Lance Williams should be ashamed of himself. The former San Francisco Chronicle reporter was once regarded as a dogged investigative journalist. He and fellow former Chronicle scribe Mark Fainaru-Wada broke the BALCO sports doping scandal wide open several years ago, both with their reporting for the paper and in a well-received 2006 book Game of Shadows that convincingly made the case that former Giants slugger Barry Bonds was using more than flaxseed oil when he shattered baseball's career home run record.
Last week, however, a front page story ran in the Chronicle and was reported for the Center for Investigative Reporting, where Williams now works, that was anything but a deeply reported investigation. Instead, it was a tabloid-ready account about a man that gay Assembly Speaker John Perez (D-Los Angeles) used to date. The headline in the print edition read, "Speaker linked to target of suits." In the online version, the headline was "Assembly leader dated figure in funeral scandal." The story purports to "link" Perez with a lawsuit against a man he used to date, Tyler Cassity, proprietor of a boutique Hollywood cemetery called Hollywood Forever and a cemetery in Mill Valley. Cassity is a defendant in a $600 million fraud lawsuit in Missouri, along with several family members.
We're still scratching our heads as to why this was even a news story. We can't recall similar, sensational treatment given to straight politicians and people they used to date. Mind you, according to Williams, Cassity and Perez did not have a serious relationship – they were not registered domestic partners or married – they simply dated, like thousands of gay and straight people do all the time.
Williams's story states that in July 2011 Perez took Cassity to a Los Angeles party to honor Britain's Prince William and his wife, Catherine, and later that year, Perez took Cassity on a weeklong junket to Israel, where they met President Shimon Peres and other officials, apparently the crux linking the two men. It's important to note here – and the story does not reveal this detail until much later – that neither international event was a state visit and that the British and Israeli governments did not ask for background information about Cassity. Perez also persuaded Sacramento political types to donate to Cassity when he participated in an AIDS Life/Cycle bike ride.
These are not links to any wrongdoing by either man. Cassity's legal problems will be addressed in court, as they should be. He has not been charged with a crime. The tone of Williams's article, however, seeks to paint Perez as a scandal-tinged politician because he dated someone who was named in a lawsuit.
So what?
The story would have legs, as we say in the news business, if, for example, Perez was involved in the funeral home operation or if he steered public money to his former boyfriend. There is no indication either of those things happened. Instead, Perez found himself the subject of a front-page story that hinted at some scandal yet failed to deliver the goods. In fact, according to the story, it's been a year or more since the two men dated. Yet Williams was able to find a Santa Clara University ethics expert to say that Perez displayed "colossal bad judgment" in the relationship. Really? Because you're dating someone named in a lawsuit? That doesn't rise to the level of bad judgment in our book.
Of more concern, though, is the Center for Investigative Reporting's apparent zeal in reporting on a gay politician's dating habits, especially when that politician just announced a run for statewide office, as Perez did a day before Williams's story appeared in the Chronicle . Coincidence? We think not. This was a cheap shot to undermine his candidacy and cast doubt on his qualifications. Perez, who is running for state controller, would be the official who oversees the state's finances. While Williams's story rests on the multi-million dollar lawsuit, it's important to note that the legal action does not involve Perez, which would have made the story newsworthy.
There are plenty of legitimate issues to pursue as Perez begins his campaign. Topics like examining the controller's office's performance and what skills Perez brings to the job. How will handling the state's many budget issues prepare Perez for statewide office? All of these topics are fair game, as are Perez's fundraising and other campaign activities. His past dating life, however, in this case, is irrelevant.