Keep this standard in mind as local budget battles play out in the coming weeks. A midday policy planning meeting drew “dozens” of anti-tax protesters by the Uptown paper’s own account, perhaps 75 by other accounts.
They are not on the agenda, not allowed to speak yet reportedly clearly change the tenor and feel of the discussion. Commission Chair Jennifer Roberts had put the matter on the agenda expecting clear sailing and no opposition.
Yet it is not until the last graf of the story that the anti-tax presence is even mentioned:
The commissioners meeting drew dozens of residents in opposition to any tax discussion. As commissioners talked, many in the audience held signs with phrases like “Taxpayers have been lied to” and “Light Rail = 100 percent over budget.”
Won’t it be interesting to see if an identically sized group opposed to “budget cuts” is the last graf — or the lede?
