I couldn't help but notice the disparate treatment the News-Press gave to the announcements of the candidacies of Mike Stoker and Das Williams for the 35th Assembly District.
A while back I noted how the paper had given Stoker the front page-above-the-fold treatment in reporting his official announcement. On Wednesday Williams' announcement that he was running was buried at the bottom of the last page of the "A" section.
I figured Williams must have made his announcement in the back of some smoke-filled room and only told his closest friends. When I read Nick Welsh's story in this week's Indy I discovered that wasn't the case at all. Rather Williams made it official under "excruciatingly blue skies" in front of the east Sola Street fire station.
Also curious was the fact that the News-Press article quoted Republican Stoker for the reaction of the opposition rather than Susan Jordan, whom Williams will face off against in the Democratic primary.
As far as I know (and I could be wrong) Stoker is running unopposed in the Republican primary.
So why does the real contest between Williams and Jordan, the latter who recently got the endorsement of former State Senator Sheila Kuehl, get such short shrift from the News-Press?
Maybe Williams shouldn't have picked the unofficial two-week mourning period for Michael Jackson to announce his candidacy. Or is something else going on here?
A busy summer of work commitments has prevented me from attending the News-Press/NLRB hearing that's been going on at the Santa Barbara College of Law as frequently as I would have liked to. But Barney Brantingham has a good update at his Indy online column.
The proceedings are currently in recess until August 11.
© 2009 by Craig Smith and www.craigsmithsblog.com
