Professor Jason Johnson was interviewed for a story about background checks on candidates for political office.
Hiram College political science professor Jason Johnson, says there is a precedent for listing some of the unsavory aspects of a political candidate’s background. He says papers in Miami and Detroit have both noted criminal charges against former mayors that came to light only after they had been elected.
JOHNSON: It’s sort of like, after you’ve been on a few blind dates, you start asking up front what kind of problems a person may have. And so, after a community has been burned by politicians who were personally, or professionally, or legally irresponsible, it is the responsibility of the newspaper to say, “Hey look, who are we going out to dinner with here?”