Yesterday, we briefly noted a Chronicle staff editorial criticizing the administration of former mayor Lee P. Brown.
Here is an excerpt from that editorial:
The indictment of another Brown administration official indicates influence peddling at City Hall might have been widespread.
When Mayor Lee Brown finished his term-limited six years in office at the end of 2003, one of the best things that could be said about his sometimes rocky tenure was that it had been free of major scandals. With the indictment of a second high official in Brown’s bureaucracy in recent months for accepting bribes to influence contracts, time is rapidly eroding the clean image the administration once enjoyed.
[snip]
It’s unfortunate that it took a multi-year interstate federal investigation to begin unraveling misconduct among staffers close to the former mayor.
It’s also unfortunate that the Chronicle neglected to mention its own role as Lee Brown cheerleader and booster during his tenure as mayor. The Chronicle editorial board endorsed Brown repeatedly in his races, and rarely leveled pointed criticism at his administration even as the city seemed to be falling down around us at times. It was almost as if the former mayor’s championing of Chron causes like light rail got him a six year pass from the city’s only newspaper. As it turns out, the administration didn’t deserve that pass.
It’s good that the Chronicle editorial board is now taking a more critical interest in the Brown Administration. It just comes a few years too late.
RELATED: Lee Brown legacy continues to grow, Pension plan revisionism at the Chronicle, Quite possibly the worst editorial page of 2004, The Dallas Morning News on the crime lab controversy, Memories … of the way we were.
