If you want to know what Senate candidate Michael Whatley talked about when he visited an event sponsored by the Haywood County GOP on Saturday, July 18, at the Waynesville Recreation Center, you won’t be able to read about it in The Smoky Mountain News. Did the Senate candidate trying to keep Thom Tillis’ seat, and who will most assuredly toe the Donald Trump line much more reliably than the independent-minded Tillis, deliver any remarks that might help him in the Nov. 3 election against former N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper? Our readers — and those of the Asheville Citizen-Times — won’t know.
The Haywood GOP-sponsored get together was billed in press releases as open event. In The Smoky Mountain News online calendar where readers can input information for their own events, someone promoting it wrote this: “… an opportunity to hear directly from Whatley, learn more about his vision for North Carolina, and discuss the issues that matter most to our region … Whether you’re looking to learn more, ask questions, or simply stop by and visit, join the event for an afternoon of conversation and fellowship.”