By: E&P Staff The timing might seem a bit odd to some -- his recent dismissal of Editor Dean Baquet rankled his newsroom -- but David Hiller, the newly arrived publisher of the Los Angeles Times has penned a piece for the paper's Opinion page on another influential figure who has lost his job.
The Hiller article -- also featured prominently on the newspaper's Web site -- recalled his days in the late 1990s playing squash in Chicago with Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld. Hiller admitted Rumsfeld "beat me almost all the time" even though he was "almost old enough" to be his father -- as Rumsfeld was happy to point out.
Why did he lose? "Don was a strong technical player with a keen sense of court geometry and shot placement," Hiller wrote. He continued: "Don had a deadly, hard overhand service that came off the front wall like a bullet, came straight to the back wall and dropped in the corner, safe from my racquet. ... Don also held the strategic ground in the center of the court better than anybody. We once collided as we both moved there, and I couldn't play for a week.
"I think what struck me most was that Don never gave up on a point. His view was that every shot could be made, every game could be won, and he never surrendered until the last volley was played out. With me he was usually right.
"Were these the qualities he brought to his job as secretary of Defense? I'm not sure, but I suspect that the rules he lived by were the same ones he played by, and I thought of them again as I watched the president announce Don's resignation."
Meanwhile, the popular blog, LAObserved, revealed that Hiller has donated $9,500 to various Republican candidates or the Republican National Committee since 2000, based on F.E.C. filings. In 1999 he donated to both then-Governor George Bush and Sen. John McCain.
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