By: Joe Strupp Anyone who thought that Sam Zell's takeover of Tribune Company would result in his guiding newspaper editorials to his liking need only look at today's Los Angeles Times.
In an editorial opposing Proposition 98, a California ballot measure that would reduce rent control rights for residents, the Times criticizes the proposal, stating: "with the ill-considered Proposition 98, property rights advocates once again have undermined themselves and poorly served homeowners, businesspeople and real estate investors by overreaching."
It later adds: "?landlords detected a chance to use the fear of eminent domain abuse for their own purposes. They poured several million dollars into getting advocates to drop the legislative approach and go to the ballot with an initiative that quietly targets the rent control laws in about 100 California cities, including Los Angeles, Santa Monica and West Hollywood."
The paper then points out that it is clearly opposing Zell's apparent wishes, and makes no apologies: "You wouldn't know from reading the ballot title and summary that Proposition 98 is an anti-rent-control measure, but that's become the primary focus of its financial backers, the vast majority of whom are landlords and rental property management companies. One of them is connected to The Times. Sam Zell is chairman and CEO of Tribune Co., which owns The Times; he also chairs Equity Lifestyle Properties Inc., which donated $50,000 to Proposition 98. The company owns 27 mobile home parks in California, many of them subject to rent control."
The ballot measure is among several facing voters on June 3.
The entire Times editorial is posted at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-props12-2008may12,0,62073.story
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