The Examiner: keeping voters away from the polls

There is no better way in the world to discourage voters from going to the polls than by telling them that the election has already been decided and their vote simply won’t matter. Today’s Examiner ran a headline that reads “No Contest” with an accompanying article entitled “Amid dissension, Lee coasting to victory”. The article is nothing more than a horrid piece of propaganda designed to keep voters away from the polls. By Alyse Ceirante. Oct. 29, 2015

The Examiner: keeping voters away from the polls

Letter to the Editor
Dear Mr. Joshua Sabatini,

I can’t figure out which makes me more angry – the timing of your article today or the content.  Both are despicable, and my hands are shaking so much with anger that I can hardly write this email.

There is no better way in the world to discourage voters from going to the polls than by telling them that the election has already been decided and their vote simply won’t matter.  This is disgusting, and something only a puppet of big money would do.

I bet you are proud to call yourself a journalist. Well, guess what?  You are a shame to your profession – or, at least, to what your profession used to be. Your bias jumps off the pages and flies in the face of any journalist integrity. You have written a disgustingly one-sided article and give your readers no room for thought.  “This is the way it is,” you imply, “You better just accept it”, you conclude. “Why bother voting?” is what many will think.

I, along with several others, have spent countless hours – to the point of sheer and utter exhaustion – on the Francisco for Mayor campaign. I can’t even begin to tell you how well received we have been from Ocean Beach to the Bayview and everywhere in between.  And you know what we hear and have heard most often from literally thousands of voters?  “Anyone but Ed Lee” and “I already voted for Francisco – my number one choice”.  That hardly sounds like an uncontested election to me. Rather, it sounds like something a true journalist would examine. Too bad there is no such thing as a true journalist anymore.

Because of you, we lose many votes.  I am not suggesting that with these votes Francisco would win (though we are hopeful – there’s a word you should learn) but that we will show enough dissent that our money-first mayor will realize he does not have a mandate. It is extremely important to demonstrate that many of us will not tolerate the unfettered destruction of our city currently underway by Lee and his ilk, and one of the most effective ways to do this is through the ballot box.

I can’t help but wonder, Mr. Sabatini, what kind of favors – and how many – Mr. Conway has promised you in exchange for propaganda that you pretend in journalism.

In conclusion, I want you to know (I don’t know why, but I do) that my grandfather, who help build the Golden Gate Bridge, and my father, who helped with the work on many other projects in the city, would be as heart-broken as I over the state of the city today.  They didn’t build this city for techies and the rich, they it built for working class people like me. Too bad there are so few of us left. Ed Lee would hardly be “coasting to victory” if that were the case.

I expect a timely response.  I promise you I will keep writing until I get one. Just ask anyone who know me well.

Sincerely,
Alyse Ceirante