Would you rather not know?

For 10 months now, The St. Catharines Standard and its sister papers The Niagara Falls Review and The Welland Tribune have been reporting on the process that saw Carmen D’Angelo hired as Niagara Region chief administrative officer.

And the revelations keep coming.

The latest twist, published earlier this week, revealed that in July 2018, D’Angelo — already under fire for his actions during the hiring process — was feeling “brutal” pressure.

Was he kicking himself for things he had done?

No, just blaming regional councillors for making him the victim of what he called a “proxy war” between different factions.

Whatever.

What’s also notable is that as the story continues to unfold, some councillors and others who are involved blame the media for causing this mess.

At that meeting back in July, The Standard learned, at least two councillors — current member Bob Gale and former member Bart Maves — claimed the press was working for only “one side” of the issue.

“It’s all political. We’re here because of the newspaper,” Maves is heard saying in a recording provided to the newspaper from that closed-door meeting.

Trust us, he wasn’t throwing bouquets to the press.

But his words could be taken for praise — that is, if you believe a newspaper should inform the public when Region staff unfairly favour one candidate in the search for a new CAO.

It could be construed as praise for reporters, if you’re glad The Standard informed readers that the former regional chairman unilaterally, without informing council, later amended and extended D’Angelo’s contract for three years, and threw in a rich parachute clause to boot in case council fires him.

And if the media really is reporting only “one side” of this issue, what is the other side?

Are they saying there were good reasons for giving D’Angelo advance access to interview questions and other documents when he was one of five candidates to be CAO?

We’d love to hear them, if there are.

In August, provincial ombudsman Paul Dube announced his intention to investigate D’Angelo’s hiring and contract.

Dube may well report that everything was on the up and up; maybe his study will end with the conclusion that this was all smoke and no fire.

But six months in, Dube hasn’t called it off, and in fact is still digging.

Late last month, his staff were at the offices of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority as part of their ongoing inquiry into the D’Angelo hiring.

And “one side?” How can anyone who refuses to answer a reporter’s questions or return his phone calls claim they are being mistreated?

For every single story in its investigation that’s been titled All The Chair’s Men, Standard reporters have contacted the people involved, to give them the chance to tell their side of the story.

That’s called being fair, to that person and to the reader, who deserves to have as much information as can be gleaned in order to make up his or her own mind.

No doubt, D’Angelo has felt himself under tremendous pressure these past few months. The strain at times must feel immense. But he only has himself to blame for that.

He and others around him can blame the “leaking” of information to reporters for stories they don’t like. But whistleblowers play an important role in a democratic society.

Some people don’t like the way this issue has been reported. That’s their right.

You’re the reader. Ask yourself: Are you better off for what you’ve learned from these stories?

Or would you rather not have been told?