A note to our readers on our endorsement
The San Diego UnionTribune Editorial Board is a
strong supporter of equity for women. Half of our editorial board members are women, and we frequently endorse women in elections. But when it came to the San Diego mayor’s race, we considered the two candidates on a wide range of factors in our endorsement process. In this race, Barbara Bry and Todd Gloria are both strong candidates who don’t differ on many positions. For us, it came down to policy and experience, not identity, as we tried to make clear, from the very first sentence, when we called them strong choices, to the end of the endorsement, when we wrote that Gloria’s rise in politics ref lects his talent, not identity politics. Throughout our process, we sought to measure the candidates’ approach and background. Our intention with the section now being criticized is that Gloria would be well-served by having a chief of staff “like her” — not to suggest she should settle for that job, or that it should go to a man or a woman, but instead to say at City Hall where the best mayors and chiefs of staff are like binary stars, a chief of staff should focus on transparency and managing well. In the end, we recommended Gloria because of his housing policy, which aligns more closely with the board’s long-standing views; his experience at City Hall as interim mayor and budget committee chair during the Great Recession — even with his 101 Ash Street votes, on which neither has a pristine record — and his background. Our aim in the endorsement was to show that San Diego voters now have a difficult choice ahead of them, as we had before us.
All that being said, I called and spoke to Barbara Bry on Monday morning. She said she considered it to be sexist language and unconscious bias, and I see why that wording has led to confusion, and to criticism from Bry and others. I know our intention is irrelevant when anyone is personally upset, and I take responsibility for and regret that our meaning was not clearer. Our goal with endorsements is to inform, and our board is anti-sexist. We stand by our endorsement of Todd Gloria, and we’ll continue to try to explain all of our endorsements clearly and transparently.
Matthew T. Hall Editorial and opinion director The San Diego Union-Tribune