By Wayne Lusvardi
When it comes to news coverage of candidates running for local office the Pasadena Star News apparently has a racist, anti-Tea Party way of doing newspaper journalism. What else can you call it?
Take the recent story run by the Star News on March 23 about Sean Baggett, a Tea Party backed run-off election candidate for the PUSD School Board, and his past DUI record.
Juxtapose the coverage of Baggett with the non-coverage of the pending foreclosure of City Councilwoman Jacque Robinson’s family home in Pasadena that might have adversely affected her re-election chances on March 8.
James Behm, a supporter of candidate James D. Smith who ran against Councilwoman Jacque Robinson in District 1, sent me an email indicating he alerted Frank Girardot of the Pasadena Star News about Robinson’s pending foreclosure on Feb. 21 by email. Behm became aware of the foreclosure of Robinson’s family home through a public notice published in the Pasadena Weekly. Behm says that he read in the newspaper that Girardot was on vacation at the time.
But on March 3, the Pasadena Sub Rosa blog broke the story that Robinson’s family home was in foreclosure with $626,000 in liens against it for a home estimated to be worth $509,000 by Zillow.com and listed for sale for $464,990. How do you explain the Star News failing to cover the story at that time as well?
The Councilwoman Robinson foreclosure story wasn’t newsworthy to the Star News but the Sean Bagget DUI story was.
Robinson’s foreclosure was of open public record; Baggett’s DUI record was of public record but had to be dug up by a records search. You would think that a City Councilwoman who had bragged about being selected to attend an academy on foreclosures on the City’s own website and had her own home in foreclosure would be a story of interest to the public.
Was Councilwoman Robinson sent to this “Foreclosure Academy” with City funds to help her out of her financial troubles? We don’t know and it would probably take a subpoena of records to find out. Will Robinson be bailed out by President Obama’s foreclosure bailout program? Or will the unions that supported Robinson find a way to bail her out and thus buy her vote? That one of a city’s own elected leaders is facing foreclosure is a story that would be of interest to the public. But no coverage.
The Star News has a record of antipathy toward the Tea Party. Back on Aug, 19, 2009, Public Editor Larry Wilson was one of the first in the nation to mock the Tea Party, calling them “Wingnuts,” a term that went half way around the world before anybody in the Tea Party could put on a Revolutionary War hat (to paraphrase Mark Twain).
Wilson has always been quick with disparaging satire against conservatives or any non-elites. And satire is a way to influence public opinion. It’s a way for elites who control the press to keep common people in their place.
But how did the Tea Party come into being in the first place? They arose because there is no voice for the common people. And there certainly is no newspaper to give them a voice in Pasadena.
Public Editor Larry Wilson’s function in the Pasadena power structure is as a cultural gatekeeper, who makes sure that no one who is a commoner can get into public office or have any influence on public issues. This is why he is popular with community elites and his weekly column always is name- dropping to stroke the egos of other elites. Wilson knows how to play the game.
It is interesting that one of the frequent charges thrown at Tea Partier’s is that they are “racist.” But what do you call the Star News’ apparent refusal to cover the Jacque Robinson foreclosure story but “racist?”
The Star News’ failure to cover the Robinson foreclosure story is hypocritical for a newspaper that touts itself as a supporter of “open” government, compliance with the Freedom of Information Act, and California’s Sunshine Law.
The point above is not to disparage Councilwoman Robinson in return, who sadly appears to have enough problems of her own. Rather, it is to put some sunshine on the newspaper institutions in our community, which are all controlled by cultural elites. Like the old Roman Empire, the commoners need a tribune. But they won’t find one with the Pasadena Star News or San Gabriel Tribune.
I am very grateful that Sub Rosa is covering this story, especially as the PEF/Dreier-Comrade crowd with their pathetic Facebook accounts and nasty sinister comments have been ganging up with impunity on the Sean Baggett PSN article. Which by the way the Star-News has conveniently kept posted for an extra-long, longer-than-usual time.
Posted by: Felicia C. | March 25, 2011 at 09:42 AM
Wayne - thanks for all you do. To me the Selinske smear campaign has it's roots in TT Bond money. The last thing the interested parties want is a motivated person getting on the Board that they cannot control. This is what those people do when money they consider to be their own could be put into jeopardy. Ugly people use ugly tactics. Selinske is one of them.
Posted by: John Crawford | March 26, 2011 at 12:13 PM
How is it a smear when someone's actions are being reported?
Posted by: Fred | April 15, 2011 at 03:02 PM
Reply to Fred's question:
How is it a smear when someone's actions are being reported?
It is a smear when:
1. Other elected officials have the same or similar legal record as Sean Baggett but the newspapers never stated that they were unqualified to run for office. Why?
2. It is racist to single out Mr. Baggett and not mention other public officials who have similar legal records but are considered in a "politically correct" protected category.
3. It is a smear when a newspaper insinuates that a candidate is a felon when his reckless driving infraction is a misdemeanor.
4. It is a malicious smear for a newspaper to report statements by PUSD Board Members that Mr. Baggett will be banned from visiting school campuses as an alleged sexual predator when he is NOT been charged with any such crime.
5. It is a smear when these other elected officials who have similar legal records are shown in photos visiting Pasadena school rooms but the Board of Education never banned them.
Posted by: Wayne Lusvardi | April 16, 2011 at 10:20 AM