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Advocacy or news, what is the San Luis Obispo Tribune?

June 12, 2024

OPINION by ERIK GORHAM

It’s a shame San Luis Obispo County’s oldest news source repeatedly attacks people for having views that differ from its one-sided editorial board, especially during election years.

SLO Tribune Opinion Editor Stephanie Finucane regularly calls Republicans to ask if they voted for Donald Trump or if they support Trump, before degrading them for their answers. In her latest hit piece, Finucane refers to the answers of District Attorney Dan Dow and SLO County Republican Party Chairman Randall Jordan as “both jaw-droppingly audacious and obtuse.”

There are Republicans who both respect and plan to vote for Trump, others who do not respect him but plan to vote for him because our country performed better with him in office, and also those who do not respect or plan to vote for Trump. While we can debate passionately about the issue, demeaning those who have different views than our own sows discord.

During these hectic times, tolerance and community are very important.

And while focused on Trump, the Tribune has not called local Democrats to ask if they voted for former SLO County Supervisor Adam Hill – a drug addict with a cocaine addiction, a serial cheater, a corrupt politician who demanded bribes, and the focus of a multi-year FBI investigation – nor should they. People should not be chastised for voting for Hill or any other candidate.

But looking into those tightly aligned with SLO County’s most notorious politician is a different story. Two of Hill’s closest friends, his longtime drinking buddies Tom Fulks and Tom Jones, were well aware of the allegations of criminality against Hill. Rather than cutting ties or supporting his victims, Fulks and Jones attacked Hill’s critics.

How did the Tribune respond after the FBI raided Hill’s home and office? It provided Fulks, an on-and-off Tribune columnist, an avenue to bully Hill’s critics.

If I was the editor of the Tribune, I would promote the watchdog function of the media. I would focus on covering local issues such as assertions from developers that their projects are moved to the top of the planning department list if they donate to Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg (Hill’s former girlfriend) and pay planner Jamie Jones (Tom Jones’ wife and the owner of Kirk Consulting).

Meanwhile, it can take a non-connected local years to get a permit to build a shed or a pool house. It is unclear why, but definitely worth a close examination.

But I am not the editor of the Tribune, I am a proud member of the Republican Party and a life-long San Luis Obispo County resident. I care about my neighbors, our community and justice for all.

 


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What I want to know is what happened to the old hippy looking guy in Morro Bay that went crazy and attacked his neighbor lady with a knife and tried to sexually assault her. Did he go to court yet? Is he still in the slammer? You never heard anything more about it. That story was wild.


-10

Republicans need to understand that Lots of us want to know whether people voted for Trump or not. that’s how many of us judge a person’s character and wisdom, or the lack of such. And for whatever reason, right or wrong, very few people, conservative or liberal, give a hoot about who voted for Adam Hill. Comparing Adam Hill to Donald Trump is irrelevant to most people. Newspaper readers want to know who supports Trump. And there’s nothing wrong with newspaper reporters and editors catering to that. But Adam Hill is dead and gone, and very few tribune readers care about who was an Adam Hill supporter or not. Most people have moved on from that. But Trump, on the other hand, is considered an ever present danger And enemy of democracy by many people. And that does matter.


-4

Funny how the hard-core Leftists of the Fibune propaganda rag won’t admit that Marxism has a 100% failure rate.


49

Being a Democrat doesn’t make you a Marxist. The middle class is practically gone, the top .01% by themselves made over a trillion dollars in the past 4 years, and you all continue to think greedy corporations are going to “trickle down” the money. That has failed for over 40 years. What is trickling down isn’t money. They are laughing at you gullible fools while dousing you with their yellow fluid.


-36

Your project will not even be considered by SLO County Planning unless you’ve hired Jamie Jones, Tom Jones, or Carol Florence, period. Adam Hill is not dead.


42

Sadly, the SLO TT is in the tank for uber liberals, and most people of sound judgement have long since abandoned it. Its owner, McClachy News, is now a penny stock, and regularly loses millions per year. Their idealogical reporting in the Adam Hill case highlights that they are not into serious journalism.


Stephanie Finucane and Tom Folks are as partisan as they cam be, the facts notwithstanding, and Editor Joe Tarica intentionally hires non-serious journalist, as long as they meet his partisan means test for ripping conservatives.


I predict one more year and the SLO TT will be out of business. Of course, they will blame it on conservatives!


60

Isn’t it funny how the more educated you are the more likely you are to be a liberal? I wonder why that is?


-45

Probably the propaganda widely spewed through educational institutions.


5

Educated fools destroying the state and the country.


19

Educated fools built everything (computers, internet etc) used to post the above comment.


Sweet sweet irony.


-8

It may be funny to you, but it certainly isn’t surprising to me. The reason is obvious.


5

You cannot equate “educated” with “intelligence”.


Yes, more “educated” people are Democrats/Liberals.


More “intelligent” people…….are not.


18

“Intelligence” without education is how we got people eating horse paste and grown men freaking out over a piece of cloth.


They did their “research” on facebook lol.


Thing is the “intelligent” that are not educated, think they are “educated”, they don’t know, they can’t know because they are uneducated.


That’s republicans all the way down.


-9

We get burned by fire once, and are now much more intelligent about fire.


You want to be educated about fire, and burn yourself repeatedly trying to figure it out, and still do not conclude that fire is hot.


That’s the difference between Conservatives and Liberals.


7

I just hate it when people stereotype and discriminate against educated people like that. My husband has a PhD and I have a Master’s, and we are socially and fiscally conservative, and we have friends with similar backgrounds. Furthermore, some of the people with the most common sense I know have no college whatsoever. The reverse for both those things are true often as well. But your point about education = “liberal,” is becoming more true these days because young people in university have often a weak moral compass and cannot defend their conservative beliefs (if they have them) from the constant barrage of propaganda and hate that descends upon them from their professors, the university environment, and our depraved culture at large.


7

How many weeks has The Tribune ignored the $3.6 million judgement against Belsher? How many YEARS did The Tribune ignore, and celebrate, Gearhart’s real estate fraud. Then they has the audacity to nominate themselves for an investigative journalism award based on CCN reporting. Joe Tarica and The Tribune just need to go away.


64

It’s telling that every example used is one where the author insists that the papers job is to go after liberals, and remain mum on MAGA. Adam Hill is an adulterer under FBI investigation, but Trump – no such treatment; the author is clear – only attacks on the right are demeaning and sow discord. It’s reprehensible that The Trib has a left leaning slant, but nothing about CCN. The only politicians deserving of criticism are conveniently of the other party. I don’t think the author is ignorant about their double standard, I think it’s just open-eyed partisanship.


-55

Nothing they do is on accident, and every accusation is an admission.


14

“If I was the editor of the Tribune, I would …”


(a) Update my resume

(b) Peruse the Employment Opportunities in the LA Times

(c) Find my logon/password for ZipRecruiter.com

(d) Drive nights and weekends for Uber

(e) Avoid any large purchases

(f) All of the above


52

Mostly well written editorial, although there is that first line. Usually, you don’t lead with a typo, but, oh well, this is CCN, home of the grammar and spelling error.


-61
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