The addition of Ley increases the size of CCT’s staff, offers opportunity for expanded news coverage
Clark County Today has added to its staff with the hiring of Camas resident John Ley as a full-time news reporter.
Ley is a well-known Clark County resident, having generated many stories and opinion pieces published by Clark County Today over the past four years. Ley has also served the community as a citizen representative, speaking out against wasteful spending and fighting for common sense transportation solutions. He first became involved in issues impacting area residents during the debate over the Columbia River Crossing.
“I’ve long admired John’s persistence and tenacity in doing ‘deep dive’ investigations into the actions and decisions of elected officials and those representing government agencies and other institutions and municipalities,’’ said Clark County Today Editor Ken Vance. “It takes a tremendous amount of time and energy to get to the bottom of those important issues. As other media organizations are forced to reduce staff due to limited revenue and resources, I am thrilled to be increasing the size of our staff with a reporter that will help us continue to examine the actions and decisions of our elected officials and community leaders.’’
Vance also stated that the hiring of Ley represents the growth of Clark County Today’s audience and an expansion of its commitment to provide area residents with vital news content at no cost or limitations to the reader. In recent months, Clark County Today’s viewership has expanded to as many as 202,000 unique monthly visitors and a high of more than 800,000 monthly page views.
“We will never charge area residents to access our website or view our content,’’ stated Vance, who under the guidance of Owner/Founder David Madore orchestrated the launch of Clark County Today in September 2016. “Our staff members couldn’t be more thrilled with the response we’ve received from loyal readers of our free content.’’
Ley, who recently retired after 31 years as a pilot with Delta Airlines, has been a loyal reader of Clark County Today’s content since the website was launched.
“Clark County had long-needed a new source for news and I was thrilled to see Ken Vance put together a great team of people to offer Clark County Today to area citizens,’’ Ley said. “My retirement from flying now allows me to dig even more into issues important to local citizens. My past interaction with Clark County Today has been wonderful. They appreciate a ‘deep dive’ into issues and their digital platform allows for multimedia to be included. That deep dive is my forte and I appreciate the opportunity to do so with the Clark County Today team.’’
Ley has been passionate in recent years in advocating for Clark County citizens. Now, he will make the transition to focusing on informing those same citizens.
“We face significant issues in our region,’’ Ley said. “The resurrection of the CRC, our state’s economy in lockdown causing a record $8.8 billion budget shortfall, our children unable to attend school in classrooms, and more — all deserve additional coverage. I welcome the opportunity to add to the reporting and future news broadcasting by Clark County Today.’’
Ley is a resident of Camas, so he will also serve as a valuable addition to Clark County Today’s coverage of east county.
Ley was a pilot for Delta Airlines for over 31 years before his retirement this summer. Prior to Delta, he served in the U.S. Air Force for more than 11 years. Ley flew multiple airplanes for Delta, visiting exotic destinations all around the world. He retired as a B-767 Captain.
Ley also ran for the Washington State Legislature twice, a representative position in 2014 and for the State Senate in 2020.
With Ley’s addition, the Clark County Today staff expands to eight members. In addition to Vance and Ley, that staff includes reporters Paul Valencia, Chris Brown and Jacob Granneman, graphic designer/webmaster Andi Schwartz, photographer/videographer Mike Schultz and Administrator Heidi Wetzler.
