Hunting season in California officially opens on Tuesday. But on Sunday, Santa Barbara News-Press editorial page editor Travis Armstrong got off some early shots at city council candidate David Pritchett.
Feigning pity for Pritchett, Armstrong claims that the candidate has been in a "meltdown." "You almost have to feel sorry for him," writes Armstrong. "He wants so badly to be on the Santa Barbara City Council. But his campaign is crashing and burning as more people distance themselves from the guy."
Uh, like who? If anyone did try to put some space between themselves and Pritchett, it certainly wasn't reported in the News-Press. Also certainly not reported in the News-Press was the fact that last week, Pritchett picked up a big-name endorsement, that of former county supervisor Susan Rose.
Armstrong points out that Pritchett failed to get the endorsement of the local Democratic party pointing out that the party, "picked someone else." Armstrong never told his readers who that "someone else" was. And, as far as I can tell the News-Press has yet to report on its news pages that the Demo's endorsement went to Harwood "Bendy" White who joined Grant House and Diane Channing who had earlier gotten the party's nod.
Of course the fact that Armstrong has Pritchett in his cross-hairs should hardly come as a surprise. In a town where a lot of people have voiced their opposition to what the News-Press has become under the ownership of Wendy McCaw, Pritchett has been among the most vocal and most prominent. So it's little wonder that making sure that Pritchett gets defeated appears to be high on Armstrong's and the News-Press' to do list.
In that same op-ed column Armstrong takes a parting shot at Hap Freund, who late last week announced that he would be leaving his post as executive director of the Santa Barbara Channels at the end of the year. (In the past, the Santa Barbara Channels has shown the documentary Citizen McCaw.)
Armstrong writes:
The Channels must be reformed to become a forum for civil community discussion, without the use of resources devoted to going after entities or people that those in charge dislike.
Hmmm. Now let me get this straight. The Santa Barbara Channels shouldn't do what Armstrong just did to David Pritchett?
Seems like Armstrong is one of those hunters who aims at his game and ends up shooting himself in the foot.
Kind of like that other well-known hunter, Elmer Fudd.
© 2009 by Craig Smith and www.craigsmithsblog.com
