I have been meaning to bring to the attention of the Red County readership a fantastic editorial written by the San Bernardino Sun a couple of days ago.  The crux of the editorial is an evaluation of Mayor Morris' handling of the Operation Phoenix molestation scandal with an analysis of their crisis management response.

It is with some surprise that I must praise the editorial board's response to this scandal.  In the past, I have lamented the paper's handling of issues and often times accused them of sweeping items under the rug or injecting its bias into the direction of the coverage.

During this scandal, the paper has obviously dedicated enormous resources with in-depth coverage by Robert Rogers and Andrew Edwards.  Considering that Rogers was taken off the San Bernardino city beat and given greater responsibilities earlier this year, it is clear that the paper is taking this matter seriously and objectively.

Their editorials have been very deliberate and tempered appropriately.  There hasn't been a rush to judgment or condemnation.  However, in return for giving Mayor Morris and the program the benefit of the doubt (and the paper has openly professed its support for the program's concept), they have also held him accountable for missteps. 

In this editorial, The Sun compares the handling of the Operation Phoenix scandal to Johnson & Johnson's response when their marquee brand Tylenol was brought to near extinction thanks to tampering that led to the deaths of several individuals.  The Tylenol case is considered the "gold standard" and a staple in business classes and one we studied when I attended the University of Southern California.

Below is a snippet from the editorial:

It's too early to tell whether Operation Phoenix can withstand the damage to its credibility. What is clear is that many of the problems Phoenix faces right now could have been avoided had there been better crisis management.

As passionate and forthcoming as Mayor Pat Morris was in launching Operation Phoenix and campaigning for Measure Z funding, we've wanted and needed to see him out there - front and center, every day - taking ownership and promising solutions.

Instead, the voices have been those of subordinates who seem more interested in saving face than fixing a problem that has magnified with each new day.

-snip-

In any event, Phoenix's misguided attempts at self preservation may have an effect that's quite the opposite - self-destruction. We hope that's not the case.