The janitorial union threatened to strike.
Posted on 09/21/2003 5:00:02 PM PDT by churchillbuff
Free Weintraub! An item posted by estimable Sacramento Bee blogger Daniel Weintraub annoyed the state legislature's Latino caucus, which "protested in a letter to Bee Publisher Janis Besler Heaphy," according to this Bee ombudsman report. ... The Bee apparently caved, according to the ombudsman:
The Bee has instituted some reforms. Weintraub's blog now goes to the editorial page editor or his deputy before it's posted on sacbee.com.
So now readers of Weintraub's blog are not getting his unfiltered, up-to-the-moment thoughts. They're getting the thoughts that are approved by an editor--an editor who is now well aware of how sensitive the Bee is to complaints from powerful constituencies. ... Or some powerful constituencies, at least. ...
"The Bee got a further lesson ...recently when columnist Daniel Weintraub included a contentious statement in his Sept. 1 Weblog, which is posted on sacbee.com.
"Weintraub wrote that Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante "certainly owed his elevation to the job of Assembly speaker to his ethnic background and to the support he received from fellow Latinos. If his name had been Charles Bustmont rather than Cruz Bustamante, he would have finished his legislative career as an anonymous back-bencher."
"Further, he alleged, "it's indisputably true that the Legislature's Latino Caucus advocates policies that are destructive to their own people and to greater California, in the name of ethnic unity." The caucus protested in a letter to Bee Publisher Janis Besler Heaphy.
"Make what you will of Weintraub's statement, and of the caucus' protests. No matter what I or anyone else thinks, he has every right to analyze the political scene and reach those conclusions. But no newspaper should publish an analysis without an editor's review. That doesn't necessarily mean that Weintraub's blog should have been reworded, but an editor should at least have had the opportunity to question his conclusions.
"Since these incidents came to light, The Bee has instituted some reforms. Weintraub's blog now goes to the editorial page editor or his deputy before it's posted on sacbee.com. ...
The janitorial union threatened to strike.
CA Gov. Gay Doofus "beseeches" papers to do his dirty work
Sacramento Bee ^ | 5-21-03 | Margaret Talev
Posted on 05/23/2003 9:56 PM PDT by Texas Eagle
Davis condemns Issa's recall drive
By Margaret Talev
Bee Capitol Bureau Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Gov. Gray Davis, chastising a Republican congressman funding an effort to oust him from office, said Tuesday that the recall movement against him is a misplaced use of the constitutional replacement procedure. In an interview with The Bee editorial board, Davis said Rep. Darrell Issa is simply seeking an easy path to the Governor's Office without adequate grounds for a recall.
"A recall is supposed to be for some abuse of office -- 'Something outrageous has happened and we have to recall him,' " Davis said. "It shouldn't just be, 'Oh I want to be governor, here's a cheap way for me to go in the back door rather than to go in the front door like everyone else.' "
Issa has defended his $100,000 contribution to found Rescue California, a committee attempting to qualify the recall for an election. He and other Davis critics say the Democratic governor is to blame for the state's financial situation. Issa also has defended his interest in running for governor.
The state's constitutional recall provision was envisioned by early California reformers as a tool to let voters fight back against corrupt government. The document itself is silent, however, on factors that might prompt a recall election.
"Our recall ... doesn't require high crimes and misdemeanors," Issa said in an interview last week. "It's not an impeachment, and it's not done by the Legislature. It's done by the people in a pure, democratic system."
Davis also said Tuesday that the recall threat has not impaired his ability to talk tough with Democrats, Republicans and various powerful interests whom he might alienate in the course of trying to close an estimated $38.2 billion state budget hole.
While California's numbers are the largest, Davis has repeatedly noted that tumbling stocks and a weak national economy this year have handed states their worst collective financial crisis since World War II.
"I feel confident that people are not going to buy into (a recall)," Davis said. "Everyone knows these are difficult times."
Davis last week revised the state budget he introduced in January, significantly reducing the cuts to local government and public schools he had proposed to eliminate the shortfall in one year. He also reduced the amount of tax revenue he hoped to extract from tribal casinos.
His new plan instead suggests financing much of the shortfall over several years by raising the sales tax. He maintained Tuesday that this was not a political consideration, but a pragmatic one.
"If I'm fortunate enough to serve out my term, it's going to be with me for the next three years," he said of the shortfall. " ... I wanted to bite the bullet, because I thought maybe we'd have three positive years. But the Legislature wouldn't go along with it."
Davis acknowledged he may not have the political capital to broker a budget deal on his own.
He beseeched newspaper editorial writers to use their bully pulpits to single out lawmakers not willing to cooperate with him.
He said he would be asking the same of chambers of commerce, environmental organizations and other special-interest groups whose opinions can influence individual legislators.
"We shouldn't let someone off the hook, be they a liberal Democrat or a conservative Republican, who says, 'Oh, I'm just not cutting anymore,' or, 'I'm just not going to vote for a tax increase,' " Davis said
"I would just list names, and say, '(Republican Assembly leader) David Cox, (GOP Senate leader) Jim Brulte. ... Why are we paying your salary just to say no? Do something constructive to help us out of this mess."
"I think it's fair to ask everyone, 'What are you doing to contribute to the solution of this immense problem?' " Davis said. "I get held accountable when things go wrong." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About the Writer --------------------------- The Bee's Margaret Talev can be reached at (916) 326-5540 or mtalev@sacbee.com.
But SEIU is just another Dem flack organization, chock-full of Illegals.
It also has its hooks in private industry.
And the local in LA is largest Mexican union in the United States. That's right a US union managed and controled by citizens of a foreign nation.
Gilbert Cedillo's old stomping grounds and power base.
I enjoyed his blog posts that have appeared on FR, and he seems to be pretty accurate. If the blog is not part of his work for the SacBee, he should simply publish his blog elsewhere, perhaps under a pen name. If the blog is part of an effort to increase Bee readership or something, then it's up to them to decide what is in their best business interests.
September 21, 2003.Posted at 8:00 AM
MEMO TO THE BLOGOSPHERE: WEINTRAUB MUZZLED. MEMO TO BEE REPORTERS: DON'T MESS WITH CRUZ
Tony Marcano is the Sacramento Bee's "Ombudsman," one of those puffed-up titles that newspapers use to designate the guy allegedly in charge of the public's interest. I don't normally read columns by "Ombudsmen," but this morning's headline was too interesting: "Are Bee's standards for web lower than for print?"
What follows can only be described as part deception --Marcano buries his news-- part triumph of political correctness, and part incredible stupidity. Here's the key line:
"Weintraub's blog now goes to the editorial page editor or his deputy before it's posted on sacbee.com."
Daniel Weintraub is the paper's best political columnist and reporter. Moreover, he has become a national figure --a go-to resource for the national and international media covering the California recall. Weintraub's blog (see below, just about every day for the last month, for a citation to "California Insider") was a genuine innovation in journalism, a decision to move one paper into the new century by equipping its best talent with a computer and a mission to report in real-time, thus moving an old-media dinosaur out of the swamp. Weintraub has consistently delivered scoop after scoop and most of his postings have shaped the news cycle that followed. Only Mickey Kaus has matched Weintraub for impact on the race and only the Bee has a web-based following because of original content on the web.
Weintraub has written a lot of pointed commentary, much of it aimed at Arnold. I have disagreed with many of Weintraub's conclusions about the race and especially his criticisms of Arnold's campaign decisions, but never doubted they were honestly arrived at. I started putting Weintraub on the radio a month ago, and now seek him out daily for an update. We brawl over specifics, but he is on top of the race in its many dimensions.
The Bee's powers have now decided to start supervising Weintraub. Why? Because the Latino Caucus complained about one of his entries.
It is a tough entry, one that blasts Cruz Bustamante and the Caucus. Weintraub is an opinion journalist, and in this particular posting his opinions on Cruz and his colleagues are not high. In fact, it deserves that classic phrase of journalistic approval: "hard-hitting."
So the Caucus blasted back. Usually an editor then stands up for the columnist and the paper's independence, citing a long tradition of press vigilance over entrenched political power and the glory of the First Amendment.
Not this time. Keep in mind that Bee big boss Rick Rodriguez is the only Latino to head a major newspaper in the U.S., and that the Latino Caucus is a powerful force in the state. The Bee responded to the criticism by putting its best writer under close watch and by publishing a clipping that can be sent over to the members of the Latino Caucus. The Caucus gets a scalp and the paper sacrifices its integrity. Along the way a promising innovation in journalism gets trimmed.
All because a lefty politician and his pals don't like what a columnist wrote. What was Al Franken saying about right-wing media? And the gents at FAIR? Too bad Weintraub didn't know it is only safe to blast Republicans and their supporters. If he'd played by the standing rules of print journalism, he'd still have the freedom to blog on and make news with every entry.
We will never see what gets left on the Bee floor, but we know what got Weintraub assigned minders. It is a great bet that Weintraub won't be slamming Bustamante and the Caucus with the same fervor any time soon. Weintraub will still write what he believes, I am sure, but the editors know what displeases Rodrigues. And surely the message has gone out to the Bee's reporters: Lay off Cruz.
Writing the truth about the left at the Sacramento Bee will get you spanked by the Ombudsman and muzzled by Rodriguez. Another triumph for journalism.
(If you want OFF - or ON - my "Hugh Hewitt PING list" - please let me know)
September 22, 2003Posted at 3:05 PM, Pacific
How Appealing has lots of links on the Ninth Circuit. I watched the argument, and thought that Judge Kozinski gave a short course in how to be a judge --asking the best questions of both sides. I thought the lawyers --all four-- were not demonstrating effective technique in oral argument. It isn't like the judges are going to make up their minds based on the arguments, but there is benefit in trying to frame the single crucial issue. None of them left a lasting impression, which means wasted opporunities everywhere. Of course it was an 11 judge panel, which is out of the ordinary and presents a sprt of theater-in-the-round atmosphere, but none of the lawyers put anything on the table that was guaranteed to be a centerpiece of discussion at the conference that followed.
I am predicting a decision allowing a vote on the two recall questions and the two initiatitives on October 7. Judge Kozinski will not pass by the opportunity to write on Bush v. Gore, but Chief Judge Schroeder may vote with the majority to allow the lection in order to keep the opinion assignment to herself.
A 9-2 or 10-1 vote reversing the three judge panel wouldn't surprise me. Why? because not one judge mounted a vigorous defense of the three judges' reasoning. Not a good sign for them, but a very good sign for the law.
Posted at 5:50 AM, Pacific
FreshPotatoes has begun a Free Weintraub League, which is more icing since Mickey, Instapundit, Roger L. Simon, P&I, Infinite Monkeys and others have all rallied. Of course the fact that the Sacramento Bee is surrounded by a legion of bloggers banging their spears has no practical effect, just an underlining of the fact that the editors and publisher are dopes and will forever be known as dopes. "Oh, the Bee said that? Isn't that the bunch of geniuses that decided to "edit" the only feature that brought it national attention?"
The Bee also started, heh, a group blog among its editorial board members, which will be among the most ignored sites on the web. Their slogan: "Get the scoop on what the Latino Caucus thinks!" I have written before that no one starts out in life hoping to end up an anonymous writer of unread editorials. Why would we read the flagship blog of the easily intimidated?
So the Bee has a New Coke moment on its hands. I predict it will do nothing because it isn't selling the product that has been impaired. It sells its monopoly status to advertisers in the area, not the quality of its writing or news-gathering. A second-rate paper that could have made a run for first rate instead chooses to go third rate because the Latino Caucus barked.
A fine day in journalism. They will be teaching about this for some years to come, in the class for stupid editors in training.
The smart move would be for the New York Times or Washington Post to hire Weintraub away, assuming he is not so happy with this development. Of course the Lost Angeles Times should do the same, but the Times doesn't know what blogging is.
Daniel Weintraub
Sacramento Bee Columnist
(916) 321-1914
Daniel Weintraub
Where do I donate to the Pro-McClintock/for Cruz Foundation ?? ... < /sarcasm >Please, no flames ...
A Texan ... from the outside lookin' in ...
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