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Prop. 8 Backer Buys San Diego Paper

Prop. 8 Backer Buys San Diego Paper

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Hotelier Doug Manchester, a major donor to the campaign to repeal marriage equality in California, is buying San Diego's daily newspaper.

Manchester's purchase of The San Diego Union-Tribune was announced Thursday. He paid more than $110 million for the paper, he told the website Voice of San Diego,which noted that is more than double what previous owner Platinum Equity paid in 2009. He declined to provide other details, saying the parties had agreed not to comment until the deal is finalized between November 30 and December 15.

In 2008, Manchester donated $125,000 to the campaign to pass Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that amended California's constitution to ban same-sex marriage, superseding a state Supreme Court ruling that opened marriage to gay couples. Prop. 8, approved by voters, is being challenged in court; one federal judge found it violated the U.S. Constitution, but his ruling is on appeal. Manchester's activism on behalf of the proposition led to boycotts of his hotels, such as the Manchester Grand Hyatt.

Some observers told Voice of San Diego they're taking a wait-and-see attitude about Manchester's operation of the Union-Tribune, but a dimmer view came from Fred Sainz, the former press secretary to gay-friendly mayor Jerry Sanders who now works for the Human Rights Campaign.

"He has a well-earned reputation for being a small-minded, resentful, mean-spirited man," Sainz said of Manchester. "And those are not the character traits you want in the publisher of your newspaper. It's going to be hard to believe the editorial positions of the newspaper were arrived at in a thoughtful and unbiased manner." Sainz suggested a community intervention, saying the sale to Manchester is "putting way too much power in the hands of one person with a multitude of agendas."

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.