Dallas Woodhouse: An early endorsement

Regarding the Oct. 18 editorial “Cooper stands up”: You have endorsed Attorney General Roy Cooper before Cooper answered a single question about his 30-year record in Raleigh or laid out any plans for North Carolina.

As a former journalist, I have never heard of a paper endorsing a candidate before accounting for his record or detailing policy proposals. (It obviously reads as an endorsement no matter what you call it.)

Did you review the fact that Cooper raised taxes by more than $9 billion for North Carolina families? Did you examine that Cooper cut funding to education? Should these factors not weigh heavily in a decision to support a candidate?

The only real explanation is that your paper is purposely donating its services to support the Cooper for governor campaign, in which case your editorials should be disclosed as in-kind contributions under state campaign finance laws. While your publication constantly complains about the state of campaign finance, readers should know these types of nondisclosed political advertising expenditures are a reason for the skyrocketing cost of campaigns.

More than a year before the election, your editorial board has made its position perfectly clear, and readers should take that into account from this point forward.

This story was originally published October 24, 2015 at 1:37 PM with the headline "Dallas Woodhouse: An early endorsement."