Who Really Runs Cameron?
Not the people you elected.
Have you considered that someone who isn’t an elected official is making decisions on how Cameron runs? Someone who never campaigns. Someone who never faces voters. Someone who operates from the shadows using money as a weapon.
Call this person what they are: the puppet master.
You see the puppet master’s work everywhere in Cameron. You just don’t see the puppet master.
The Evidence
When Jamey Honeycutt owned the Clinton County Leader, he published sexually explicit passages from books found in Cameron High School libraries. The articles were scathing—calling out the school and its leadership for making these materials available to students.
The puppet master didn’t like it.
Honeycutt described what happened next: “I had one advertiser try to influence our coverage by pulling his ads at the height of the Cameron school book investigation. He said he was ‘disappointed’ in our coverage.”
Honeycutt’s response: “I am disappointed in you, sir and my opinions will never be bought.”
Honeycutt upheld his journalistic standards. He refused to cave to the puppet master’s threats. He ultimately sold the paper rather than compromise his integrity.
Around the same time, Mark McLaughlin edited the Cameron Citizen-Observer. McLaughlin faced similar pressure. He later admitted: “I had a conversation with my publisher. There was a strong sentiment arising from the community that wanted this to go away. There was a veiled statement that not doing so would result in a loss of advertising revenue.”
McLaughlin explained his publisher’s directive came from “discomfort of local business people and advertisers.”
Before the pressure, McLaughlin had written supportively. He called citizens who documented school district problems “bell-ringers”—watchmen standing guard and warning the community. He wrote that dismissing their concerns “would be a danger to all of us.”
After the pressure?
The Citizen-Observer stopped covering the book issue. It stopped covering other serious concerns that arose relating to the school district. McLaughlin’s supportive language disappeared.
The paper refused to print about an order of protection that a school district employee took out against a citizen documenting board issues. They also refused to print when that protection order was dismissed with prejudice in a court of law.
When the puppet master says make it “go away,” even court rulings favorable to citizens don’t get reported.
The accountability journalism didn’t just diminish. It disappeared.
Was it the same man who pressured both newspapers? Did the puppet master’s “discomfort” change McLaughlin’s language?
Two newspapers. Two editors. Same pressure. Same timeline. One refused and lost his paper. The other complied and kept his job.
Cameron’s city council moved forward with a water line project connecting to St. Joseph’s water supply. Voters reportedly rejected this project twice at the ballot box.
The council proceeded anyway.
The original estimate was $12 million with 27 cities participating. Current city council member John Feighert posted on December 22, 2025, in the Cameron Community Forum that he’s “guessing it will end up around $49-50 million.” That’s more than four times the original estimate.
Feighert added: “We will run people out of Cameron with these prices. I know a lot of seasoned citizens that cannot afford this and it will be a large burden on our businesses which means……. higher costs to us there as well or they just close down.”
Residents now pay double or more for water and sewer—for infrastructure they voted against twice. And the final bill keeps climbing.
Who benefits when voter referendums get ignored?
The Cameron R-1 School Board terminated middle school teacher Rachel Barlow in 2025. The board voted 4-1 to uphold her termination for allegedly failing to comply with an administrative directive. Two board members were not present.
Other employees violated similar or more serious directives. They kept their jobs.
Who decides which employees get fired and which get protected?
Citizens who document school board problems face escalating retaliation. They’re banned from school property. Prohibited from attending public meetings. Subjected to character assassination.
Public records requests meet systematic delay and resistance. Constitutional rights to record public meetings get restricted.
Dan Miller, the police chief, currently serves as Cameron’s interim city manager. The community has been vocal—multiple newspaper articles and numerous community forum posts call for his permanent hiring.
Yet months pass. The position remains “interim.” Despite overwhelming public support for a candidate already doing the job successfully, the city council hesitates.
What are they waiting for? Whose approval do they need?
The Pattern
These aren’t isolated incidents. This is a pattern.
When newspapers face financial pressure for accountability journalism.
When voters reject projects that proceed anyway.
When teachers get selectively terminated.
When citizens face retaliation for documentation.
When hiring decisions ignore overwhelming public support.
Someone is pulling strings.
The puppet master doesn’t attend board meetings. Doesn’t speak during public comment. Doesn’t need to.
The puppets already know what’s expected.
Why “Go Away”?
Remember McLaughlin’s admission? The puppet master wanted school district coverage to “go away.”
Not because the reporting was false.
Not because the concerns weren’t legitimate.
The school district never claimed the documented problems weren’t true. The community never disputed the facts.
The puppet master wanted it to “go away” because it was inconvenient. Because some knucklehead with money thinks accountability threatens his control. Because transparency exposes influence.
Truth doesn’t matter to puppet masters. Only compliance matters.
Why Does the Puppet Master Do This?
Money. Power. Control. Secrets. Ideology.
Maybe all of the above.
But here’s what matters: None of these justify using financial pressure to override democracy.
When one person determines what newspapers publish, which projects proceed despite voter rejection, who gets fired and who gets protected, and who gets hired—democracy becomes theater.
Elections become meaningless when the puppet master picks the puppets.
The April Choice
Three school board seats. Two city council seats. April election.
The city council seats matter too. One became available after Gina Reed resigned. Her resignation letter gave no reason, but the timing suggests it was related to her Third Street properties—a train wreck that left taxpayers responsible for tearing down buildings on her property.
Dan Miller, the police chief currently serving as interim city manager, has overwhelming community support for the permanent position. Citizens wore “Team Dan” shirts to city council meetings. Newspaper articles documented the support. The Cameron Community Forum is flooded with posts supporting Miller.
Yet the council hesitates. The community is left without knowing why Dan was passed over for the job. What are they waiting for? Whose approval do they need?
Voters can choose representatives who dance on command for the puppet master who doesn’t answer to voters. Or they can elect leaders who cut the strings.
Cameron can change this pattern. But only if voters demand candidates who state clear positions before election. Who commit to answering constituent questions. Who investigate rather than accommodate.
What questions should voters ask candidates before April?
Here are some examples:
For all candidates:
Will you commit to answering constituent questions after election?
Will you prioritize transparency over administrative convenience?
Do you have ties to the puppet master? Will you serve constituents or someone who never faces voters?
For school board candidates:
Do you believe citizens have a constitutional right to record public meetings?
Will you vote to investigate retaliation against citizens who document school board issues?
Do you support selective enforcement—firing some employees while protecting others who commit similar violations?
Who do you believe the school board serves—administrators or constituents?
For city council candidates:
Will you support Dan Miller’s permanent appointment as city manager based on overwhelming community support?
Will you explain why decisions get made behind closed doors without public input?
Will you commit to following voter referendums even when they conflict with other interests?
What questions do you think candidates should answer? These are just examples. Cameron voters should demand clear positions before election day.
Candidates who refuse to answer have already told you whose strings they’ll dance on.
April Will Tell the Story
Three school board seats. Two city council seats. One election.
The puppet master is counting on voters to choose candidates who won’t ask hard questions. Who won’t demand accountability. Who value “getting along” over transparency. Candidates who will make problems “go away.”
The puppet master is counting on voters to forget about Jamey Honeycutt’s newspaper. To ignore the water line voters rejected twice. To overlook the retaliation against citizens who document problems.
Maybe the puppet master is right. Maybe Cameron voters will keep electing knuckleheads who serve the man with money instead of constituents.
Or maybe enough residents are tired of watching their town get run by someone they never elected and can’t vote out.
April will tell the story.
The choice is simple: elect puppets or cut the strings.
Questions for Cameron
Does the community want puppet masters making decisions for them behind closed doors? Ignoring the will of the people?
Is there just one man pulling strings? Or are there several?
What drives them to make these decisions on our behalf? Money? Power? Control? Protecting secrets?
These are questions Cameron residents must answer for themselves.
A Challenge to Cameron’s Newspapers
The Cameron Citizen-Observer and the Clinton County Leader both know who threatened to pull advertising dollars if they didn’t make the school district problems “go away.”
Both papers have the facts. Both papers know the puppet master’s identity.
We challenge both newspapers to uphold their journalistic integrity. Share the facts. Let the community form their own opinions.
Reveal who used financial pressure to silence accountability journalism.
That way voters can ask candidates directly: Do you have ties to the puppet master? Will you serve constituents or the man who controls the strings?
But here’s the harder question for Cameron residents: Can you trust newspapers that decide what stories to print based on what their advertisers want?
When money determines coverage, is it still a newspaper? Or is it just another advertising platform?
Real journalism serves readers, not advertisers. Real journalism asks uncomfortable questions. Real journalism publishes truth even when it costs revenue.
McLaughlin admitted his publisher told him to make it “go away” because of advertiser pressure. He complied.
That’s not journalism. That’s public relations for whoever pays the bills.
The community deserves to know who really runs Cameron before they cast their votes in April.
A few-second Facebook reel video has now been viewed over 936,000 times. In it, Cameron resident Dan Landi asks a simple question at his own appeal hearing—a hearing where the school board was deciding whether to ban him from attending public meetings. He’d heard that public comments had been disabled on the live stream. Board member Pam Ice, leading the hearing that night, clearly heard him. She chose not to answer. Instead, she simply reconvened the meeting and moved forward as if he’d never spoken.
The video’s reach far exceeds our small following. I believe it resonates because it captures something Americans are tired of: elected officials who forget whom they serve.
For three years, residents have attended Cameron R-1 School Board meetings with legitimate questions about district decisions. Before each meeting, they’ve raised concerns about transparency, accountability, and the district’s compliance with state and federal law. In response, they’ve received silence, deflection, or—in Dan Landi’s case—a ban from future meetings.
This pattern isn’t unique to the school board. It extends to other local governing bodies where officials seem more interested in protecting their authority than serving their constituents. When Dan Miller applied for a city manager position and made it to the final two candidates, the city council chose neither finalist. Instead, they reopened the application process for a second round. The city council hasn’t commented on why both finalists were passed over or what criteria they’re now using. Voters who trusted these officials with this important hiring decision deserve to know how that authority is being exercised.
The problem begins before Election Day. In Cameron, candidates routinely campaign without taking clear positions on controversial issues. They’ll talk about how long they’ve lived in Cameron, their local businesses, their children in district schools. They’ll emphasize their roots in the community while avoiding any discussion of actual issues. What they won’t do is take clear positions on controversial questions or commit to specific governance principles.
Cameron deserves better from those seeking public office. Candidates for school board, city council, and other local positions should participate in public debates before elections. These debates would give voters the opportunity to hear candidates answer the same questions, compare their approaches to governance, and understand their priorities. A candidate forum where competing candidates must articulate and defend their positions would reveal far more about how they’ll govern than any campaign literature or yard sign. Voters could ask directly about controversial decisions facing the district or city and hear substantive responses. This isn’t an unreasonable expectation—it’s a basic standard that communities across the country employ to ensure informed voting.
Voters are left to choose based on familiarity and likability rather than governance philosophy or policy positions. We elect popularity, not principle. We select people based on who they are, not what they’ll do once in office.
This approach has predictable consequences. When we elect people without knowing how they’ll govern, we get officials who govern without consulting the people—or who only consult those who are politically connected or have some form of influence or power. When candidates don’t have to articulate positions during campaigns, elected officials don’t feel obligated to defend decisions once in office. The lack of accountability during elections creates officials who see no need for accountability while serving.
The 936,000 views on that Facebook reel tell us something important: people everywhere recognize what’s happening in Cameron because it’s happening in their communities too. They’ve watched their own questions ignored at school board meetings. They’ve seen their own city councils override voter preferences. They’ve experienced their own officials treating public accountability as an optional courtesy rather than a fundamental obligation of public service.
Voters deserve better. We deserve candidates who will answer questions before election day and after taking office. We deserve officials who justify decisions affecting our children, our tax dollars, and our community’s future. We deserve representatives who remember that “public servant” isn’t just a ceremonial title—it’s a commitment to transparency, responsiveness, and accountability to the people who elected them.
When Dan Landi asked whether public comments had been disabled on his own hearing’s live stream and received only silence before being banned from future meetings, he experienced in concentrated form what Cameron residents face routinely. The real question isn’t why that Facebook reel went viral. It’s why we keep electing people who think ignoring constituents is acceptable governance, and what we’re going to do about it this filing season.