From the Newsroom -- Tony Dodero

It’s strange how the most vocal of our critics seem to hide in the

shadows.

Usually, it’s an anonymous voice on the other end of the phone,

criticizing us for reporting on a touchy subject, for putting things into

perspective or the worst of all sins, because we forgot the crossword

puzzle or the bridge column.

Anonymous and, dare I say, cowardly calls.

It happened again last week to our Costa Mesa City Hall reporter

Lolita Harper.

In a front-page Reporter’s Notebook column, Harper shared her

observations of how at least two women on the Costa Mesa council seem to

be the main targets of council critics these days.

The critics complain often that these women elected leaders can be

rude, Harper wrote. But she wondered aloud if those women were male

leaders would they be considered rude or just authoritative and no

nonsense?

So is that a fair observation? Well, maybe she has a point. Or, maybe

it’s just that same old women’s lib, 1960s, radical thinking, right?

Still, it is her observation and nothing more.

I guess the point was too much for one anonymous caller to comprehend

though. The caller, who left a caustic message on our reporter’s voice

mail, missed the point of the column by a mile and instead went into a

full-fledged bashing of Councilwoman Libby Cowan.

“Lolita why are you writing all of this propaganda in favor of Libby

Cowan? Are you being paid by Libby Cowan?”

Huh? Well, that was a head scratcher, but our anonymous mud slinger

wasn’t done.

The caller, whose anger and hatred toward Cowan seemed to grow to a

fevered crescendo, went on to complain that Cowan has a conflict of

interest because she works for the city of Irvine (not true, but more on

that later), and as her parting salvo, she blurted out a sarcastic and

mean-spirited line about Cowan’s sexual orientation.

Then, I guess she worked herself into such a lather that she hung up

on herself without telling us who she was.

There is a truism in local politics that most of you I’m sure are

aware of. The vast number of Newport-Mesa residents don’t have the time

nor inclination to attend city council, school board or water board

meetings, even though the decisions made by locally elected officials can

have a great effect on their everyday lives.

So that’s where we come in.

As members of the press, we attend the meetings for the readers and

give them our observations, our analysis of the actions of city

government, whether they are enacting new RV laws or figuring out ways to

get rid of a flock of ducks.

Or, even if they are getting lambasted nightly by critics. So that’s

what our Costa Mesa reporter was trying to do in her column last Friday.

The funny thing about that is Harper isn’t afraid to share her

observations with readers and she puts not only her name to the

observations but her face in the way of her column photo.

Too bad our cowardly caller can only call names from the shadows. And

as for the charge that Libby Cowan has a conflict of interest, Harper has

reported those charges, and we ran them on the front page no less.

I guess Harper hadn’t got her payoff check from Cowan that week.

The charges, probably leveled by these same council critics Harper was

talking about, turned out to be frivolous and it was determined by the

state Fair Political Practices Commission that Cowan did not have a

conflict of interest -- something the anonymous caller casually forgot I

guess.

Of course the main complaint against Cowan is that she doesn’t get

involved enough in El Toro airport politics because her employer, Irvine,

won’t let her.

Which is a fair complaint, but the irony of that is El Toro is 15 to

20 miles south of the town she’s elected to represent, Costa Mesa.

Cowan is, however, a vocal opponent of John Wayne Airport expansion,

which is in her back yard. Maybe she’s determined she shouldn’t get

involved in something she has no jurisdiction over. Maybe if our caller

had the guts to call Cowan and ask her about it, she could find out.

But I do know this. The Newport Beach City Council has realized the

same thing as Cowan in regards to the county El Toro fight and has

declined to take part in any more pro-El Toro airport litigation or

funding.

You know, there doesn’t seem to be that much criticism of them.

Hmm. Wait a minute, maybe our Costa Mesa reporter is right, after all,

six of the seven Newport Beach council members are men.

***

Every so often we get calls from people begging us not to run their

names in the weekly listing of drunk driving arrestees.

As a rule, we decline to grant favors to anyone, regardless of their

position in the community. That’s the only fair thing to do.

And many ask me, including members of my editing and reporting staff,

why we run the names in the first place.

A story we ran on Friday about the dangers of teen drinking called

“Living reality” is the perfect answer to that question.

The story was about the program “Every 15 Minutes,” which is how often

one person in the U.S. is killed by a drunken driver. That’s 96 people a

day and more than 35,000 a year if my math is right.

Drunk driving is clearly an epidemic and every little bit that can

lead to its deterrence can help. Which is the real answer to why we

publish the names.

The practice stems back to the early 1990s, when newspapers were asked

to publish the names as a service for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, a

group of moms who have lost children in drunk driving accidents.

The group believed it would a great deterrent to know if you drive

drunk, all your neighbors can find out. And judging by the calls we get,

I guess it works.

Still, we do have a standing offer to all who appear on the list. If

you beat the rap and are found not guilty in court, we’ll publicize it.

But in my 12 years at this newspaper, we’ve had several people call to

say they beat the rap. So far, I don’t remember any of them providing us

with the proof so that we can run the story of their innocence.

In the meantime, let’s all make sure we keep our names off of that

list. The members of MADD will thank you.

* TONY DODERO is the editor. His column appears on Mondays. If you

have story ideas or concerns about news coverage please send messages

either via e-mail to tony.dodero@latimes.com or by phone at 949-574-4258.