Why we're posting a story about John Olivas losing an election

At decorahnews.com, our mission is to give you the information you need about what's happening in Decorah.  Except for clearly-labeled opinions or commentaries like this, our news stories are opinion-free.

In posting a news story about John Olivas losing his re-election bid, we are NOT trying to affect the debate over frac sand mining in Winneshiek County.  Mr. Olivas could be a fine fellow, despite losing re-election.  His opinion about frac mining could also be 100 percent accurate, despite losing re-election.

We think it's important, however, to tell our readers that Mr. Olivas won 29 percent of the vote in his re-election bid--something that wasn't mentioned in his biography.

This is similar to the issue we faced when we learned that the person helping Winneshiek Protectors to draft a frac sand mining ordinance, David Williams, had been convicted of impersonating a lawyer (http://www.decorahnews.com/archived-stories/2014/01/7230.html
Again, this was NOT our attempt to affect the debate over frac sand mining and was NOT a sign that Mr. Williams isn't a fine fellow--it was just a sign that he was NOT an attorney.

decorahnews.com tries to give readers a complete picture of the issues and people involved with local discussions.  What you make of that information is your choice.