A Taxing Day for Golding as Media Event Backfires

Displaying a truly Nixonian attitude toward the press, Susan Golding’s mayoral campaign last week presented a primer course on how not to deal with reporters.

Golding, considered a consummate political animal by friends and foes alike, seemed unable to deal with one of the simplest gimmicks of political campaigns. Fellow candidate Peter Navarro’s campaign had challenged his more Establishment opponents to produce their tax returns, a tried-and-true technique for turning the spotlight on wealthy candidates, with the potential of developing into something scandalous.

In Golding’s case, Navarro was running an easy gambit because Golding had to deal with the potentially embarrassing financial dealings of her husband, convicted felon Richard Silberman, a subject the Golding campaign would prefer to ignore.

A third candidate, Ron Roberts, after much hemming and hawing, allowed reporters to see his returns, but Golding delayed. That was mistake No. 1. Instead of simply dealing with it, Golding turned the tax returns into an ongoing issue, which culminated last week in a flurry of jousts with reporters.

At first, Golding representatives said only three beat reporters would be allowed to see the returns. And there would be rules. They wouldn’t be able to take them out of the room, and no copies could be made. (Roberts originally established guidelines but honored all media requests for copies.) Needless to say, some television and radio reporters were not thrilled with Golding’s arrangement, which favored print reporters. Golding press representative Nikki Symington insisted that no one was being excluded, it was just that, because of limited time and space in the accountant’s office, the number of reporters had to be kept down. That made the beat reporters the logical choice.

It is more likely that the Golding campaign was attempting to control the media, to put its own spin on it by excluding television reporters. There was an implication in the action that the television reporters couldn’t handle the story. It might “play” better for the campaign if the newspapers ran the story first, then television followed it, instead of the other way around. That way, television wouldn’t have pictures from the press conference or interviews with the accountant (who was understandably busy, considering Golding decided to do this the day after tax day), and it would become a minor television story.

According to Symington, a Robert F. Kennedy supporter appalled at any comparison to Nixonian attitudes, the limitations of the accountant, not the desire to manipulate coverage, was the driving force behind the plan, although she couldn’t say why it was absolutely necessary to release the documents the day before the accountant was supposed to go on vacation.

Whatever the intent, it backfired. Instead of regulating the coverage, it peaked the intensity of the interest in her returns. On Thursday, the San Diego Union-Tribune ran a story previewing the release of the returns, spotlighting the outrage of reporters excluded from The Event.

The Channel 39 team of William LaJeunesse and Paul Krueger, who had been tracking the tax return story for weeks, spent much of Wednesday complaining to Golding’s representative about the unfairness of the arrangement and made it clear they were going to go on the air with a story about the returns, regardless of whether she released the returns to them. Eventually, Golding relented and gave Channel 39 her 1991 return, which they aired Wednesday night, the night before Golding’s tax return press conference.

This relatively simple concept of releasing tax returns had degenerated into a flurry of accusations and misunderstandings, negotiations and compromises.

At first, reporters were told that they couldn’t photocopy the returns because Golding didn’t want visual images or copies of the reports to be used by her opponents. That didn’t make much sense, since the information was going to be made public anyway and the other campaigns could simply use newspaper headlines in campaign ads or devise visual elements if they wanted to make her returns an issue.

Eventually, the big thinkers compromised and allowed reporters to take pictures of the two cover pages.

Channel 39 was particularly aggressive on the story, and there were several testy conversations between Golding representatives and newsroom personnel. At one point, Golding tried to exclude Krueger, claiming he was biased, although both sides now chalk that up to a misunderstanding.

Originally, reporters were not going to be allowed to bring their own accountants, but when Channel 39 brought one Thursday morning, Golding’s camp relented. But then the Union-Tribune reporter complained, so Channel 39’s accountant was told to come back in the afternoon when the U-T could also bring one.

Confusion. Overreaction. Misunderstandings. All the symptoms of a media disaster were in place.

Golding’s campaign recovered in a barrage of apologies.

“As far as I’m concerned, it is resolved,” said Channel 39 news director Irv Kass. “I think it was just a misunderstanding.”

As it turned out, reports about Golding’s returns, which showed no improprieties, were only a blip on the television reports, which were crowded that day with news of Robert Alton Harris. Channels 8 and 10 didn’t bother to cover Golding’s records, and KFMB-AM (760) reporter Reid Carroll was the lone radio reporter who attended the unveiling ceremony.

“We look at these things in perspective, and the mayor’s race is way off,” Channel 10’s Paul Sands said.

In other words, it was no big deal.

“I think Susan gets treated differently than others,” said Symington. “Her taxes are a big deal, and nobody else’s are.”

Nevertheless, with the selective handling of reporters and the list of restrictions (both enforced and rescinded), it was clear that Golding, who often displays a touch of paranoia when it comes to reporters, was trying to control the coverage. It didn’t work.

Instead of presenting an open and forthcoming image, Golding left the distinct impression that she had something to hide.

In the wake of KFMB-FM (B100) laying off 17-year-employee John Fox, disc jockey Judy Puente quit last week rather than follow orders to take Fox’s early-morning shift, which she saw as a demotion. Puente, who quit the midday shift on the old Y95 to take an evening shift with B100 three years ago, told management that she would rather look for work at another station than accept the wee hour beat for B100. . . .

Troubled XHRM-FM (92.5) reportedly has signed a deal with Urban Community Radio Inc., which will make investor Dennis Scott president of the station. Luis Rivas Kaloyan will retain ownership. The station has petitioned the FCC to allow it to move its broadcast facilities from Mexico to San Diego.

CRITIC’S CHOICE: DELIGHTS FROM THE TROIKA

With “Howards End” earning rave reviews, on Tuesday night the Ken Cinema will offer two of the award-winning earlier works from the filmmaking troika of Ismail Merchant, James Ivory and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Both, like “Howards End,” are adaptations of E.M. Forster novels. “A Room With a View” is the best known of the two, the 1986 story of a young woman discovering the complexities of life and love during a trip to Florence. Although steeped in the Victorian manners of the day, it is a surprisingly light and witty feature. It is doubled-billed with “Maurice,” Forster’s semi-autobiographical look at the social and moral conflicts of Edwardian England.