By: Todd Shields The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) finished its annual convention in the black and, according to its leaders, is prepared to take on more substantive issues than such traditional debates as whether funny or serious cartoons best serve readers.
A record number of cartoonists (210) attended the group's annual convention here, according to AAEC officers.
The turnout contrasted with 150 in 2001, when attendance at the convention in Toronto fell short of expectations and the association was forced to pay $18,000 for unused hotel rooms, said AAEC President Scott Stantis, cartoonist for
The Birmingham (Ala.)
News and Copley News Service.
Non-cartoonist speakers at this year's convention included U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); James Zogby, president of the Arab-American Institute; top Pentagon spokesperson Victoria Clarke; Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League; and Leonard Downie, executive editor of
The Washington Post.
Stantis said the AAEC is aiming to raise its voice on behalf of cartooning. "We've started to become much more of an advocacy group," Stantis said. For instance, the group recently urged
The Buffalo (N.Y.)
News to replace cartoonist Tom Toles, who accepted a job with the
Washington Post.
"We're in the mood to fight for editorial cartooning -- that it's a good, viable part of a newspaper," Stantis said. "It's good economics, too. It sells newspapers."
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