Sound off for May 3
| Saturday, May 02 2009 09:02 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Jun 23 2009 12:23 PM
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Reader: I enjoyed reading Thursday's article about San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's bid for the Democratic nomination for governor of the state of California.
I am also looking forward to seeing the Republican gubernatorial candidate in color on the front page, feeling certain The Californian wishes to be viewed as unbiased in its political coverage to the local community.
-- Gayle Steele
Jenner: I'm sure you noticed the front page feature on Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, a Republican candidate for governor.
That story and photo ran on the front page of Friday's Californian, with the same prominence as the Newsom package.
Today you'll find front-page coverage of the state's Republican Assembly, which is meeting in Bakersfield this weekend. We'd asked for the chance to interview gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, but she couldn't schedule that on this visit; we'll try again on a later date.
We plan to sit down with Tom Newton, another Republican candidate for governor today, and we plan to run that story on Monday's front page.
I'm not sure why Newsom chose to visit Bakersfield this past week (the Republican candidates clearly came for the CRA convention), but the visits of these candidates gave us a chance to introduce them to our readers -- and to demonstrate to our readers that we really are committed to being fair in our political coverage.
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Reader: Regarding your April 27 B1 story ("County: 15% cuts are not enough"):
When are you people going to learn about government's standard Government 101 ploy?
First thing they learn in government -- when faced with a budget freeze or cut, threaten the citizens with the loss of teachers, deputy sheriffs, policemen or firemen.
When the citizens back off out of concern for education or public safety and pay more taxes, government goes back to the old wasteful ways of layers of bureaucracy; multiple staffers, information technologists and gofers, fancy office space, out-of-town conferences, training and junkets, and early, lucrative retirements.
And don't forget long lunches; multiple doughnut stops; and quiet paperwork/nap spots.
Let's hold government to "lean and mean."
Why don't you ask them what they plan to do to save money and improve service other than laying off front-line troops?
-- Ray Reilly
Jenner: You are absolutely right about elected and appointed government officials often "crying wolf" and describing dire, "worst-case" scenarios when faced with budget cuts.
But what do we do, not write what they're saying about the budget?
We have plans to analyze each county department's proposed budget within the context of what is actually submitted as the draft county budget.
If county officials were only trying to play the public through us, their words in stories like this one will come back to haunt them.
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Reader: I have come across your Opinion page several times reflecting a particular view. Instead of giving the views on both sides of the situation you give a one-sided opinion, too often, too frequently. I think that is in error. If I keep getting this kind of opinion from your paper I will cancel my subscription.
In the April 18 paper there were four political cartoons, all to the left and nothing to the right. Nothing explaining what the tea parties really were. It just frustrates me that you people can't see that there are two sides to every story and that you should be giving that.
Thank you very much.
-- Dave Gilliam
Editorial Page Editor Robert Price responds: It's true our cartoons didn't explain what the tea parties really were. We've never run explanations of the news references behind our cartoons, and I'm not sure I can recall seeing any newspaper that does that.
But your suggestion that our editorial cartoons are dominated by those with a liberal bent is actually not true.
Of the cartoons we published or will publish between March 15 and May 4, 21 were neutral, 14 were from a liberal point of view -- and 39 were from a conservative perspective.
I do agree with you that all four of those Saturday cartoons should not have been anti-tea party.
We'll try to mix it up better in the future.
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Reader: I just wanted to thank you for printing the total race stats for the April 25 NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Phoenix.
Fischer Communications Inc., which owns KBAK and FOX-KBFX stations is holding all dish satellite subscribers hostage for more money.
We've missed so much since Dec. 17 when we were cut off from those two stations -- the football playoff, golf tournaments, NASCAR races, as well as all the regular programming that we used to enjoy. You don't always provide the total race information and not everyone has a computer to access this information, myself included here in the dark ages.
My information comes from The Californian. I just wanted to thank you for printing it last week.
-- Ruth Frantz
Jenner: Thanks for your note, Ruth. Your praise made our Sports staff's day.
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Reader: Once again I find myself agreeing with Lois Henry's column that appeared April 22. It brings to mind an e-mail I received from a submarine shipmate regarding those agencies, both government and other, whose title includes the term "service." These include, but are not limited to, the following: Internal Revenue Service, Civil Service, telephone service, cable TV service, U.S. Postal Service, customer service, and State, City, County, and Public Service.
He indicated that the term service, as delineated in the aforementioned titles, was not what he thought the term meant.
However, he overheard two cattlemen talking, and one of them said he hired a bull to service a few of his cows.
At that moment it became abundantly clear to him what those agencies are doing to the American taxpayer.
-- Gene M. Bonas
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Reader: I'm calling to thank you for the prominent place where you put my letter on Sunday morning. We have had several calls for pickup -- the last one being Dr. Chuck Hall, who is giving us 200 of his audio cassettes, his collection of books on tape.
Writing in The Californian really does pay off.
Thank you.
-- Rosemary Pacini
This feedback forum is designed to give readers an easy way to voice criticisms and compliments or ask questions about news coverage. Your questions are answered by Editor Mike Jenner each Sunday.
