I thought Suzanne Bellsnyder had more integrity

Than to be bought and paid by Gina Hinojosa. Or, even more, to not disclose it.

Sadly, Monty Bennett's Dallas Express broke the story on Bellsnyder, who is the publisher of the Sherman County Reporter, a former Republican Lege staffer and runner of a profitable Substack, ran an op-ed in the Dallas Morning News supporting Ginojosa.

But, rather than a Republican disgusted with Strangeabbott? This:

The Dallas Morning News continues to display Suzanne Bellsnyder’s endorsement of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa despite acknowledging that Bellsnyder had an undisclosed paid consulting relationship with Hinojosa’s campaign. Financial records show the campaign paid Bellsnyder’s firm $57,000 in 2026.

Oops. 

And, Bennett is also right on the Snooze being wrong for not hauling down the online version.

I have no problem with Bellsnyder endorsing Ginojosa. 

I have huge problems with her not disclosing that she was, essentially, paid to write that op-ed. I have big enough problems with her not disclosing the paid consultancy in general.

It's a matter of journalistic ethics, since she runs a traditional newspaper as well as a Substack. And, she's probably getting roasted in Sherman County. 

I've had previous reasons to say "gack" to her as a newspaper publisher, and as a pseudo-environmentalist. 

And, perhaps it's because it was written after she got busted, but her Substack yesterday had just a voting guide with no endorsements.  (The guide was pretty bare-boned, too.)

The money? Chump change with what Elmo's spending.

The reach? Judging by the number of comments on most posts on her Substack, maybe not that many. That said, this summer, she had an apparently paywalled piece about Ginojosa. And, I'm not sure how much her Substack overlaps with the semi-syndicated columns she does for other newspapers. Was she paid for that? What else?

As for the overlap? If it's too tight, that may be an instance of self-plagiarism. And yes, such a thing is also talked about in journalism. And, her Nov. 2 voting guide piece appears to be a word-for-word of the column she sent out to newspapers last week; I checked one. (I don't run it myself.) Personally, I have once or twice dropped an EDITED version of a column of mine on Substack. Never here, because I can put it behind the paywall at Substack. And, it's always been non-political stuff, and non-time-sensitive stuff, so I can delay it, oh, 2-3 weeks.

Finally, from my own investigative side, why just Hinojosa? Does Bellsnyder think Talarico's brand of Christianity is a no-go vs. Paxton? That Vikki Goodwin wanting to legalize marijuana is a no-go against Dan Patrick? 

Further downballot, she clearly favors at least one Republican, Nate Sheets, versus Clayton Tucker, in the ag commish race, per this post.