As a former journalist, I still maintain a keen interest in the profession. I spent too many years in the business to just walk away from caring about the reporting of the news.
As a conservative, I've seen just how poor of a job today's journalists do. The agenda is unmistakable. There's a definite bias in what's covered and how it's covered.
Not a day goes by that I don't look at some media report and think how much better I could do it, and how so many newspapers and broadcast outlets are failing their audiences.
That's why it came as no surprise when I found some low-hanging fruit that would be easy pickings for an enterprising Kentucky news outlet. If five minutes of my spare time could yield what could be an intriguing human interest story highlighting Kentucky's connection to the 2020 presidential race, then why isn't someone who gets paid to do such things all over the story?
Tulsi Gabbard is a U.S. representative from Hawaii who's one of the pretenders in the crowded clown car that is the Democratic field of presidential candidates. She's a native Samoan whose family moved to Hawaii when she was young.
The surname Gabbard certainly isn't a common Hawaiian or Samoan name, that's for certain. But it is a familiar name to many people in east-central Kentucky. There are quite a few Gabbards in the Lee-Owsley-Breathitt county area that's my home. A few months ago, one of my friends jokingly posted on Facebook something about her and possible Kentucky roots.
After the recent circus -- I mean, the recent presidential debate -- a couple of folks with whom I was taking a training class in Frankfort were discussing her. They were National Guard members and were commenting about her because she had been a guard member. At the same time, another friend noted on Facebook commented that she was probably the best-looking presidential candidate ever, and posted a link to her Wikipedia page.
So that got me to thinking. I clicked on that Wikipedia page and saw that her father's name is Mike Gabbard, and he serves as a Hawaii state senator. The information on that page indicates that he's a Samoa native and his father was named Benjamin Harrison Gabbard, Jr.
So, off to Google I went. A search for "Benjamin Harrison Gabbard" yielded some information on someone named Benjamin Harrison Gabbard, Sr., and that's where the local connection comes into play.
Tulsi Gabbard's great-grandfather was a native of Jackson County who went to American Samoa as a naval seaman. He married a Samoan woman and stayed there until his death in 1932. He's buried in Pago Pago, having been disinterred and reburied with Tulsi's grandfather after his death in 1986.
It seems to me that there's a great news story to be had here before Tulsi Gabbard joins Eric Swalwell's ranks and gives up her impossible task. Reporters could go to Jackson County and see if they can find anyone who knows Tulsi or Mike. They could interview her and inquire if she's ever been to her family's ancestral homeland of eastern Kentucky, or if she or her father are ever in contact with anyone there.
But so far, not a peep. I'm guessing that this is probably the first you've ever heard of her Kentucky connection. If I was still a reporter, I'd definitely pursue this story I learned about just by chasing my own curiosity and by executing a couple of Internet searches.
Unfortunately, our press is asleep at the wheel. A story right under their noses, and they don't see it. Is it any wonder that bloggers and other citizen journalists are as popular as they are? I've seen quite a few stories on political blogs that never saw the light of day in the mainstream media. For this former journalist, it's frustrating. I share many of my conservative brethren's concerns about the state of the Fourth Estate, but I realize how vital a free and fair press is to this country's well-being.
In the meantime, enjoy this scoop that you didn't read in the Herald-Leader, the Courier-Journal, or even the Jackson County Sun or Jackson County Times.
