The vice chairman of the PBC Criminal Justice Commission reprimands the Post editorial board

The reprimand by Gerald Richman, vice chairman of the Palm Beach County Criminal Justice Commission (CJC), of the Palm Beach Post editorial board is below.

First, a correction (see image below) appeared in the printed edition of the Post on Tuesday, 2/23. Note that the editor of the Post is reporting that Palm Beach County Commissioner Taylor and one of their own reporters supplied incorrect information that appeared in one of their own editorials. Ultimately though, what is the job of the editor? Aren't editors supposed to verify facts before they are published in Palm Beach County's paper of record?

Here is an excerpt from the editorial that was published:

     That also gets to the larger problem that if the CJC [Criminal Justice Commission] was delivering, Taylor [PBC County Commissioner Priscilla Taylor] and some local clergy would not need to step into the vacuum to ensure the independent community voice that very much needs to be heard on the CJC. The County Commission has provisionally approved having the Palm Beach County Clergy Alliance nominate an appointee. A final vote on the issue is scheduled for April 19.

The final vote referenced above is on March 1st, not on April 19th. Corrections by the Post appear on page A2, usually below the fold. FYI, there isn't a way to read corrections online unless there's an obscure link somewhere on the website.

It seems this issue of what is happening at the CJC, vis-à-vis what is incorrectly reported in the Post, is not going away any time soon. Below are two excerpts from a reprimand by CJC Vice Chaiman Gerald Richman that also appears in the printed edition today, Sunday 2/28:

     Respectfully, your editorial on Feb. 20, “Add diverse voices to CJC to help address justice issues,” contains erroneous conclusions, starting with the statement that there are only “three African-American CJC members.”
     The Palm Beach County Criminal Justice Commission has eight minority members, of whom seven are African-American. Percentage-wise, that is a larger percentage of blacks to the makeup of the entire CJC than is the ratio of blacks to non-blacks in Palm Beach County.
     Then you state, “for 30 years, taxpayers have financed the now nearly million-dollar CJC, which functions like a county department though the private Economic Council of Palm Beach County Inc. appoints most of its members.” That is also untrue.

More errors are cited by the CJC vice chairman and he concludes with this:

     In short, the Palm Beach County Criminal Justice Commission is diverse, should be diverse, and has been and is performing an important public service. This public service is enhanced by the involvement of leaders in the business community—who created the Criminal Justice Commission, which is unique and important to Palm Beach County—and who unselfishly volunteer their time to make the county a better and safer place for its residents.

And so it goes. . . Read about another recent error in the Post here. Is it about time for some big changes at that newspaper and is this another example of what happens when one paper has a monopoly?