“A Promise to be Biased for Houston” (Houston Chronicle deflects its Left Progressivism)

“What about Left environmental groups buying off the Houston Chronicle with grants and biased op-eds? What about business editorialist Chris Tomlinson PR’ing for wind and solar, the very energies that his wife makes the couple’s riches from?”

Evan Mintz, the new editor of opinion at the Houston Chronicle, opined on his bias last month (July 27, 2025). “As the Chronicle’s new opinion editor, I promise to be biased,” he declared.

As I step into my new role as the Houston Chronicle’s editor of opinion and community engagement, I’ve written an opening column to set the tone — and yes, it’s biased.

He continued:

We’re seeking out voices that reflect not just our city’s cultural diversity but also its rich, often-overlooked political diversity. We’ll write editorials that go deeper than daily coverage — adding insight into the politics and personalities at City Hall and Commissioners Court and into suburban politics. We’ll cut through Austin’s theatrics to focus on what state policies mean for our region. And we’ll bring Houston’s voice into national debates on energy, immigration, trade and other issues vital to our future.

A bit of energy policy creeps in:

Houstonians understand that fracking fueled America’s energy boom — and that fenceline communities bear the risks.

Mintz then promotes a bias toward the less powerful and marginalized, a far different standard than that of “pro-Houston”–and one that, presumably, is Progressive Left (the Chronicle’s notorious standard).

And we’ll continue that legacy by inviting expert voices to contribute, by providing a mirror for Houstonians who often don’t see themselves reflected in national political debates, and by holding power accountable with a clear-eyed focus on the right public policies for Houston’s future.

So why is it necessary to be geographically parochial? Is there a better standard for right-and-wrong? And what about the subjective judgement calls about what is “best” for Houston? How are different alternatives to be weighted and interpreted?

Would Enron, Houston’s most admired company in the 1990s, get a pass? Or how about Houston-based Sunnova, a national leader in rooftop solar, that spectacularly collapsed several months back? CEO John Berger was a favorite of crony business editorialist Chris Tomlinson, who never editorialized about this big hometown business bust. (An open secret: Tomlinson’s wife is a wind/solar multi-millionaire, a huge conflict-of-interest for the Chronicle.) [1]

Is Tomlinson good for Houston? He peddles wind and solar and bullies the oil and gas sector, which is many times larger than the (shrinking, perilous) solar and wind sector.

Back to right vs. wrong, political-economy-wise. Raw politics is at a stage today where everyone is trying to live off of everyone else (the redistributive state), and federal deficits are out of control. How about a new standard of less government for more civil society–and the right incentives to produce and serve a consumer-driven, taxpayer-neutral market?

But what about a newspaper whose editorial board is in the tank for Left Progressivism, combining Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) and more government at most turns. Where are the editorialists who are conservative, Trumpian, or classical liberal? Not even one has been on the Chronicle in years, decades. Why not, Evan Mintz? Scared of competition? Against intellectual diversity?

What about Left environmental groups buying off the Chronicle with grants and biased op-eds? And what (again) about Chris Tomlinson, the business editorialist who PR’s for wind and solar, the very energies that his wife makes the couple’s riches from?

Negative Comments

Three comments said much:

“Good, be biased and honest … but there should be 2 sides to every opinion piece and I haven’t seen that in more than 20 years.”

“Anytime any one says ‘let’s not make it political’ I know they are a disingenuous hack.”

“‘Our editorial positions won’t always follow neat ideological lines’, and yet, they always do.”

————

[1] Back in 2016 (a decade ago) Shalini Ramanathan’s bio read (p. 35):

[She] is the VP of Origination for Renewable Energy Systems (RES), a leading developer and constructor of wind, solar, transmission, and energy storage projects. Ms. Ramanathan has closed 1,400 MW worth of deals with more than $2.5B in total transaction value. She has negotiated PPAs with Google and Microsoft, as well as with numerous utilities including Xcel Energy and Wolverine Electric Coop. She holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from Yale University and a BA from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Austin, TX and serves on the Board of CleanTX, which promotes the clean energy economy in Central Texas.” (And that ‘clean energy economy’ is all about subsidies from the Investment Tax Credit, the Production Tax Credit, and outright grants from the US Department of Energy before and after the enactment of the Podesta/Biden/Harris Inflation Reduction Act.)

For the last five years, Ramanathan has been Director of Origination with “renewable energy specialists” Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners.  How many originations has she done in this period? Past $3 billion? $3.5 billion? Why not an updated number?

The post “A Promise to be Biased for Houston” (Houston Chronicle deflects its Left Progressivism) appeared first on Master Resource.