The story about SF Supervisor Chris Daly (right) buying two houses in suburban Fairfield has an interesting timeline:
- • He bought the houses in April.
• On Wednesday (July 22), the Chron’s C.W. Nevius (left, below) confronts Daly via e-mail with the fact that he had bought a house in Fairfield.
• Later on Wednesday, Daly admitted to buying the house in an opinion piece he posted on a friendly Web site, Fog City Journal.
• Thursday morning, Nevius reports in his column (placed on page 1) that Daly has moved his family to Fairfield.
• Thursday at 6:08 p.m., the SF Weekly posts a report saying Daly actually bought two houses, not one as the Chron had said.
• Friday afternoon, the Guardian, which has strongly backed Daly over the years, post two columns (“Chuck Nevius is such a twit” by Steven T. Jones and “Why Nevius really annoys me” by Tim Redmond)
• Saturday morning, Nevius shoots back at the Guardian. He mentions that he sent Jones an e-mail saying: “Give journalism a try.”
We pieced together the first part of this timeline from Will Harper’s piece on the SF Weekly Web site headlined, “Looks Like Daly Purposely Ruined Chron’s Scoop.” From Harper’s story: “Chron metro editor Audrey Cooper says she thinks the timing of Daly’s statement was no coincidence — Daly chose to do a pre-emptive infomercial on a friendly blog rather than answer to the city’s paper of record.”
This story has several angles, including:
- 1. Isn’t this what former supervisor (now prison inmate) Ed Jew was caught doing? We’re not talking about shaking down tapioca shops for money to expedite their permits, but Jew also had a house in Burlingame, where his family lived.
2. Daly and his liberal allies often clashed with those who wanted to make the city more suitable for middle-class families with children. Those famililes often leave SF when their kids reach school age. Now Daly is doing exactly what his critics have done.
3. Since the Chron decided let Nevius break the story in his column, rather than a straight news story, Nevius has become fair game for critics. And his critics are asking where Nevius, who lives in Walnut Creek, gets the moral authority to scold Daly for moving his family out of the city?
4. And if Daly is convinced there’s nothing wrong about moving his family in Fairfield, why did he wait three months to tell anybody about it? Was he ever going to tell anyone?