Summary
The lead article in the Aug. 9 Star-News, "Growth forums results differ,' is little more than a vehicle for a scurrilous personal and political attack on two veteran civic activists (Ellen Pais and Ed Honowitz) that fails to mention that the major sources for the story (Mary Dee Romney and Rene Amy) have a long-standing ax to grind. Moreover, the headline and lines are misleading and the placement of the story on the front page is unwarranted. The story failed to note that both Romney and Amy who are quoted as being concerned about the fee paid by the city to consultant Ellen Pais for organizing a recent public forum on urban planning issues in Pasadena have other axes to grind against Pais and her husband, Ed Honowitz.
Romney lost (by a wide margin) to Honowitz in a race for PUSD board of education in 2001 and has been a constant critic of public education. Amy, whom the Star-News calls an "Internet gadfly,' is, like his associate Romney, a failed candidate for the PUSD board and a vocal right-wing critic of public education.See the full content of this document
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Both have also been opponents of Planned Parenthood, the pro- choice group that Pais once worked for. Amy provides absolutely no evidence that Honowitz exerted any direct or indirect influence in the hiring decision, but the story includes the accusation nonetheless. It isn't until the story's 14th paragraph that it quotes ...
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