provided an opportunity for the community to buy into the city’s crime-fighting efforts.

For these and other reasons, Ardis is popular and well-respected among Peorians who don’t work at One News Plaza. Anyone so inclined to run is going to have to take this into consideration. With a significant drop in the murder rate, the PJS has one less tool in its tool belt as it works on behalf of whatever future opponent pops up.