To the Journal editor:

It’s been a little over 24 hours since the news broke that the city of Ishpeming had fired their city manager, Craig Cugini.

This has been covered by this newspaper, WZMQ19, TV6, WNMU FM, and WECT 6 News. In fact, it made the front page of The Mining Journal.

This is indeed newsworthy. City managers play a vital role in our communities.

Yet, back on April 26, 2024, I asked a simple question of this newspaper: Why is Dr. Bob Lorinser, D-Marquette, no longer employed by the Marquette County Board of Health?

Pearls were clutched. How dare I ask such a question!

Had The Mining Journal, or any news outlet in the Upper Peninsula, for that matter, actually taken the time to a) call the Board of Health to verify and b) submit a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request to the county, as I did, they would have learned the following:

Dr. Bob Lorinser was FIRED from his position at the Marquette County Board of Health.

This is newsworthy for the following two reasons:

1. The medical director position wields an enormous amount of power over the community when it comes to public health interests, such as during a pandemic. The public has a vested interest, and the right to know, who holds this position and the reasons if this position is vacated.

2. Dr. Lorinser, who is running to be our representative in Congress, was fired from his position with the county. We elect our congressional representatives because we believe they are the best people to represent our collective interests in Washington. We give them our trust.

Small-town newsrooms are nearly extinct. Cheboygan, anyone? The fact that every news outlet that the whole of the U.P. depends on for news decided to cover the firing of a city manager, but neglected to even raise a finger to investigate the firing of a Congressional candidate running a campaign while employed at taxpayer expense is unfathomable.

At best, it’s lazy, shoddy journalism. At worst, it reeks of rotten bias and it undermines the trust we place in journalists to report the news with a fair, unflinching pen.

I revise my previously asked question: Why was Dr. Bob Lorinser, D-Marquette, fired from the Marquette County Board of Health?