Biddeford Deserves Better | OPINION

I honestly don’t get it.

Six days ago, I broke and published a news story that Biddeford City Manager James Bennett was abruptly removed from his post.

Bennett, well-known in several communities throughout Maine, capped off his nine-year stint in Biddeford under a cloud of mystery. Six days ago.

I understand why the city is keeping tight-lipped, but I cannot believe that I am the only reporter in southern Maine asking questions. Six days!

The rumors are swirling, and yet every other media outlet in southern Maine is either unwilling or unable to cover the story.

If I had not published my story, the people of Biddeford would have almost no way of knowing what is happening at City Hall. Six days! Really?

I get that I have an unfair advantage because I have been covering Biddeford longer than anyone else and have developed a healthy Rolodex of sources, but six days??

This is a disservice to the people of Biddeford. This community deserves better than just my reporting.

I understand, maybe it’s difficult or embarrassing for other media outlets to acknowledge that I have been running circles around them on a zero-dollar budget for the past two months while only wearing boxer shorts in my basement and often forgetting to put in my dentures . . . but come on! Six days!

No wonder local government officials think they can do whatever they want. No one is apparently watching.

Yesterday, there was a glimmer of hope. A reporter from the Portland Press Herald sent me an email, asking me if I would share my source of the e-mail that was sent to city workers last week. I declined but offered to point her in the right direction. Then? Silence.

Seriously? Six days?

Pathetic.

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