Claiming balance, Chronicle misleads

Diana Palmer is best person to lead the city now

Jun 22, 2025

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The lead sentence on the top story of the front page of the Chronicle this week, written by Mark Frost, says the following:

“I’m not saying there wasn’t plenty of vitriol toward President Trump and Republicans — a punch was thrown; an arrest was made — but the downtown Glens Falls version of the nationwide ‘No Kings’ protest found many participants in a jovial mood.”

Read that and you would think a punch was thrown by one of the “vitriolic” protesters, and that protester was arrested.

But the truth is, one of Donald Trump’s followers, Robert J. Hogan of Queensbury, came to the protest with violent intent and punched one of the protesters, and it was Hogan who was arrested.

No one was badly hurt, but officers found Hogan was carrying a weapon that police described as a “tactical whip.” These are marketed online as self-defense or car emergency tools, with a metal handle attached to a short, thick length of wire. Ads tout them as capable of breaking a car window.

With two people shot dead least week in Minnesota by a Trump supporter and two more gravely injured by the same perpetrator, this is a bad time for flippancy or carelessness when writing about political violence.

Frost changed the sentence in the Chronicle’s digital version. I’m guessing someone pointed out to him his description was factually wrong, or, perhaps, he realized on his own his effort to please his reactionary Republican readers had taken him too far.

Frost has a history of describing Democrats and liberals in derogatory ways, most often after saying something critical about the Trump administration. He pretends this is good “balanced” journalism.

But good journalists will criticize abuses by the party in control of the government without feeling compelled to follow it with a generalized mean comment about their political opponents.

Like this, for example:

It is immoral to suddenly cut off critical aid to the world’s poorest people.

It is unconstitutional to snatch people off the street and hold them without charges or ship them to another country without due process.

It is cruel to grab parents away from their children while the parents are checking in with immigration authorities as the law requires.

See? The statements stand on their own.

Whether Frost intended to be misleading in this instance is irrelevant. His inaccuracy wasn’t a slip that came out of nowhere but a consequence of his longstanding practice of pandering to Trump supporters.

If changing the digital edition was meant to serve as a retraction, it falls short. Most people who glance at the Chronicle grab it from a rack at the supermarket or coffee shop and never look at the online version. A real recognition of error would include an acknowledgment in print this coming week and an apology to readers.

Fortunately, millions of Americans turned out nationwide on No Kings day, paying no attention to the accommodationist urges of people like Frost. They expressed themselves with large signs and loud voices, motivated by patriotism and anger at Trump’s assault on our democracy. It’s vitality, not vitriol, and we need more of it.

Here is this week’s Chronicle, with a front page photo of the downtown No Kings protest, which drew about 1,000 people.

Diana Palmer for mayor

Diana Palmer, with her impressive organizational skills and commitment to careful and responsible governing, is the right choice for the current moment in Glens Falls. The city is enjoying a boom now, especially in the business district, and how this development spurt is handled will shape our downtown for a generation or longer. Palmer has been the force behind a push for a new comprehensive plan, which she sees as the foundation for zoning and planning decisions as the city grows busier. She has shown an impressive work ethic and ability to muster support in persuading the rest of the Common Council to unite behind a comprehensive plan in the face of less than enthusiastic support from Mayor Collins.

Now in her second term as the Ward 3 councilwoman, Palmer has led the way to an array of improvements, including upgrades to city parks as chairwoman of the rec committee; infrastructure work on Webster Street and elsewhere in her ward; recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation as a “tree city U.S.A.,” followed by a grant for a tree inventory and the planting of new trees; and passage of a law that limits unhosted short-term rentals (where the owner lives off-site) to the city’s commercial areas.

Palmer wants the city to concentrate on its core services, such as sewer and water infrastructure and road and sidewalk maintenance, and avoid being distracted by activities outside those services, such as the purchase of private land or management of special events.

“We’re having this moment of prosperity — let’s take this moment to handle things that are the core of our responsibility,” she said.

As a resident of the city’s neighborhoods for 32 years, I can attest to the continued need for more attention to core services. I live on a corner, for example, where the storm drain has been clogged since we moved into this house about 24 years ago.

Collins’ optimism and his enthusiasm for Glens Falls were great qualities as we stumbled out of the pandemic. He didn’t come up with the downtown redevelopment plan, centered on the new market center on South Street, but he guided it through a difficult period, as pandemic delays gave rise to doubts whether it would ever get done. He deserves lots of credit for staying the course.

Now, however, the city is less in need of a booster than a manager. Palmer’s careful, collaborative approach is best suited to guide us through this dynamic time.