Mercury News Editor Bullies Candidate to Quit; Metro Exposes How Editorial Board Operates

Metro Newspaper reported that San Jose Mercury News Editorial Page Editor Barbara Marshman offered an editorial consisting of "lavish" to a candidate in exchangefor that candidate quitting a race. Marshman attempted to pressure Barbara Keegan, a candidate for the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board, to pull out of the race to boost the chances of the Mercury’s preferred candidate David Ginsborg.

Keegan told Marshman NO and not only stayed in the race, but won by 24 pts. Show your support for Keegan standing up for herself and not being Bullied by Barbara by sending her an email indicating your support to barbarakeegan2012@gmail.com.

Read an excerpt from the Metro story below:

Barbara Marshman, the Mercury News’ editorial writer and decider of all things good and natural, emailed Keegan in early August to try and cajole her into dropping out of the race. The message not only came of [sic] as threatening but also included a quid pro quo. "If you plan to drop out, I will be thrilled to write an editorial of lavish praise for both you and Scott (who also would have been terrific on the board, I’ve known him for 20 years) for putting the best interests of the district first," Marshman wrote, referring to Scott Knies, the San Jose Downtown Association’s executive director, who bowed out of the race at the end of July. Keegan says she couldn’t understand why Marshman—who didn’t respond to requests for comment—was hellbent on pressing a qualified female candidate to bow out, let alone why she would be so foolhardy to put such an offer in writing. Marshman admits earlier in her email to Keegan that, "While I only know you by reputation, I don’t doubt that you’d be a fine water board member. But I’m writing an editorial asking you to pull out of the race, so that there’s a chance of unseating Joe Judge. With three names on the ballot, Joe will win, once Zoe and the rest of the crowd amp up the campaign. David Ginsborg has I think a good chance of winning, but not if there’s a third name there."

We live in a free democratic society--newspapers should not seek to secretly manipulate electoral outcomes by cutting back-room deals.

The actions of Barbara Marshman and the Mercury News demonstrate an unethical and antidemocratic slant toward anyone or any entity that does not align with their thinking.

How many other candidates or elected-officials has Barbara Marshman or others at the Mercury News tried to bully out of participating in our democratic process? We imagine the email delete button on Marshman’s computer is overheating.