Endorsements are out and Baltimore City Paper likes Gregg Bernstein over Patricia Jessamy, for Baltimore City State’s Attorney.

“He appears to be a smart, passionate attorney, and he is running on the need to get serious about making good cases against violent offenders and making them stick, increasingly urgent and challenging tasks in Baltimore City,” they write, in today’s edition, as part of their endorsement’s for the Tuesday Sept. 14 primary.

It’s clear that CP has concerns about the former federal prosecutor’s weakest point — his lack of a track record running a large organization on anything like the scale of the city State’s Attorney’s office.

“He has acknowledged that he’ll need good administrative support to run the 400-person SA’s office; one can only pray that he would pick his office staff more wisely than he’s picked his campaign staff, if that’s who’s responsible for a series of maladroit ads that have only added more ugly undertones to a race that doesn’t need any help in that respect.”

The City Paper‘s Edward Ericson Jr. wrote a long and nuanced piece last week comparing the candidates on style, substance and statements, discussing the role of race as the white challenger takes on the African-American incumbent and esesntially expressing doubts about both of them.

“The Jury is Out,” it was headlined. Now, apparently, it’s in.

“Still, Baltimore needs a change on the city’s side of its courtrooms,” authors Lee Garner and Brett McCabe wrote, ” and he is the change we have on offer.”