Dear Friends,

 

By now you may know that The Oregonian pulled my last column from their website and printed what they felt was a necessary correction in Saturday’s paper.  I disagreed with, but did not contest their decision to publish the correction.

 

I wrote about Mary Nolan’s campaign contributors.  I did not say Mary Nolan’s contributors for the city council race.  Every contribution I enumerated is listed as a contribution to Nolan’s current campaign committee, “Mary Nolan for City Council”.  You can confirm this by looking at the Orestar campaign finance website.  The only thing Orestar had wrong, probably because final reporing had not been submitted, was the total of Nolan’s contributions, which was shown as $160,000.  The Nolan camp reported to the Oregonian that the total is actually $239,000.

 

I was examining Mary Nolan’s “war chest”.  Anyone who understands campaign financing knows that past contributions can be, and are, rolled into current campaigns.  Those funds, regardless of when they were contributed, are available to Nolan for this race assuming they have not been spent.  Even if they were spent in her legislative quest, which I think is unlikely, I believe those contributors would still have a reasonable expectation of access to Nolan if she ends up on the city council.

 

Several changes in the Oregonian’s staff in the past few months have made it increasingly difficult to continue to be a contributor.  I had been contemplating severing my relationship with the paper for some months now, but this was the final straw.  I have informed them that I will no longer be a contributor.

 

At my suggestion, Bob Caldwell recruited myself and others to provide right-of-center commentary after David Reinhard left the paper.  It was an assignment that I enjoyed and I think I did a good job.  Bob Caldwell believed in maintaining a balance of political perspectives on the Oregonian’s editorial page, presenting views from both sides of issues.  The fact that he believed in my ability to help make that happen meant a lot to me.

 

I have been a contributor to The Oregonian for the last four years.  I have a scrapbook of columns of which I am very proud.  Hopefully I will find a new outlet to continue my work.

 

Sincerely yours,