In the Monona/Cottage Grove area,while we are a decent size community and many people read www.madison.com for their print/online newspaper, we have a respectable weekly local newspaper/website The Herald Independent. In THI, there is ONE weekly columnist, former WSJ editorial writer Sunny Schubert . I have been reading Sunny’s column now for 6+ years and while I disagree with her often, and find her “research” rather careless for an ex editor, her column is usually somewhat interesting.

It was much to my surprise when I came across sloppily written column by none other than Sunny Schubert, for the \”non-partisan\” Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. In her column she is talking about a “young friend” who is a new teacher and wears a tie to work. This poor fellow gets “terrorized” by his fellow teachers because they do NOT wear ties.  Sunny then uses this “story” and ties it to the local story about Glendale elementary and the principal-teacher conflict. This of course is her opportunity to take her turn leading the Amen choir and echo chamber in bashing the latest bogeyman, the Wisconsin Teachers Unions.

I am not going to get into the ridiculousness of Sunny’s column but in her lack of journalistic ethics in not disclosing that she also writes for (not sure if they pay her) a far right wing “think tank” that has the objective to rid the state and the schools of unions.

This is especially relevant because times are tight in the Monona Grove school district and teacher negotiations have sometimes been contentious. Sunny’s columns do have some sway and she has not been scared to write about the local schools (here, here and here, among many others). Never once mentioning her affiliation with WPRI.

I would expect more from an editor of a major paper. Which leads me to the questions, What does she have to hide? Why should we take her seriously anymore?