Mayor gives state of Pilot address

TOM JOHNSON

I had dinner with newly appointed Newport Beach Mayor Steve Bromberg

last Thursday night. Well, not exactly with him ... but within a

table or two of him at the annual Mayor’s Dinner, put on by Speak Up

Newport.

I should also clarify that he’s not newly appointed, but appointed

again ... but, you get the drift.

If you didn’t attend the dinner, you really ought to check it out

on the local cable station, which will have it in reruns for the next

month or six.

The Mayor’s Dinner ... pretty exciting stuff. It’s the time of

year when, much like the president of the United States, with his

State of the Union Address, the mayor gets up in front of 400 to 500

locals and tells them all of the things he’s going to accomplish in

his year of service in the city’s top spot.

What he had to say was pretty electrifying. He didn’t really talk

about any of the airport issues facing Newport Beach ... he didn’t

mention anything about the health of the Back Bay or our beaches. He

did mention the general plan, but with no specifics. He did gloss

over Marinapark ... but in no great detail. He did go into some

detail on our “border committees” ... not the ones that deal with

illegal immigrants ... worse, these are the ones that deal with our

neighbors in such places as Irvine.

What he did do was outline three points of what’s really standing

in the way of him having a successful year. His No. 1 point was ...

the Daily Pilot. Point No. 2 was ... the Daily Pilot. And if I’m

counting right, point No. 3 was ... you guessed it ... the Daily

Pilot.

Wow ... what a big year ahead!

Point No. 1 specifically pointed out how unfair it is to run

“articles” with outlandish claims in Newport’s local paper. First of

all, Mr. Mayor, as publisher let me point out the difference between

an “article” and what we in the industry refer to as an op-ed piece

or even a letter to the editor. An op-ed piece or letter is similar

to what you yourself often run on our opinion pages, where you give

your insight, your opinions and your conclusions. You got it, these

are opinion pages ... and even classified as such.

I should point out that we at the Pilot get as many or more

complaints from the “other side” about how unfair we are in running

so many of your articles. It’s kind of like damned if you do, damned

if you don’t.

What I found most interesting about Bromberg’s claim was that it

came immediately following the comments made by keynote speaker Maj.

Gen. Timothy E. Donovan, the commanding general of Camp Pendleton.

Donovan said that one of the main reasons the Marines fight for

freedom around the world is to allow for the freedoms of speech ...

the freedoms of the press ... and the rights of both to share their

opinions ... whether we agree with them.

So my first conclusion of the evening was that what’s good for the

Marines isn’t necessarily good for the mayor of Newport Beach. Sorry

Mr. Mayor ... you picked him as the keynote, not me.

Point No. 2 went after Daily Pilot Managing Editor Steve Cahn’s

weekly political column. The good mayor said Cahn was unfair in

saying that there were still contentious issues facing the people

involved in Marinapark planning. The mayor said, “It’s time to look

forward, not back.” This was just after our mayor “looked back” on

Cahn’s column to chastise it.

The last point noted was on how the Daily Pilot needs to get out

more in the community. I guess it’s not enough that we get out and

support a number of nonprofits in town throughout the year ...

frankly, a number that is more than we can count. It’s not enough

that we continue to sponsor golf tournaments, dinners, lunches, the

schools, scholarships or even Bromberg’s Mess Night Dinner for the

Marines’ 1/1 held this past fall at the Balboa Bay Club. It was

Bromberg’s group that approached us about supporting their event with

free advertising and editorial publicity. They also asked us to

sponsor a table. As we often do, we did all of the above.

Could we do better? Sure. But could we be a whole lot worse?

Absolutely.

In the fall political campaign, we also endorsed the good mayor.

Our other choice was “no other candidates running.” But in any case,

we probably still would have supported the mayor no matter who was

running.

The overall dinner itself kind of felt like a visit to the Jerry

Springer show. You show up on stage ... not knowing if someone is

going to tell you they love you ... they want to marry you or even

divorce you ... then the fight breaks out.

I guess I was hoping for more insight in what’s really on the

agenda for Newport Beach. However, our mayor used “his” time to bash

the paper ... certainly his right.

However, he proved his biggest concern is not being the biggest

voice in town because of the Pilot. That’s definitely an advantage of

buying newsprint by the ton and ink by the barrel.

In spite of it all, one thing our mayor did prove. He reads the

Pilot every day, every story, every “article” and every op-ed piece

... word for word. For that I have only one thing to say ... thank

you!

* TOM JOHNSON is the publisher.