Endorsements are a tricky thing at an alternative newsweekly like ours. We don't have the staffing, the budget or the time to have all the candidates in for editorial board meetings like many dailies do (heck, most dailies' editorial boards are bigger than our editorial staff). So our endorsements lean more on the expertise of our reporters, who have talked to all of the candidates and who understand the issues and races. We're blessed to have some very knowledgeable folks in our midst.
Here's how we did our endorsements: We met on Oct. 6 to discuss and debate the races we'd chosen to make selections in. (We did not endorse in every race for numerous reasons.) Present in one form or another were Jim Nintzel, Chris Limberis, Tim Vanderpool, Hugh Dougherty, Arek Sarkissian II, Lisa Schumaier, Irene Messina, Dave Devine and I. We had pretty serious differences on some of the issues and candidates, but I am confident and proud of the choices we ended up making.
If you have any strong opinions, one way or another, about our choices, let us know--as soon as possible--at mailbag@tucsonweekly.com. We'll include some of these letters to the editor in the paper next week, but due to deadlines and technicalities (i.e. we have a policy of confirming each and every letter we publish), we'll need them quickly.
And don't forget to vote on Nov. 2.
