Larry Bush at CitiReport counts the words the Chronicle devoted to reporting Ivory Madison’s declaration to the Ethics Commission in the Ross Mirkarimi case and finds the deck unevenly stacked. Especially, he says, since the commission tossed out a big chunk of the declaration as inadmissible while scolding Mayor Lee’s attorneys for including some of the stuff.
The Chron devoted 1,064 words to the declaration of Madison, the neighbor who helped Lopez make the video (see photo below) showing a bruised arm from the now-famous New Year’s Day conflict with her husband, the suspended sheriff. On the other hand, he says, Lopez’s declaration garnered just 533 words in the Chron.
You can read the entire Lopez declaration at CitiReport.
Bush dings the newspaper for contributing to what he believes is prejudicial coverage of the sheriff’s wife. An excerpt:
The Chronicle report also failed to note the extent to which Lopez detailed Madison’s role in the creation of a video showing a bruise on Eliana’s arm, or Lopez’ descriptions of what she said was Madison’s strategy to use the charge of domestic violence in order to obtain custody should the couple divorce.
According to Lopez’ declaration, Madison coached Lopez repeatedly to say “Screw him” with regard to Mirkarimi, urged that Lopez not shower, appear in the video without makeup, still wearing pajamas, “so that I looked as disheveled as possible.”
Lopez declared that Madison said her husband would go to the Mirkarimi’s home and change the locks to prevent Ross Mirkarimi from entering.
Lopez also stated that Madison told her that she would arrange for former Chronicle vice president Phil Bronstein, the police chief, the district attorney and a third person “and we would all meet” in Madison’s home. According to Lopez, Madison told her details about other marriages as part of an effort to convince her that this was a strategy that would accomplish her purpose of obtaining custody.
None of these portions of Lopez’ declaration were included in the Chronicle’s report. CitiReport posts Lopez’ full declaration without edits so that readers may read for themselves her full statement]
Note: the undated photo of Lopez at top accompanied a piece about the Venezuelan television actress that a Caracas newspaper published in March.
