Editor,

I once told you that you kept making it harder for me to buy your paper due to your political bias. Your reply was that the Whidbey News-Times was not biased. The Sound Off column by Greg Banks, which you requested him to write, was completely biased. This was a political advertisement which should have been bought and paid for.

This is a small-market area where it is extremely important for small businesses to avoid alienating any potential clients. Can the News-Times afford to lose the support of a complete political party. Advertisers may also feel that by placing an advertisement they may be viewed as supporting the News-Times political views.

Keep your (our) newspaper local and leave national politics to the letters to the editor portion of the paper.

Ladd E. Dick

Oak Harbor

Editor’s note: Sound Off columns are always on the “letters to the editor portion of the paper,” the Opinion Page, and reflect a wide range of opinions. Banks wrote his piece after the newspaper asked him — and many other officials — what they were thankful for this Thanksgiving.