Why The Sacramento Bee won’t be endorsing veteran Democrat Doris Matsui | Opinion
In the June California primary election, Rep. Doris Matsui will not be endorsed by The Sacramento Bee.
Our policy is not to endorse political candidates who refuse to meet with us, and Matsui, who has served Sacramento in the House of Representatives for 20 years, has refused two different options we’d repeatedly proposed.
The Bee had hoped to host Matsui and her most notable challenger, Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang, in a debate at our East Sacramento newsroom before an audience of Bee subscribers. Matsui declined.
Then, we hoped to have Matsui and Vang together in a virtual interview process. This is the same process that McClatchy Media opinion journalists are conducting with candidates in nearly 50 races across the state, from Placer to San Luis Obispo counties. When we have more than three candidates to interview in a race, we prefer to split them up so that we can ask more candidates more questions across the hour-long interviews.
If Matsui had accepted our invitations, she would have been appearing only with Vang. She declined.
Representing the 7th Congressional District, which includes downtown Sacramento and Elk Grove, Matsui did appear at a Thursday night forum held in the Elmhurst neighborhood in Sacramento. Joining her were Vang and four other candidates, two of whom are Republicans.
Vang, 40, is the first Democrat who holds political office and has the ability to raise real money to challenge Matsui, 81, since Matsui won the Congressional seat held by her late husband, Robert, in a special election in 2005.
Because Vang offers a challenge that Matsui has never faced before, there are undoubtedly political people in Sacramento who would say Matsui’s decision to reject our invitations was tactical.
When an incumbent sits with one other challenger, she is going to be pushed more than when appearing at a political forum where six candidates vying for attention allows an incumbent to stick to the script and let the others fight it out. That’s exactly what happened on Thursday night in Elmhurst.
We wanted to talk only to Matsui and Vang, because they have raised more money than any other of the candidates by far, and they also have the most name recognition. But we are also planning to interview Democrats Enayat Nazhat and Robby Morin, and Republicans Zachariah Wooden and Ralph Nwobi.
The underlying issue here is far greater than the interests of The Bee. I’m not aware of any other opportunity for the public to listen to the top two Democrats seeking this office. If Matsui had agreed to interview with us and Vang, we would have shared our virtual interview with our readers.
Matsui’s rejection represents a step backward in local democracy and election transparency. A member of Congress for 20 years should be able to walk into any room, meet with anyone and answer any and all questions.
Instead, Matsui is the most notable political candidate in California and the only frontline Democrat who has declined to meet with us.
When we interview candidates for office, we are not just representing ourselves. We are representing voters and citizens who will read our endorsements for information they need about the candidates and the issues. As the editor, my personal guarantee to all candidates is that they will be treated respectfully. We know it’s hard to run for political office, and those who do deserve our respect.
Through her actions, Matsui is saying that her political interests are more important than the interests of the public to hear from their political leaders. A candidate who refuses to participate is putting conditions on how accessible they will be with the public.
As someone who has worked at The Sacramento Bee for 36 years, I remember how Robert Matsui was always available.
Doris Matsui’s refusal to participate in a process she can’t control is a disappointing turn in a city where a Matsui has represented Sacramento in Congress for 47 years. It’s sad that’s the reason why we won’t be endorsing her.
