The Common Voice does not equal Jimmy Moore
Jonathan Pait
November 25, 2003
I don’t know very much about Spartanburg County politics. It is enough to keep up with what goes on here in Greenville County. Those of you who read Jimmy Moore’s columns on this site get his point of view of politics in that county. However, if you are like me, it is just a passing interest and you never figure that the squabbles across the line will affect you in any way.
Well, this morning Spartanburg County politics affected The Common Voice (www.commonvoice.com) and me as its editor. Needless to say, I am not very pleased.
In today’s Spartanburg Herald-Journal there appears a piece by Tom Langhorne, a staff writer for the paper. In his article, "Floyd considers suing over GOP official's column," Langhorne brings to the forefront the battle that we have already seen take place on the sites SCHotline and The Common Voice. I would chalk all of this up as your typical political bickering until I read the following line:
"Moore's column, entitled Common Voice, appears several times a month on Web site S.C. Hotline, which bills itself ‘insider's news about politics from across the state.’"
As regular readers know, The Common Voice is not edited or is in any way controlled by Jimmy Moore. However, for the sake of clarification for people who are visiting the site because of this conflict, I would like to make sure it is understood that Jimmy is one of a number - and I hope soon to be growing number of columnists from across the political spectrum. We’ve got libertarians on through to liberals.
I spoke with Tom Langhorne this morning and expressed my concern that I do not want people to think that The Common Voice is Jimmy’s column. I don’t want people to think that The Common Voice is my column – or Mike Cubelo’s. Tom was very professional and understood the clarification. He said he would pass it up to his editor for any further needs for clarification in the paper. I trust that the editor’s will see fit to print a clarification.
As for the conflict, at first glance it sure looks like Jimmy may be set up for a black eye. Jimmy’s letter that appeared in John Hawkins’ SCHotline.com rebuttal (and as of the publishing of this column was the top local headline on The Common Voice) certainly does not cast Jimmy in the best light. It also has not served Jimmy well to speak too soon about conclusions he may draw from his observations.
Oh, and by the way. Mr. Hawkins, the "Common Voice" can be your voice as well. You could have answered Jimmy's charges on the same playing field where they were made. Just as Jimmy should have done a little more homework before putting fingers to keyboard, you could have found that The Common Voice isn't your enemy - though Jimmy Moore may be.
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