The Subject Is Character
Murgatroyd, where is a character trainer when you need him?
Is it time, yet, to exhume the bandleader Spike Jones to run for the City Council? Or to run the Timess Current section each Sunday?
Last Monday night in Council Chambers, City Councilman Steve Rose, with exceedingly minimal effort, squeezed a juicy chuckle out of the latest Albert (I May Run, I May Not, Then Again I May, Then Again Who Knows?) Vera story.
Kiss Me, Im Irish
When a candidate puts a sign on his back that reads, I Dare You to Kick Me, the fun-loving Mr. Rose finds it irresistible.
Mr. Vera, who has extensive property holdings across the street from the proposed South Sepulveda Boulevard redevelopment project, criticized the plan typically, inspecifically last week in the Culver City News.
The Answer Is
Mr. Rose, who owns property in the same area, found Mr. Veras crack curious, as he does many of Mr. Veras musings.
As he stood to recuse himself from discussion of a South Sepulveda agenda item, the clearly bemused Mr. Rose posed a question for the citys attorney. (Never mind that he already knew the answer.)
He inquired of Murray Kane whether, in the previous fortnight, the conflict-of-interest rule had been waived that barred nearby landowners from participating in agenda items in their area of conflict.
No Exceptions?
Everybody in Chambers, including Mr. Kane, realized that the whole room knew the answer. Mr. Rose just was being mischievous.
There was a tongue-in-cheek, Inside Baseball element to the story. Mr. Roses reward, at Mr. Veras expense, was a well-rounded laugh from the audience and his Councilmates.
Three of a Kind
Something similar is going on at the severely troubled, ADD Los Angeles Times.
Barney Fife meets Abbott and Costello in triplicate.
Almost hourly, damning new details surface about the op-ed pages scandal at the Times, and the slimy egg on the newspapers face is thickening and crusting.
Power Persons Knew About Couple
Ex-Times staffer Nikki Finke, now of the L.A. Weekly, helpfully reported many previously unknown details this morning at hollywooddeadlinedaily.com.
Her sources say that, contrary to their late-hour, my-golly-Ned behavior, people in power at the Times long have known abut Mr. Martinezs mussy personal life that caused cancellation of Sundays guest-edited Current op-ed section.
Why the instant piety?
Before explaining, here is context. The two professions that have produced the largest volume of liars in the last hundred years are upper-level politics and upper-level public relations.
Your Options
If you are shopping for a girlfriend, you would be far smarter to visit a whorehouse in any alley than to pick up a girl from a P.R. firm. The admitted prostitute likely will be of stronger moral character than the covert prostitute.
To recapitulate:
The following opinions, mine, are extrapolated from insightful reporting by Ms. Finke, ex-Times staffer Kevin Roderick (laobserved.com) and Patterico.com:
Heart Scores Over Mind
With his marriage on the skids last year, Mr. Martinez, the gatekeeper for the newspaper section that makes publicists mouths water, hooks up with a dame in public relations, one Kelly Mullens.
The greenest, least sophisticated journalist learns on his first day that, at risk of his career, he is never to become personally entangled with certain persons, starting with publicists.
Out of Bounds
Entanglement is dynamite because of appearances.
Nothing Einsteinian about it.
Why not gather 20 people under a rocket ship? Invite them to pitch lighted firecrackers at each other. My golly Ned, I wonder if anything would happen.
This was Mr. Martinez fatal mistake, leaping into Ms. Mullens lap. His fault, not anyone elses.
It is said that some suspicious persons with P.R. links have shown-up possibly innocently on the Times op-ed pages in recent months.
All About Timing
Still new on the job as section editor, and trying to make a good impression, Mr. Martinez came up with what he thought was a capital idea:
Have a celebrity periodically serve as editor of the Sunday op-ed section.
The igniting factor in this latest of numerous ethical conflicts at the Times is that Ms. Mullens P.R. firm represents the ditzy-looking producer who was placed in charge of Sundays debut guest-edited section.
The Answer Was Clear
The online reporters identified above, and editors and reporters at the Times immediately arrived at the obvious conclusion:
Because of appearances, subliminal messages, the Martinez-Mullens relationship compromised the newspapers precious credibility.
Once gone, credibility is forever lost. You cannot unbreak a window.
Foolishly, by entering the relationship, Mr. Martinez stripped himself of any plausible defense. This mistake he may not acknowledge until he gains further emotional seasoning.
In a self-righteous huff yesterday, Mr. Martinez quit in a stream of ill-considered, immature, flaming words after the publisher recently imported from the hated home office, Tribune Co., in Chicago killed the section.
A Change of Heart
Mr. Martinez wondered why the publisher under great heat from within the newspaper suddenly turned on him when he has known about Martinez-Mullens all along.
Fair question. The answer is contained within the previous sentence.
Like most pedestrian liberals allergic to admitting errors, Mr. Martinez shows his shallowness and poor character by aiming blame at assorted parties at the newspaper, never at himself.
Bang, Bang
Acting as green as a rabid environmentalist, Mr. Martinez aimed a gun at his head.
As he was squeezing the trigger, he vowed nothing would happen.
Being a liberal, he was bullet-proof. If anything did happen, he said, it would not be his fault.
