More than a few politicos and online commenters talk about The Bee's endorsement as the kiss of death for a candidate.
But at least two local hopefuls are stretching the truth to claim the editorial board's support - which they don't actually have.
In last-weekend mailers to voters in Sacramento City Council District 7, Ryan Chin cites The Bee's endorsement of him before the June primary, where he and Darrell Fong finished first and second, ousting incumbent Robbie Waters.
While the date of the endorsement appears, the mailers do not make clear that The Bee changed its endorsement for the November election. To wit: "For the June primary, we narrowly endorsed Chin. But what has become clearer in the months since is that Fong is better equipped and positioned - because of his longer tenure in Sacramento, his firsthand knowledge of the city's successes and failures and his familiarity with key civic leaders - to have an immediate positive impact on the council."
Chin said he doesn't believe his mailer is misleading because it quotes The Bee's endorsement of him word for word and because it's for the same race.
"From my standpoint, I still believe I'm the best candidate," he said.
In the Area 2 race for the Sacramento City Unified School District, Jeff Cuneo also quotes from The Bee's endorsement editorial for the seat, but neglects to make clear that he wasn't endorsed. Andrea Corso was.
Instead, Cuneo cherry picks the nice things the editorial did have to say about him ("a very strong candidate").
He doesn't quote this: "Yet we are concerned Cuneo will spin his wheels on the issue of a new comprehensive high school for East Sacramento when existing comprehensive high schools (except Rosemont) have empty classrooms and declining enrollment."
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