'Buffalo News' Won't Hire Cartoonist To Replace Toles

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By: Dave Astor The Buffalo (N.Y.) News won't replace Tom Toles when he moves to The Washington Post next month, and the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) isn't happy about it.

News Editorial Page Editor Gerald Goldberg told E&P Online that the paper is trying to save money on staff salaries, and the only hires allowed in the near future will be two reporters.

"I'm disappointed that I'm not going to have a staff cartoonist, but in bad times you have to make tough choices," said Goldberg, who reported that the News will continue to run four syndicated editorial cartoonists, will pick up Toles' Post cartoons from Universal Press Syndicate, and will possibly publish free-lance local cartoons. He added that the News might hire a staff cartoonist when the economy improves.

The AAEC wrote the News to express its dismay with the decision and ask it to reconsider. "Editorial cartoonists sell newspapers. The enormous success of Tom Toles should tell them that," AAEC President Scott Stantis told E&P Online. The Birmingham (Ala.) News/Copley News Service creator added that the Buffalo News could hire a young, less-expensive staff cartoonist and let him or her grow on the job.

Toles, who succeeds the late and legendary Herbert Block at the Post, joined the Buffalo News in 1982. He won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning eight years later.

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