Being one who is always thinking ahead, I was thinking recently about what I would do if I ever left the DOB – not that I ever will, because if I have it my way – I will be doing this until I retire – but it never hurts to plan ahead. So in thinking of what I would do if I ever had to dust off my resume – I decided that even though my experience and career has been in journalism – I could never in good conscience go back into journalism after what I have seen working here.

From stories that are outright lies to blatant and purposely intended misquotes – to taking pride in costing a man his job – there is absolutely no way I could go back to doing that for a living anymore.

I am not trying to paint every reporter with a broad brush. Some of my friends are reporters and some reporters are my friends – but there are some reporters out there that have completely soured my taste buds when it comes to the Fourth Estate. In my two years as the DOB’s Press Secretary, I have come across some reporters that should never be allowed to sit behind a typewriter again. They make a career out of lying, creating stories – and trying to portray every City employee as corrupt and incompetent. After dealing with reporters like this for the past two years – how can I possibly jump back over the fence and join them?

It makes me so mad that I no longer have the respect and admiration for journalism that I once had. To think that my former colleagues have so badly soured me through their own actions is really appalling to me. When I was a journalist, I used the power of my pen to assist, educate, inform and entertain my readers – but these reporters use their power to frighten, misinform, discourage and outright lie to their readers – and the scary thing is that they get paid to do this each and every day.

So if unfortunate circumstances ever force me out of this chair and into another one – because that is the only way I will stop working here because I love it so much – it appears that thanks to my former journalistic colleagues – the only question I will be asking is, “Would you like fries with that?”