The Times responds to Nuñez’s defense of spending sprees
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Fabian Nuñez, the new ex-speaker of the California Assembly, has accused reporters who have criticized his spending habits of racism. The Times responded today in an editorial:
‘Nancy Vogel, our esteemed colleague here at The Times, discovered that Nuñez spent lavishly as speaker, treating himself to fancy dinners ($1,795 for one particularly lovely night out in Paris) and European vacations. He shopped at Louis Vuitton ($2,562 in ‘office expenses’) and gorged at a French winery ($5,149 for a ‘meeting’). Nuñez did all this on the dime of his contributors; they did not, he naturally insists, get anything in return.’ ‘Still, publication of these facts bugs Nuñez, and last week he appeared to have had enough. Why did he think critics were so fascinated by these details? His reply: ‘Because of the fact I am Mexican, they think I have to sleep under a cactus and eat from taco stands.’ ‘
Read about it in Opinion here.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City