We, in Clark County, have witnessed quite an accomplishment by The Columbian’s Lou Brancaccio. His tenacious follow-up journalism on the local political scene, especially involving the infamous M&M Boys (David Madore and Tom Mielke), two-thirds of the county commission at times, seemed tedious and redundant (i.e., “stupid stuff”).
In my 50 years of adulthood reading local newspapers I have never witnessed such determination to reveal to the public what happens when individuals acquire too much power. I know I could not sustain the doggedness that Brancaccio showed throughout this multiple-year fiasco which had Madore leading the quashing of the interstate bridge project, among other things. He failed to offer any viable solution, leaving the Northwest with an obscene traffic bottleneck for at least a decade.
Brancaccio delivered the chronicles of the M&M blunders with great good humor and wit, deserving of the regional reporting award that he earned. More importantly, his efforts contributed to a wising up of the local electorate to subsequently oust the two Ms. This is the free press doing its job.
