After the Election: Who Won Locally and Why

By now, your paper’s erratic editorial policies should generate no real surprise among readers, particularly since The Times remains so out of step with the political mainstream of Orange County. Among the Republican majority here, and a sizable number of Democrats as well, you have become an editorial anachronism.

In your Nov. 4 edition, you carried your preferred slate of candidates (practically all Democrats, of course) under a special disclaimer denoting your editorial policy on endorsements. This disclaimer reads in part: “We endorse candidates in Los Angeles and Orange counties who are running for open seats in Congress and the state Legislature.”

Directly contradictory to your own policy, you endorsed my opponent for the 40th Congressional District. Unless you have been out to lunch for the last decade, you would know that the seat I have the honor to hold certainly is not “open,” despite your apparent desires to the contrary.

I don’t ever recall receiving an endorsement from your paper in any of my 24 successful elections to public office (primary and general elections). For most Orange County voters, The Times represents and perpetuates the failed philosophies of the past and is without much political credibility.

ROBERT E. BADHAM

Member of Congress

40th District

The note accompanying our endorsements was in error in saying we were only endorsing candidates for open seats in both counties. In Orange County , we endorsed candidates in two races where incumbents were being challenged.