Telling the truth even when it hurts is part of the code of honor.
My late dad, Shamus, used to tell people that he and my mother, Dottie, raised their two boys to tell the truth.
Then he’d add with a grin, “But I think we overdid it with Steve.”
One time on the witness stand during a murder trial I answered a question put to me by a hotshot Boston lawyer who thought he was slick. He asked me a very specific question and I provided him with a very specific answer.
“Do you have tapes of those conversations?” he asked.
“Tapes,” I answered, “of those conversations?”
Correct, he said.
“Nope,” I said.
And I didn’t have tapes.
I only had one.
But he didn’t ask if I had any tapes, only if I had more than one.
Take that, chump, I thought.
Then I decided that I should offer more, tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth even though I hadn’t been asked. Five times I tried and five times the judge shut me up.
“I might have misspoken,” I said.
The judge made it clear that if I spoke up again he’d hold me in contempt. So I shut up – until a recess when I told my lawyer to talk to the judge and share my concerns.
I only found out much later that my lawyer failed to follow instructions. I later was arrested as a result of my testimony and fought the charge because I had done nothing wrong or illegal. All I did was tell the truth.
My critics at the time jumped all over me.
So did prosecutors who charged me with illegally tape-recording a conversation with a killer.
But I held fast to my principles and my honor.
The charges were dropped and some time later, I joined my colleagues from the Times Leader, who also had been arrested and charged with felonies, on a stage in Denver. We received a Scripps Howard Foundation national journalism award for our service to the First Amendment.
That’s the only journalism award of the dozens I’ve received that I have hanging on the wall of the office in my home. My service to the truth means that much to me.
That’s why I need to correct something that was discussed on today’s WILK News Radio morning show. The discussion at one point centered on my steadfast loyalty to Hillary Clinton and her campaign.
Somebody called it a “bit,” like I’m a stand-up comedian who is lying for effect. Somebody said I was kidding when I said I would turn down Barack Obama and refuse to vote for the Democrats if Obama is the Democratic nominee and snubs Hillary as his vice-presidential pick.
I have never lied to listeners. I have never told you I believe in something in which I don’t believe. I have never tried to be entertaining at the expense of the truth.
Anyone who says otherwise is deceiving you. Anyone who says otherwise is cheating you of the sacred bond that must exist on news talk radio between host and listener. Anyone who says otherwise threatens the very credibility upon which we in this business depend to do the job you expect us to do.
And I’m not kidding.
My opinion is no joke.
I work hard to develop my ideas and share them as intelligently as I can. Sometimes I fail to communicate as well as I should, but that’s part of the challenge of getting better. Part of my contract with you is your knowing that even when you disagree with me, you can be sure that I am telling the truth.
To do otherwise trivializes the very serious issues we talk about every day. To do otherwise violates the relationship we share and work to develop. To do otherwise is simply dishonest.
My perspective is no “shtick,” as they say in the show business world, designed as a device to call attention to myself. I believe with all my heart in Hillary Clinton’s campaign and refuse to vote for Obama if he heads a ticket that does not include her.
Like it or not, that’s the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Maybe I’ll see you in August at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, where I’d love a floor fight to resolve this matter once and for all.
I like Denver.
I’ve been there before. I got there because I told the truth.
As tough as it gets, the search for the truth is always worth the effort.
Sue Henry
