Editor Of Iowa Paper is Out -- Just Weeks Before Caucuses

By: Joe Strupp Less than three weeks before one of the most competitive Iowa Caucuses ever, The Gazette of Cedar Rapids, the state's second-largest paper, has lost its editor.

Mark Bowden, who has been with the 59,425 daily-circulation paper since 1979 and served as editor for more than a decade -- and sits on the editorial board that makes political endorsements -- left the paper last Tuesday with little explanation, according to staffers.

Senior Editor Lyle Muller confirmed that Bowden had left, but said he had no details. A receptionist answering calls to the paper said only that Bowden was no longer with the company.

"There is not much I can tell you, only that it happened," Muller, a 21-year veteran of the locally-owned daily, said. "The publisher told the staff."

Calls to Managing Editor Dan Geiser and Publisher Dave Storey were not immediately returned. Bowden was not reachable at his home.

The timing, coming just weeks before the hotly-contested Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, raises questions about the reasons for the departure. One source said, "we were told it happened and that it was not a hasty decision."

Another staffer said, "all we were told is he was gone, that the decision was effective immediately, and that it was a 'personnel issue.' One item publisher Dave Storey let slip is that he had offered to help Bowden find another job, which implies that he is healthy but that he does not have another job lined up. No confirmed word on whose decision it was for Bowden to leave."

When asked how the paper would handle ongoing coverage of the Caucuses without Bowden, Muller said, "We're managing."

Bowden had apparently launched a blog in recent weeks, but a review of postings showed no initial controversial items. Among the issues he discussed was how the paper makes endorsements, a procedure he as an editorial board member, was involved with.

The Gazette has not yet made any presidential endorsements for 2008.