An Advantage to Incumbents
George Hatch’s article on redistricting (South Bay, Aug. 17) appears to violate journalistic standards. Since the statement “none (of the incumbent congressmen) is expected to experience serious opposition” lacks attribution, we must conclude that this is the reporter’s viewpoint. If so, doesn’t this article belong on the editorial page?
No matter how innocuous it may seem, injected bias like this only offers one more advantage to incumbents. Considering that Rep. (Dana) Rohrabacher (R-Lomita) has already enjoyed the advantage of unequal access to The Times’ Op-Ed pages, a challenger must counteract the newspaper, as well as the congressman’s own paid media.
For what it’s worth, I “expect” candidate Guy Kimbrough to defeat Dana Rohrabacher in the November election. And I expect that predictions of an election’s outcome reported in a news article will either be attributed to a source or based upon polling data.
JAMES CAVUOTO
Torrance
Editor’s note: Cavuoto was an unsuccessful candidate this year for the Democratic nomination in the 42nd Congressional District.
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