Journalist Spotlight: Washington, DC reporter Mark Weiner (letter from the editor)

Dear reader,

With Election Day just around the corner on Tuesday, this is a good time to start my monthly Journalist Spotlight Mark Weinerour political reporter based in Washington, D.C., who is also about to celebrate his 40th anniversary next month at The Post-Standard and syracuse.com. While many local news outlets have cut their reporters in Washington, we believe it is important that someone keep a close eye on our elected officials. Thanks to our subscribers we can continue to do this.

Here’s our Q&A:

Trish: How did you initially get into journalism and when did you know you wanted to pursue it as a career?

Marking: Like many kids, I dreamed of playing baseball in the big leagues. That changed my freshman year of high school in Philadelphia, when I was cut from the baseball team during tryouts. But I have found a way to stay involved in the sport. I accepted an offer to serve as a statistician for the football team. My job was to keep track of the statistics of each match and to report the score and highlights of the match to the city’s three daily newspapers.

I soon realized that I had enough information to write the stories myself. I started writing about every game for a weekly newspaper. Then other newspapers asked if I could write for them too. When I was 16, my sports stories appeared regularly in seven weeklies in Philadelphia and its suburbs. I loved telling the stories of my classmates and knew that journalism would be my career.

My senior year, I won the Philadelphia Daily News award for scholastic sportswriter of the year, along with a partial scholarship to study journalism at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School.

T: Tell our readers a little about your background and how you came to work at The Post-Standard and syracuse.com.

M: I walked through the doors of The Post-Standard as a 20-year-old intern and fell in love with the place. There were no sports internships, so I switched to news reporting at the city desk. I was fortunate enough to work with editors who took me under their wing, allowing me to learn through experiences I could never have in the classroom.

The rest has been a fantastic journey. After graduation, I was hired as a cub reporter at our Fulton bureau. It wasn’t long before I found myself in the Syracuse newsroom on a team covering the biggest political corruption story in Syracuse history: the late Mayor Lee Alexander’s 16-year racketeering kickback scheme.

I will never forget flying with Alexander to a federal prison in Minnesota, witnessing his final hours of freedom and sharing with readers what happened when one of the most powerful political figures in Central New York history turned himself in the prison authorities.

Soon after, I became the environmental and science writer at a major turning point in our community. The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan had declared Onondaga Lake the most polluted lake in America. Over the next two decades, I chronicled the political struggle and science behind the $1 billion cleanup.

T: How did you come to work for us from Washington? How do you think this gives us an advantage for political reporting?

M: With the lake cleanup plan finally in place, I asked for a new challenge. In 2006, I became the latest in a long line of Washington correspondents.

My job gives me a front-row seat to what our members of Congress (two members of the House of Representatives and two U.S. Senators) are doing – and not doing – to represent the people who elected them. I also monitor the actions of the White House and federal agencies that directly impact downtown New York.

It is especially important because the federal government has outsized influence over our region. The Army reactivated Fort Drum in 1985, making it one of the state’s largest employers.

Consider Micron, the largest economic development project in New York history, the Interstate 81 project that is reinventing a Syracuse neighborhood, and local defense companies like Lockheed Martin, which employ thousands of Central New Yorkers. None of this would happen without policy decisions and funding from the federal government.

T: What do you like most about the work you do?

M: My passion for journalism and belief in the importance of what we do hasn’t changed since I was 16 years old. It is a privilege every day to tell the stories of the people in our community, to serve as a government watchdog on behalf of the public, and to have strong relationships with our readers, some of whom seem like family because I already know them . decades.

It’s also inspiring to work with what I believe is the best team of reporters and editors in New York State.

I recently heard from a reader I hadn’t spoken to in probably 20 years. He still fondly remembers a story I wrote about him. Others have faithfully stayed in touch, dropping in every now and then when they think there is something syracuse.com should investigate. Ultimately, that’s what makes the work so satisfying.

T: What have you worked on this past year that you are most proud of and why?

M: In March we took a critical look at the criticism of Representative Brandon Williams, especially from his own party. Some prominent business leaders and elected Republicans expressed frustration with a new member of Congress who had been largely absent from Central New York and the Mohawk Valley when it comes to tackling local problems. A detailed review of Williams’ record — including House committee filings, a look at his public appearances, legislation, travel and social media statements — supported these claims by local officials.

Williams focused mainly on national and international issues during his first fifteen months as president, while people at home complained that they could not get his attention.

Since the article appeared, some of those officials have noted that Williams has taken a more active interest in their issues. It’s always good to see how our reporting can lead to change.

T: What are you doing to prepare for election day? Any predictions for our readers?

M: I’m focusing on our election in the 22nd Congressional District between Williams and John Mannion. It is one of the most competitive House races in the country. The outcome will be closely watched as it is one of the seats that will determine which party controls the House.

I’m part of a team of syracuse.com reporters who will be reporting live from the Democratic and Republican election watch parties in Syracuse on Tuesday evening.

I leave predictions to the pollsters and political analysts who think the race for the House of Representatives will be close. Central New York also has one of the best Senate races in New York between Republican Nick Paro and Democrat Chris Ryan in the 50th District.

As for the presidential race, we probably won’t know the winner Tuesday night. If the election is as close as the polls indicate, we may not know who won until later in the week.

T: Is there anything else you think readers would like to know about you?

M: I’m still a sports fanatic who likes to dig into the statistics of my favorite teams and players. I bleed Syracuse Orange. It’s one thing that brings people from both political parties together on Capitol Hill. Whenever there’s a Syracuse game on TV, SU alumni gather in DC and for a few hours everyone cheers on the same team.

You can reach Mark directly at: [email protected]