The bow-tied man behind The San Diego Union-Tribune’s right-leaning editorial voice is out of a job, leaving behind a controversial legacy as the paper’s ambassador in the community and the architect of its public stances. The paper laid him off Wednesday during another round of cost-cutting.
Bob Kittle’s editorial page provided influential support to establishment causes and politicians. But his style and ideology left him a long line of detractors as well, as the comments under this post make clear.
A total of 112 employees were laid off across the U-T yesterday, although the newspaper barely mentioned the cutbacks in a press release, preferring to tout a “series of new strategic initiatives.”
Should the members of the San Diego airport authority board do less with less? That’s been a hot issue since we revealed board members spent public funds on extravagant meal and travel expenses. Now, the authority’s top boss has ordered staff to follow policies, and the issues will be aired at a public meeting.
Meanwhile, our outspoken reporter went on the airwaves where he faced off against an airport authority board member over whether rules should be, well, rules. Now there’s a concept.
Over in El Cajon, the city government has a message for the public: Buy, buy, buy! A house, that is. Heck, take two!
Why the pressure? Every local community has its challenges during the housing slump, but El Cajon is unique: it embraced the condo-conversion craze big time and now has plenty of homes on the market.
El Cajon wants people to move in, so maybe local hotelier Doug Manchester should give them a call: he reportedly moved out of his home last October and later filed for divorce after 43 years of marriage. This news has been gravy for hypocrisy-seeking foes of the anti-gay-marriage Prop. 8, which he bankrolled.
We asked Manchester about his family life back in February and got this firm denial .
The U-T, by the way, reports the divorce could be bad news for Manchester’s big downtown project.
We have two follow-ups to previous stories. A Q&A offers more insight into how TV stations are adjusting to a new era of cutbacks and growing pressure from advertisers. And our new Emptying the Notebook feature has details about a possible campaign talking point in the upcoming county supervisor race.
Elsewhere, the U-T says some fire officials and emergency managers don’t want SDG&E to cut off power when wildfires threaten.
And the NY Times looks into how a graduate of Chula Vista’s Hilltop High helped build secret CIA prisons in Europe and Morocco.
Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, a figure in the Randy “Duke” Cunningham scandal, is now in prison himself.