Once Proud Freedom-Loving Gazette Backs Colorado Springs Tax Hike
Posted on September 10th, 2009 in Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Journalism, liberty, PPC, property rights | Written by Ben | 5 Comments »
Last week I pointed out that financial concerns might end up pushing the Colorado Springs Gazette to abandon its longstanding position as a beacon of limited government, personal liberty, and fiscal sanity. Well, buckle up, because it’s started happening really quickly.
Witness today’s Gazette editorial co-signed by publisher Steven Pope and John Weiss, publisher of the Lefty Colorado Springs Independent, pulling out the big scare to support a tax hike on the city’s ballot.
However, it’s not clear the new Gazette management has considered all of the implications of the property tax increase (H/T Sean Paige).
If the Gazette losing its independent, libertarian voice concerns you in the least, now is the time to speak up.
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5 Responses
You may have been a bit hasty here.
As a Colorado Springs resident and a Gazette subscriber, I have often found the Gazette editorial page to be flaky and inconsistent.
The bankruptcy filing has just been made, with no rulings on it to date to my knowledge. The old board is still in place. All of the old players are still around.
My bet is that the editorial policy won’t change even with the new board. Tweaking the farmhands as you suggest isn’t going to do much good and may do harm.
It is always nice to note that I am not the only paranoid out there (jk).
Tom
I am not completely immune from hastiness nor paranoia (who’s standing behind me?), but don’t think that’s the case this time. A good source passed this on to me that there were real concerns. But maybe the source is paranoid, too?
Tom McDowell’s post illustrates the fact he has no understanding of how the Gazette’s editorial department and it’s editorial board operate. I appoint the board, manage the board, and run the editorial department. I’m keenly aware of how it operates and I know exactly what’s going on at the Gazette. Ben DeGrow has every reason to raise questions about the future of the Gazette, as it pertains to the paper’s long history of defending the Freedom Philosophy. Nobody, at any level in Freedom Communications, knows whether the editorial philosophy will survive the next year. The flakiest thing in Colorado Springs may be politician wannabe Tom McDowell, who confuses his own analytical limitations with “inconsistency” on the part of the Gazette’s editorial section. You would be hard pressed to find an editorial section more consistent than the Gazette’s. Stick to what you know, Tom. It will be interesting to see if your pro-abortion, progressive RINO platform wins favor in Colorado Springs. Let me guess… It won’t.
Wayne Laugesen
editorial page editor
The Gazette
And for the record, I’m not the “good source” Ben DeGrow mentioned in his response to Tom McDowell’s post. Ben DeGrow and I have never met, and we had never spoken or exchanged e-mails before this blog came to my attention today. Whomever it was, his good source is accurate. The future of the Gazette’s editorial philosophy is most certainly in question. This is one of only two major metropolitan newspapers in Colorado. It is one of only a handful of newspapers in the country that consistently defends a limited government, pro-freedom, constitutionalist philosophy. The few other papers that do this, such as California’s Orange County Register, are also owned by Freedom Communications. Nobody at Freedom Communications, at any rank, including the Gazette’s publisher, would say the future of the company’s Freedom Philosophy is secure. If readers of this blog appreciate the Gazette’s unique, limited government, pro-freedom editorial philosophy they should politely express their support in letters, blogs, e-mails, Twitters, or however they see fit. I thank Ben DeGrow for expressing concern about the Gazette’s amazing editorial philosophy, which has played a major role in keeping Colorado an environment of limited government and prosperity for the past 60-plus years.
Wayne Laugesen
editorial page editor
The Gazette
Wayne
Nice to see that you know I exist.
Keep putting stuff like this up under your name. I am going to use it in my campaign.
You really ought to read up on Maslow before you make these wild predictions.
Tom