Why Mark Fisher is a Great Reporter ...
Posted by Chap at 1/20/2008 1:51 PM and is filed under uncategorized 
As a part-time politician, I usually stay out of the "rating game" for local reporters. It's a tough profession already and payback is a (rhymes with rich). But Mark Fisher of the Post is worth mentioning.
As you know, I've recently posted about payday loans, a difficult issue faced by the Assembly this year. Here's Fisher's Sunday column on the subject:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/
Fisher does more than just regurgitate the talking points of each side or the tired spin from "anonymous" sources. He actually visits with people that need money and go to payday lenders. What a brilliant idea!
When Fisher was covering the 34th State Senate race, he did more than just interview me or attend a debate. He actually walked with me door-to-door to hear unfiltered what voters had to say. We spent several hours together and, no, he was not there to promote me.
When a widely-circulated TV ad deviated from a debate position, he called it out. Without fear of consequences! Again, he was not promoting me, just reporting facts.
Well done, Mark Fisher. Keep up the good work (and please don't bash me).
The back of your head is simply GORGEOUS!
I agree, Chap. Well done by Fisher.
As any legislation is a matter of votes, based on meeting the needs of the most amount of voters, will your challenge be on getting the support of enough legislators to vote with you?
Do those who go for payday loans vote? Are they registered to vote? How much of the general electorate, who do not (at least, not always) need the services of payday loans, will consider this important for their representative to cast a yea vote? And finally, how many legislators relieve campaign donations from the payday loan companies? How do you read the tea leaves?
Irv: Lot of Q's there. Since the bils are not before my committee, I really haven't had a chance to scope out their chances. Suffice to say that the industry has invested heavily (you can look that up on vpap) and has been working to get its message out. I know that there are "compromises" in the works but I won't pretend to know the details or be a participant. I have 20+ bills of my own to worry about! Thanks again for your update on JCRC.