LA Supervisor Candidate Claims Disparate Treatment in News Article

Roxanne Hoge is a candidate for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Third District seat, with close to 2 million residents. The Globe spoke with Hoge, an actor, business owner, wife and mother of four, following a news article in the Los Angeles Daily News from Friday, in which Hoge says she received very different treatment from the other five candidates. She found this odd because the LADN endorsed her in a previous political race.

Hoge said this race is interesting, partly because current Supervisor Sheila Kuehl is retiring, making the field  wide open. The LADN reports the candidates are Jeffi Girgenti, 56, small business owner; Lindsey Horvath, 39, city council member, city of West Hollywood and small business owner; Craig Brill, 56, dog walker; Henry Stern, 40, state senator; Roxanne Beckford Hoge, 56, business owner; Bob Hertzberg, 67, state senator.

The LADN article covers the candidates positions on homelessness, public health including COVID-19, the county Sheriff’s and Fire departments, jails, juvenile detention, parks, environment and LA Metro.

Hoge said she was interviewed by Steve Scauzillo for his profiles of the 6 candidates in the race. She said she provided him a professional headshot, her campaign logo, a list of endorsements, and answered all of his questions.

But then the article came out and Hoge said she discovered a complete imbalance in her treatment. Not only was her name misspelled in the print edition, she was barely quoted, and she said the reporter revealed her Covid vaccine status “and not much else.”

“Reading the article, one would have the impression that I didn’t respond to any of his questions, when in fact, I was quite generous with my time, honest with my opinions, and have even written an OpEd on affordable housing for the Daily News before,” Hoge told the Globe. In the era of non-stop identity politics, it is notable that Roxanne Hoge is the only woman of color and minority candidate in this District 3 LA Supervisor’s race, and a Republican.

Editorial choices are a fascinating insight into reporter biases, aren't they? I was having a great, wide-ranging conversation with this author (who spelled my name wrong in the print version) when he went apoplectic over something I said. 1/ pic.twitter.com/I4vJw3jVQe

— Roxanne Hoge (@RoxanneHoge) May 24, 2022

“Even his choice of photo to make it appear that I have a blurry selfie instead of the professional headshot I also provided him is a clear thumb on the scale,” she said.

Hoge posted the article on Twitter and responded in kind in this thread.

She said the interview went sideways when discussing Covid, she told the reporter that Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a public meeting, “vaccines don’t work so great.” She said he flipped out and accused her of being a QAnon follower, so Hoge sent him the video of Ferrer at a USC event making the statement (below).

“It’s understandable that Steve has strong personal feelings about Covid, as many people still do,” Hoge said. But Hoge said it is disappointing that he allowed his personal fears to taint his article, even making it appear to readers that the “grassroots” candidate “differs from the others in a very significant way.”

What did I say that caused him to lose his sense of objectivity? I quoted @lapublichealth's Barbara Ferrer as saying, "vaccines don't work so great." Which she said on video I provided to him.

He called me names and wanted to know my private medical status. 2/ https://t.co/TZGcCadKyP

— Roxanne Hoge (@RoxanneHoge) May 24, 2022

Then the reporter asked her about her vaccine status. Hoge said she told him she had Covid in 2021, and upon her doctor’s medical advice did not get the vaccine. Since then Hoge said she told him she’s had two antibody tests and a T-cell test showing she has strong antibodies.

The 2,216 word article is devoid of information about or quotes from Hoge other than this: “Hoge called herself a reluctant candidate who is ‘carrying the banner of common sense.’ She has not been vaccinated and was not in favor of shutting down schools to control the spread of the coronavirus. She’s endorsed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association PAC.”

Hoge explained: “I was never interested in politics, but politics is in everything we do. When LA’s children and businesses were sacrificed over the past two years, while vulnerable seniors and our homeless population were ignored and all of us felt the rise in crime, we all looked to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and found most of them completely lacking.”

Hoge is also endorsed by some other California heavyweights: former Ambassador and Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell, Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, former LA Supervisors Dennis Zine and Mike Antonovich, Walkaway’s Brandon Straka, Conservative Activist Scott Pressler, KABC Radio host John Phillips, Radio host Carl DeMaio, Mike Netter and Orrin Heatley of Rebuild California, and Angela Marsden of Pineapple Hill Saloon.