Picking Sacramento’s district attorney + Editorial board awards + Two US Senate races?
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I feel like I say this every Sunday, but: What a week.
Honestly, everyone on The Bee Editorial Board is pretty tired right now, but we’re also oh-so-proud of our endorsements this election season. Several departments in our newsroom came together. I know I’ve been talking about it a lot in the newsletter lately, but interviewing candidates, debating our options and writing editorials have been the vast majority of our work life for more than a month. It’s gratifying to see the product.
You can check out all of our endorsements for the June primaries with just a click.
Perhaps the most notable — and difficult — endorsement was the final one. On Friday, we published our choice for the hotly-contested Sacramento County District Attorney’s race between establishment candidate Thien Ho and outsider Alana Mathews. Find out who we endorsed here.
In other news...
Go On, Brush Your Shoulders Off
It began like any other Monday, but it wasn’t. Our new metro columnist, Melinda Henneberger, not only started working at The Bee, but she won a Pulitzer Prize before her email inbox was online.
Henneberger won after being nominated three years in a row, which is an incredible career achievement on its own. But she finally won this year for her Kansas City Star columns on Roger Golubski, a police detective accused of rape by multiple victims spanning decades.
She’s an incredible talent, and we feel lucky to have her on The Editorial Board. Her first two columns scrutinized Sheriff Scott Jones’ dog-whistle-filled political ad and the Rocklin Police Department’s suppression of information on a crash that killed an Inderkum High School student.
While we’re on the subject of awards, The Editorial Board has racked up two other honors recently: The first was an award from the Sacramento Press Club for Best Coverage of the California Recall “for two authored opinion pieces and one unsigned editorial.” (Full disclosure: I am a member of the Sacramento Press Club Board, but was not involved with the submission or the judging process.)
The second was the California Teachers Assocation 2021 John Swett Award for Media Excellence to Opinion Assistant Hannah Holzer for her work covering Placer County schools.
Seeing Double
Deputy Opinion Editor Josh Gohlke tackled a question many California voters had when they received their ballots this week: Why is Alex Padilla’s name on here twice? From that column:
“The nutty fix devised by California Democrats was a bill to bring about simultaneous elections to both the weeks remaining in the current term and the following full six-year term. Authored by Assemblyman Marc Berman, a Bay Area Democrat, it was passed along party lines and signed into law by (Gov. Gavin) Newsom last year. The powers that be want us to regard this as a harmless bit of legal i-dotting and t-crossing. Secretary of State Shirley Weber — who as it happens was appointed by Newsom to Padilla’s unexpired term — appended an unenlightening ‘Attention Voters’ note to the state’s official guide explaining that we ‘may vote for both contests.’… “
“But California Democrats could have avoided the confusion, followed the spirit of the Constitution and, most importantly, demonstrated a modicum of respect for voters by calling a prompt special election for the seat.”
Opinion of the Week
“”Increases in violent crime over the past two years have justifiably disturbed and frightened people across Sacramento County, the state and the country. That makes this race important and difficult. Our board spent hours with each candidate and was divided over whom to endorse. Our board is a reflection of our community.” — From The Bee’s endorsement editorial for the Sacramento District Attorney election. It’s a must-read.
Got thoughts? What would you like to see in this newsletter every week? Got a story tip or an opinion to tell the world? Let us know what you think about this email and our work in general by emailing us at any time via opinion@sacbee.com.
Hope you had a very happy National Dance Like A Chicken Day,
Robin Epley
