Hottie Story Heats Up

When the LATimes broke the story last week that Gov. Arnold called GOP Latina Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia (right) "hot," the paper didn't deign to tell us lowly, ignorant readers how they got their grubby, ink-stained hands on the tape. Well ...

Aides to Democrat Phil Angelides' gubernatorial campaign passed along a controversial snippet of tape featuring Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the Los Angeles Times, Angelides campaign manager Cathy Calfo acknowledged Tuesday.

At a press conference shortly after noon, Calfo reiterated that she believes the tape was obtained legally and that no computer hacking was involved. But she said neither Angelides nor herself knew that the Times had been contacted and that she was "not happy" with the actions of the aides involved. (SacBee)

Political campaign managers are not at the top of my list of believable people, so let's just discount that "no hacking" claim at the outset. She says a staffer followed a link on a Gov's Office news release to find four hours of downloadable private recordings ... sure, that might be true, just like it might be true that Dem Gov candidate Phil Angelides has some charisma hidden somewhere.

Be that as it may, the LAT's failure to disclose its source underscores the fact that the newspaper's editors feel they have no obligation to their readers anymore; after all, their Dem-leanings are beyond dispute, so why bother with mere journalistic ethics?

Related Tags: Politics, Schwarzenegger, Angelides, Hot