Blum Letter in The Independent
Just a note to check out Mayor Marty 'The Slugger' Blum's letter in The Independent today where she calmy defends much of what has been thrown at her by the media -- specifically some of what was written about her in the endorsement The Independent gave her a week ago. Kudos to The Independent for publishing the letter when if one didn't know better -- the News-Repress has never gotten a letter of support for Mayor Blum. Hopefully, the letter will be online soon as one can link to the The Independent without a subscription (unlike the old-school economics business being run at De la Guerra Plaza).
posted by Sara De la Guerra | 11/03/2005 07:34:00 PM
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14 Comments:
Typical Slugger. Forgets to talk about the positive reasons why she was endorsed but she takes her own time and space in the paper to repeat and remind us all why we worry about here and what she has done.
Oh my - oh my. Good she reminded us that it was her remarks that sparked the multi million dollar law suit against the city in the Janeway case. Slugger is up to bat and is striking out in a t-ball game.
The links at the Independent web site are screwed up from the home page. The way to find the current stuff is first to go the the cover story via the picture of the cover... then the links usually are current from there.
Here is the correct Blum letter link:
http://independent.com/opinions/letters989.htm
The Blum letter actually seems to be addressing specific points in the Independent news feature article from last week (issue 988, Oct. 27, page 28) with the headline "Foregone Conclusion".
That article was buried in the issue after all the other features, and seems weird for a news article about the mayoral election to be published AFTER their endorsement and only 12 days prior to election day. The editors at Independent seem to be slipping.
Here is the letter by Marty Blum in Santa Barbara Independent. It definitely is responding to the news article last week, NOT the editorial two weeks prior:
Mayoral Misprints
Thank you, Indy, for the endorsement in my re-election as mayor. I look forward to the next four years with great enthusiasm. While your profile of me pointed out that my campaign is doing well, there were some blaring inaccuracies which I will attempt to clear up. I would not have said people drown on sidewalks. That doesn't make sense. The reference is to an interview with an aggressive reporter looking for headlines. The sentence was taken out of a larger context, twisted to make me look unfeeling and mean, neither of which I am. It was repeated over and over until the News-Press believed I actually said this. The Indy is perpetuating the myth that I said this as a standalone statement.
My criticism of the News-Press is only of the editorial writers, not the entire paper. I believe the news side is fine. There are many excellent reporters, including Josh Molina, and I have the utmost respect for Jerry Roberts's management of the paper. When I first heard about the fire and police fundraiser, I declined because there was an important meeting of mayors in Wisconsin that I was committed to attend. I certainly did not find something to go to so I could not attend the dinner. I had attended the year before. Tickets were $200, not $250, which I paid for the good cause even though I could not be there. No one told me I would receive a complimentary ticket. My comment as reported in the News-Press was less than 5 percent of the story, which was about Dr. Secord wanting to choose his own charity, Middle School, rather than the Fire and Police Scholarship Fund. I only remarked that, at $200, it was hard for Joe to go also.
I do not think having the Council chambers full of police officers was "scary." I did not use that word, and it's not something I would have said. I did think it was unnecessary to pack the chambers when their raises and bonuses were a foregone conclusion. Thank you for the opportunity to clear up the record.
-Mayor Marty Blum
The correct quote, its true, was not "drowned on the sidewalk" it was "died on the sidewalk". But keep going. It works so well for you to keep talking about it.
Thanks Valerio for clearing up the article reference -- and anonymous #1 for reprinting the letter. I, too, wondered about the timing on the article versus the endorsement.
Anonymous #2 -- yes, conventional wisdom would say don't remind the voters about these issues but the News-Press could have given her this opportunity a long time ago and did not. Travis Armstrong has shown a long history of being the attack dog and exerting paranoid control over his editorial pages. BTW, Her comments didn't spark the law suit -- the incident did.
Blum has a right to defend herself whether or not the News-Press reports and quotes correctly or not.
In other news PUEBLO, they of the vote SOLAMENTE Channing and House crusade are now holding a press conference to announce they are OPPOSING FALCONE....tomorrow (11/4)at 12:30pm at City Hall...
Of course Mayor Blum can defend herself all day and rehash the mis facts. For one she did not pay for the roast until she was taken to task for her remarks in the paper - she paid about two weeks after the roast, but she says:
"Tickets were $200, not $250, which I paid for the good cause even though I could not be there."
Not sure what makes someone sue. For sure cold callous remarks do not help to calm a sad soul.
Actually Sara, you might remember that the News Press printed the letter Marty sent to her supporters attacking the News Press. They printed the complete letter in their Voices section. It was not edited and Marty was essentially given a full column to refute any "false" impressions. Her complaints wear thin especially when you have to strain to hear her through the foot in her mouth. Her own foot I might add. If you think that her reaction to the horrible incident had nothing to do with the lawsuit, you really haven't been paying attention to the parents in the case.
Keep going Dems, you are making us feel pretty good. Without a real Republican in the race it nice to watch you kick the hell out of each other. Doesn't cost us a dime.
The letter that was printed in the News-Press was to supporters and not meant for publication in the local newspaper -- and clearly was not meant to address the issues they keep on about. "Essentially given a column" leaves a lot of room for error here -- preaching to the choir is very different than being given a column in the paper. Also, just to be clear -- the lawsuit would have happened with or without the reported comments, that was the point.
If you've ever dealt with the press -- you'll know that context often gets thrown out the window. Yes -- The Slugger doesn't always make the best quote and should probably practice silence at times -- but Dawn Hobbes jumped on this one and cut it out of the conversation's context.
You guys are acting like her intent was next to murderous -- give me a break! We've all put our foot in our mouth at one time or another...
How do you know it was out of context? It is that you, Marty?
So giving her entire message to supporters, her entire position on the future of the city without edit in a paper and that is not good enough,
Grow up. It is so clear that so many News Press haters have a problem with authority figures. Get some help and leave the rest of us alone.
Marty is setting herself up for some LBJ, RMN and GWB type of second term with her tenuous grip on reality. Things will defintely get way ugly. Be careful what you will do anything to get. You might just get it. Very bad juju.
Everett Dirkson
Let's see: The News Press runs Marty's unedited nutletter about it's shortcomings, not to mention the foul odor not coming from the homeless but from the News Press and she is getting the short end of the stick? She picked the fight. You can't be Johnny Cash and then fall back on the Sally Field defense. Doesn't wash. Sluggorama.
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