We goofed in our editorial
Yes, we have egg on our face.
This week’s editorial in CityBeat takes aim at Carl DeMaio and the Union-Tribune‘s editorial board. This issue was DeMaio’s reckless, flawed comparison between benefits paid to San Diego city employees and those paid, on average, to government employees across the country.
At the last minute, we included new information from San Diego’s Independent Budget Analyst’s office, but in our haste to get it in there, we provided a faulty analysis of our own and misinterpreted the information. The online version of the editorial didn’t include the new information, but the print version did. So, if you read the print version, disregard the part about the IBA.
You can interpret the IBA report for yourself here (PDF).
We regret the error, but, hey, you have to appreciate the irony, right?
And did you mention in your editorial that the IBA found that the City of San Diego’s benefits are 57% HIGHER than the national averages?
IBA report actually validates DeMaio’s concerns — and showed the UT story itself got the numbers wrong.
You going to print a correction David? Yeah, didn’t think so.
Justin, if you read CityBeat, you’d know that we correct all our mistakes. But while we messed up, it doesn’t change the point of the editorial, and if you read carefully, the IBA report says it’s impossible to make the comparisons everyone is trying to make because there are too many variables.
That’s not what the report says. it says the cost of the benefits have gone WAY up since 2001 — more than doubled. It also compares to BLS and shows San Diego is higher–by 57% when you do the magnitude.
David, you’re biased and DeMaio could say the sky is blue (your favorite political color) and you’d still jump all over him for it.
Of course I’m biased. And so are you, and so is Carl.