A Swing And A Miss
8:40 AM - Link to this article.
In an editorial today titled "Lobbyists' case shows flaws of mixing law and politics", the Mercury News takes a strong stand of condemnation against Pandorigate, and explains that it will immediately begin investigation into Pandori's actions and its own sycophantic coverage. And then Barbara Marshman was named Pope.
Of course, that's not at all what the editorial said. It said this.
Outrage at the lobbyist culture that permeated City Hall apparently clouded the judgment of then-District Attorney George Kennedy. At a minimum, Kennedy should have had a deputy other than David Pandori handle the investigation of lobbyists Tony Arreola and Sean Kali-Rai over fees for a housing development...Please allow me to translate.
In the end, the criminal prosecutions mostly have been a distraction. They were never necessary to make the point that lobbyist power was out of control in San Jose, or that public officials' striking secret deals and lying was wrong. Chuck Reed's decisive victory as mayor in 2006 - on a platform of high ethical standards, including lobbying reform - showed that voters got the point.
Despite the lack of evidence for our claims that lobbyist power was out of control, trust us - it was. I mean, come on! The voters got the point!That's much more refreshingly honest, don't you think?
Oh, and Pandori really is a good guy. This was Kennedy's fault, since he's retired. OK. Move along. That's it.
Not that we'd expect honesty and forthrightness from a newspaper that writes multiple articles about Chuck's beloved gambling without once, as journalistic ethics would dictate, mentioning that those same gambling institutions pony up for ad space.
But then, at least the Merc bothered to address the issue, unlike the good old boys at Obnoxious Blowhards. After all, Pandori is one of their own - a former employee of McEnery's, his chosen Mayoral candidate, the works.
It's a good sign that the Mercury News decided to respond at all, indicating that they recognize the story has traction. But it should be little comfort to the people of Santa Clara County, still served by Assistant District Attorney David Pandori, that a prosecutor could be allowed to appear to have his opponents arrested and face no punishment - much less, public investigation.
Dolores Carr understood, within weeks of taking office, the need to open the windows to remove the stench of the George Kennedy era. She understood that, at some point, voters really will get the point.
Labels: David Pandori, The Mercury News
5 Comments:
Not once did the Mercury News admit to endorsing the wrong person in the 2006 mayoral primary or for allowing McEnery undue influence with the editorial board in this endorsement deal (and several others.)
If elected, Pandori would have governed this city in a style similar to his work with the DA's Office - using unethical (and possibly illegal) uses of his governmental authority. His "win at all costs" attitude towards governing would have made Ron Gonzales look like Mother Teresa.
In this editorial, Marshman has made a good first step in reclaiming her paper's reputation. But, she has a long way to go towards rebuilding trust with a skeptical public that now realizes they were sold a bill of goods by their hometown newspaper.
The Merc insists in potraying the Gonzales Garbage Contract event as "clearly unethical;" guess they are trying to say they were not totally wrong on some things. But they have no idea how "clearly normal" that kind of activity really is. Anyone who has worked there knows it really is that way because, wow, people want to come and talk with the Mayor and Councilmembers about stuff. And private discussions are just that. There is just no way that we are ever really going to find out all the conversations Reed is having with everyone, and you know what, that is his right. Bottom line, yes, the Merc was wrong about Gonzales lawsuit too.
Not to mention the back room deal Chuckles made with the casinos!!!!
It is beyond amazing to me that the Merc continues to be an old world establishment. You can see their death grip holding onto the past. The next couple of months will show us what the DA has been doing and the paper cannot acknowledge the role they played in discrediting people of color in our community. Why is is that the brown, working class people are always corrupt and their friends from the rotary are always right. it is going to take the national attention that will be coming for the community to demand better.
The Reed/Chavez race was unquestionably marked by racism or, if you like, national origin bigotry. I remain surprised that no one will own up to this.
The whispering unleashed by Reed, Ajlouny, and persons connected with the Chamber persuaded me that this was going on shortly after the mayoral primary in 2006. I also have little doubt that part of the Merc's motivation in smearing Gonzales was to avoid the capture of the mayoral office by a Latina.
This is interesting on several levels.
(1) It shows that this phenomenon is one of those "see no evil, hear no evil" things that everyone keeps quiet about.
(2) It shows that some kind of "white power" phenomenon was hard at work during the general election for mayor and possibly included Kennedy and Pandori.
(3) It means that the diverse white community in San Jose is commanded by people on the sly and for the most awful reasons.
In this day and age when most people identify with one or other demographic group, it is astounding that Latinos, African-Americans, and Asian-Americans can organize themselves like a political party, but the diverse white American population may not speak of it even though it is pounded into our heads by the Merc every day in some way.
That is, the diverse white American peoples are told to shut up, but in fact leadership positions exist on the sly and are exercised for the worst of all possible reasons.
Now that we have been informed by the Merc that demographics are relatively evenly split into three umbrella groups in San Jose, it behooves the diverse white American residents in San Jose to take some thought and ask whether this should be brought forward as a topic for discussion or whether the Kennedys, Pandoris, and other usual suspects should continue to manipulate the diverse white American voters with sly code phrases and bizarre, politically-inspired criminal charges.
This is, of course, unthinkable to the Merc and the existing "white leadership elements," but it is high time to figure out ways that will allow the diverse white Americans living in San Jose to have some say in goals, leadership, cross-cultural cooperation, etc., that characterize every other major demographic group.
Again, part of the reason for Kennedy, Pandori, et al., getting away with the bigoted campaign against Chavez is that they slyly sought to put themselves at the head of a demographic group and manipulate its perceptions and feelings without owning up to their use of demographic changes.
If everyone in San Jose is to be organized into demographic-political parties for electioneering purposes and cross-cultural deal-making, let's figure out how to do it based on good motives, not the worst of motives.
In my day, I've voted for Blanca, Ron, Cindy, Ben, Kansen, and other people of color, and I've worked with Vietnamese-, Chinese-, African-, and Mexican-American groups so I see how this is going.
The diverse white American residents need to overthrow those who illegitimately use race and bigotry to divide us.
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