Where's Warren?
Argonaut publisher hits, runs, and hides

By Bruce B. Brugmann

Well, here we go again. A year ago, if you will remember, Warren Hinckle attacked me in the San Francisco Examiner for raising questions on election night at City Hall about Department of Elections chief Tammy Haygood's conduct in the elections. He used me as yet another example of the journalistic form he is perfecting: I-was-there-and-I-was-dreadfully-shocked-and-I'm-going-to-give-you-the-real-scoop personal journalism.

The problem for Hinckle, as I noted at the time, is that he often isn't there, as he wasn't on election night, and he often doesn't bother to check with those who were, going by the old journalistic theory that if you check the story, you might lose it.

And so I wrote a little piece titled "Where Was Warren Hinckle on Election Night" (which ran on our Web site Nov. l4, 200l). trying to unravel the mystery of how he could write so authoritatively and so colorfully about an event and my actions when he simply wasn't around to witness any of it. I didn't get very far.

When I did reach Hinckle at his apartment in New York City, he told me he was not in New York on election night but in Hawaii, and when I asked where he was the next day, he said, "I can't remember, and it's none of your damn business."

Click.

This year, just before the election, Hinckle put out his annual last-minute election hit piece called the Argonaut. He attacked me with rousing fanfare and in much Hinckle-ese, with Frank Gallagher as his byline reporter, and he made similar attacks on a few Hinckle-Fang enemies, such as Sups. Chris Daly and Jake McGoldrick (sponsor of Proposition K, which would put out to bid the Fang's contract to print the city's legal notices. (The Fang family employs Hinckle and Gallagher on the Examiner and the Independent.)

His attack once again raised a host of questions, among them the nifty correlation between the Argonaut's political and its political endorsements and political positions, as well as the even niftier correlation of its positions with those of the Fang family papers. The Argonaut ran three juicy full-page ads (two in color), then lots of sword flashing and trombone pumping on behalf of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and against PG&E enemies. You get the point.

I tried his New York apartment: I reached an answering machine that wouldn't take a message because "the memory is full." I tried the Examiner and got his voice mail, as well as that of managing editor Richard Defendorf and that of columnist P.J. Corkery. So I sent an e-mail to the Fang family managers and editors with some questions:

"Where is Warren and how can I reach him?" Editor Zoran Basich replied, "Can't help you locate Hinckle – Lord knows I've spent many a night trying to do the same thing, minutes ticking away to deadline, but I'll print your letter." (He did, the next day, to the paper's credit). Gallagher suggested I call the Argonaut, but there's no phone number in that publication and no listing for it in the phone book. More from Gallagher: "If you want to talk to Hinckle, find him. He's not incommunicado, he's probably at a bar. He hangs at the Double Play and Gino&Carlo's mostly."

I tried the two bars. No luck. Back to the Examiner. No luck.

Figuring I was not reporter enough to track down Hinckle, I e-mailed the key questions to the Fang managers to get Hinckle to answer or to answer them themselves:

"How much did Warren charge for his ads [in the Argonaut]? How much did PG&E and its front groups pay Hinckle? How much did the other downtown campaigns and advertisers pay Hinckle? Why did the advertisers and political endorsements and positions seem to link up so nicely?"

I also aimed my e-mail to the Fangs themselves (publisher Florence, executives James and Douglas): "What contribution did the Fangs or their employees make to the Argonaut? Did they contribute cash or in-kind services? Did they do the printing and distribution? Do the Fangs support this kind of publication and this kind of hit-run-and-hide journalism? If so, why? If not, will they say so for publication?"

I also asked if the Fangs had a code of ethics for their editorial and business operations and asked if they could fax it to me.

At press time, no word from Hinckle. No word from the Fangs. But Gallagher, when I asked how much he and Hinckle made off the Argonaut, replied, "None of your business, dammit."

Stay alert for developments.

P.S.: Stop the presses! At press time, in comes an e-mail from Hinckle, who says he has no reason ever to call me for comment ("calling you for comment on your past and present obsessions is like calling Henry Kissinger to comment on his being a war criminal") and that he "pay[s] cash money to Grant Printing to print the Argonaut, which has no relationship with what you racistly keep referring to as 'the Fangs.' " He refused to answer any of my other questions. And so my next question for Hinckle, Gallagher, and the Fangs is, Why not let PG&E do its own dirty work? E-mail Bruce B. Brugmann at bruce@sfbg.com.