There has been a lot of drama over newspaper endorsements lately. My own take is that they probably don’t matter much. After all, anyone who cares what the Washington Post editorial board thinks has already made up their mind in this election.

But I do think editorial boards can have some impact when their endorsements cut against the political grain. Case in point, the SF Chronicle has recently endorsed the recall of both progressive DA Pamela Price and embattled Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao. This is not what you’d necessarily expect from the city’s hometown liberal paper. First up, their take on DA Price.

Price’s short tenure has left us with deep concerns about her competency and fitness for office. Her lack of experience as a prosecutor — which we cited in our 2022 endorsement of one of her opponents — has proved costly.

The Chronicle reported this month that Price’s office missed deadlines to file charges in more than 1,000 misdemeanor cases that had been sitting on her desk for a year, a stunning miscarriage of justice that left victims hanging and eliminated rehabilitation and accountability opportunities for offenders. Following the Chronicle report, Price said she was assigning extra prosecutors to deal with the caseload but didn’t know how long it would take to clear or even how many cases were backed up…

Furthermore, Price’s office has been plagued by allegations of nepotism and unqualified hiring.

Price hired her boyfriend, who was previously investigated by the FBI on suspicion of extortion, as a “senior program specialist” with a six-figure salary — though his exact duties remain unclear. Price also hired a former Oakland Police Department deputy chief with a publicly documented history of misconduct as her office’s chief inspector. Another of her top deputies, who an independent investigation found to have manipulated employees and fostered a fear of retaliation at his former workplace, resigned in June. […]