Muscled out

What remains of San Diego’s rapidly diminishing press corps has always had a tough time getting a straight story out of Mayor Jerry Sanders and his bulked-up spinmeister Fred Sainz. Sanders is sometimes produced for friendly “media ops” with favored reporters, but Sainz protects his boss from probing questioners. A series of emails recently provided by San Diego State University in response to a request under California’s Public Records Act shows the process at work with Gloria Penner, longtime correspondent for the university’s KPBS broadcasting operation. In June 2006, KPBS producer Graciela Sevilla wrote Sainz, inviting the mayor to come over for an interview. “We don’t have any specific agenda, just a check-in and update.” Replied Sainz: “We’d love to do it, but we won’t with Gloria as the interviewer.” Asked Sevilla: “Would it be safe to assume Gloria is out of favor after the [Ronne] Froman interview in January, or is there another reason?” Said Sainz: “I think your read is accurate.”