It was a big announcement about immigration reform that got Rep Josh Penry (R-Grand Junction) a front page story in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel a few weeks ago.
But these days it sure doesn’t take much for Penry, who is one of the candidates for State Senate 7, to get the attention of Sentinel news staff.“Penry to lead the way for “‘Georgia-like’ legislation” shouted the headline. In the story, Penry planned to “lead his colleagues in pushing for immigration reform.” (link)
In reality this single-term – and often described as ambitious – Republican, who lives less than 50 miles from the Utah border, had very little chance passing major special session legislation in a Democratic controlled legislature. Probably a few senior Front Range Republican legislators would have questioned Penry’s claim to leadership, too, but that didn’t stop The Daily Sentinel from touting Penry’s fantasies.
One can also find subtle ways the newpaper is promoting Penry. Under the headline “Candidates: Immigration issues may draw voters” last week, there was a nice color photo of Josh Penry in this front-page story of Section B. But there was no quote, no mention of his name throughout the whole article. Nothing. (link)
Maybe Sentinel editors have a special keyboard stroke that pops up Penry’s photograph every time the word “candidate” appears in a headline.
Pity the other Republican primary candidate, Matt Smith and the Democratic Senate 7 candidate, Dana Barker. It appears The Daily Sentinel has a favorite in this race.