A Day in the Life of a Spring Valley reporter
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- September
- 5
It’s been reported that Spring Valley Mayor George Darden has a reputation for being abrasive in his dealings with the public. He has no problem offering strong opinions to his constituents and fellow Village Board members.
Well, we found out yesterday that the newspaper is not spared.
As reporters, we’re used to politicians not rolling out the welcome mat for us at times. (And we know they might not want to hear from us, but we have to call, because to not do that would be unfair to them.)
However, when it comes to issues of public importance, most understand the need to have a conversation with the press, even if they don’t want to.
Since we reported in our paper that Darden hired day laborers from Route 59 to work on a village project in July, and that those workers were illegal immigrants, and that he paid them in cash, and that he was reimbursed for it on the same day, and that he’s refused to discuss the issue, and that he got his unusual actions ratified by the Village Board after the fact, Darden hasn’t talked to us, except for one or two instances when we reported positive news in Spring Valley.
Barring one press conference in July when he didn’t discuss details of the hiring and didn’t take questions from the press, Darden’s been closemouthed about the whole hiring episode.
Now, there’s word that the Village Treasurer, Sandra Bullock, has resigned. She handed in her notice on Aug. 20, and her last day is Sept. 19. (She says she found a better job opportunity and that her departure has nothing at all to do with the immigrant hiring situation.)
We  or, rather, I  called Darden yesterday to ask him whether a search was on for Bullock’s replacement and who would run the department in the interim.
I was told he wasn’t at Village Hall. I left a message. A little later, I called his assistant, who said the mayor wasn’t in, and it wasn’t clear whether he would return to the office that day. Still later that day, I called the Village Attorney, Bruce Levine. Levine referred the call to the mayor, who, by the way, wasn’t in. Levine didn’t know if Darden would return to the office.
So I tried the mayor’s cell phone. He answered. I identified myself and started to tell him why I was calling. I didn’t get very far. He cut me off.
“We don’t get along well enough to talk like that, dear,� he said in a pleasant tone. “You put a spin on everything I say. With that, have a nice day.�
And he hung up. I can’t say I was surprised. He’s ended calls like that before.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, September 5th, 2007 at 5:31 pm by Suzan Clarke. 
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I don’t blame the Mayor of Spring Valley, or any official, or party that has had bad press, or any press from the media.
The way print media, Journal News included, the TV and Radio media go on and on and on to make any story WORSE than it is, and trust me, it’s not in a non-partisan or non-biased way, I wouldn’t talk to a reporter at all.
When I’ve been approached in the past for just a “person in the street” type poll even by the press, I tell them NO WAY. I’d rather talk to Charles Manson. And, I’m just a plain old average citizen.
I don’t even subscribe the any paper. And I don’t watch cable news, etc. Why bother when none of you are really worth a darn,
Oh boo hoo hoo….. poor reporter couldn’t get someone to talk to them. Ok, so maybe the Mayor wasn’t right with the whole day laborer situation, BUT, how naive are you, the print media, to think he’d want to talk to any of you?
Don’t expect us to feel that he should talk to you. It’s human he wouldn’t talk to you. I know I wouldn’t if you contacted me after having a bad story in the news.
Wake up Gannett!!! You’re not so smart.
Do we really want our newspaper to just be reporting on rainbows and happiness? Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.
Anyway, Suzan is just writing here on the blog about her “particular trouble at work,” which many bloggers do. She isn’t naïve and wasn’t surprised at his hang-up.
No Sympathy, if news is so worthless, what brought you here?
Why are people criticizing the reporter? She is not asking for sympathy, she is simply reporting the typically arrogant behavior of Mr. Darden.
All Ms. Clarke is saying is that Mr. Darden refused to talk to the press and did so in a rather obnoxious manner. Mr. Darden broke the law and got off with a wrist slap. He should be gracious enough to at least answer her question.
Yet another entry into the renegade administration of Mr. Darden and his lapdog Mr. Levine. It is time for someone to do some real investigative journalism and find out what Mr. Darden and Mr. Levine did and knew from the start in this scandal and have some heads roll.
I wish I had a vote in Spring Valley to cast against the mayor – who barely won his re-election primary last time. I am pleased to have a vote to cast against Mr. Levine this year for Legislature. Obviously he needs to pay more attention to his day job – because if he didn’t know this was going on, then perhaps he needs to spend more time in Village Hall.
Good job, Susan – Now let’s take this a couple of steps further!
Listen, I am from Brooklyn. There was no mayor more abrasive to reporters than Koch. the rest of these guys just pale in comparison.
A good leader just leads.
I don’t think that Darden should be excused for what he did, but for a reporter to have a blog about a local official not talking to them is ridiculous.
If every reporter, print or TV, wanted to make a blog on that, all blogs would be full of that crap.
It’s a wasteless blog, for a wastless topic. So what he didn’t talk to a reporter? Big deal
To be devil’s advocate:
This is a Blog and not a news report.
so its more of a journal/discussion. I am sure that if there was a news piece, the reporter would try to contact and talk to the person of interest.
In Spring Valley, the mayor is the only full-time elected official. The mayor oversees the every day operation of the village and controls the flow of information on most issues.
As such, the mayor is answerable to the public. If he doesn’t talk to the press, then he is not providing information to the public. The mayor is not talking to the reporter out of spite for her reporting on his actions.
I wonder if an elected official ignored a question from someone writing here, would that person be so understanding? I doubt it.
The mayor can write letters to residents to communicate what he wants to say, or things residents need to know.
He can also go on public access TV, he can talk to the Rockland County Times, he can also write letters to the Editor, or go on the blogs.
He chose, at this time, not to speak with a reporter. That is his perogative. Doesn’t mean he won’t ever. But for this reporter to make a blog out of it, is making a mountain out of a mole hill.
News flash: 99-44/100 percent of all blogs = crap.
That pulled-from-thin-air stat aside (and not a reflection of this particular blog/entry), if the information on the LoHud Blogs site was truly useful/important, it’d actually be in the paper.
He works for the people so he should be held accountable and be willing to discuss the issues. Our tax dollars pay for this man to be out of the office mid-day and not knowing if he will return. That is crazy.
Pay me to stay out of the office and play ball with people who pay for him to rob the general public by strategizing hostile take overs in Spring Valley, NY.