This is par for the course at the UT. The left hand forgets what the right one did yesterday. Remember the TOT initiative that was endorsed by the firefighters, hotels, police, labor, and arts community? They said that that initiative was bad because it earmarked too much of the money, taking flexible budget control from the Council. Sounded like a good argument. After the failure of the first initiative, the Council put a "no strings" TOT increase on the ballot, as the UT had suggested. The UT then editorialized that the initiative would give the politicians too much control over the money, and that the public needed to know where it was going. The UT editorial board can't be counted on for consistency, they just blow with the wind. Although I don't always agree with the Voice on their editorials, at least you folks are consistent!

Posted by CBW | reply to this comment
March 11, 2008 12:02 pm

Let's see---who are some elected officials that the U-T editorial board has endorsed enthusiastically (and in some cases multiple times besides Acle? Cunningham, Martinez, Atkins, Maeinschein, Vargas, Madaffer, Peters, Roberts, Stallings, Dumanis, Filner, Wear, etc. All of these named are ethically challenged to varying degrees. Is there little doubt as to which editorial staff, in San Diego, should be writing for Comedy Central? With all the U-T cuts, Bob Kittle and Burl Stiff still survive. I suggest that these two gentlemen switch jobs. Burl's Pearls on the Op-Ed section. Kittle's little Bittles on the snooty nosed society page.

Posted by Torrey Pines | reply to this comment
March 11, 2008 12:37 pm

This is classic U-T. Recall that they endorsed Aguirre. And Duke Cunningham. Their support for Acle was because he'd do Bersin's bidding -- and, for added value in their eyes, he was a former Reagan staffer. What was not to love about the guy back then?

Posted by reader | reply to this comment
March 11, 2008 12:52 pm

Interestingly, Burl Stiff is NOT an employee of the UT but an independent contractor.

Posted by insider | reply to this comment
March 11, 2008 1:18 pm

Insider is right. And there's debate over whether he receives pay or does it for the privilege of breathing the same air as Sally Thornton and Jeanne Jones. Seeing them in their Oscar de la Renta and Reem Acra creations makes life worth living, and for sustenance, he stands near the kitchen door and sneaks a canape from the help!

Posted by reader | reply to this comment
March 11, 2008 1:39 pm

Mike Aguirre. He's perhaps the most despicable of all. Of course, Aguirre was endorsed by the U-T before he was against it.

Posted by Torrey Pines forgot ... | reply to this comment
March 11, 2008 10:15 pm

The good news about all this is that we might get Richard Barrera on the school board! In their editorial, the U-T had one line about him, noting that "the only other candidate in District D is Richard Barrera, a union organizer." Say no more. For them, that's like saying the only other candidate is Satan. The rest of the editorial pleaded for someone else to jump into the race. Anyone who's met Richard knows he would be the best thing to happen to San Diego schools in a long, long time.

Posted by Kensington | reply to this comment
March 12, 2008 7:36 am

My personal favorite factoid about Luis Acle is his recent comment that he likes to engage in public service once every decade or so, that his (free ride) time at the San Diego Unified Board of Education takes care of years 2000-2010, and that he won't seek to appeal the ruling that he lacks sufficient signatures to be on the ballot. In 2004, when Acle also failed to get the requisite signatures, then-Superintendent Alan Bersin had the school district's own lawyer get involved in the appeal for candidate Acle. As for Union-Tribune endorsements, God giveth and God taketh away. They have grudgingly endorsed many liberals, at least once.

Posted by Fed Up | reply to this comment
March 12, 2008 8:36 am

Burl Stiff for mayor---at least we'll know what the movers and shakers are wearing, and how tasty their canapes are.

Posted by Fred | reply to this comment
March 12, 2008 10:34 am

I've known Luis since the sixies, having worked with him when he was a chemist at Teledyne and having kept in contact with him since then. I find him to be a very intelligent, hard working and honest man. He's spoken with me about the problems he incurred with his campaign personnel, and knowing him as long as I have, feel he is being unjustly crucified for what he sincerely believes was not morally wrong. I can only hope that justice will prevail and that he will truly be found to be the man I know him to be. (And I'm a Democrat!!)

Posted by David Rethoret | reply to this comment
July 14, 2008 12:14 pm

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