LETTERS: Coingate Props and More Art Buchwald Praise

By: With the departure of Online Editor Jay Defoore, we've been a little tardy in getting letters posted here and this may continue for a while. Please bear with us!

If you want to add your voice to the discussion, send us an e-mail at letters@editorandpublisher.com.

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'Blade' Deserves Coingate Credit

We at The Blade sincerely appreciate the mention you gave our Coingate coverage in your online story, "Handicapping the Pulitzers: Experts Pick Some Frontrunners." The national attention our reporting on this story has garnered by your publication and others is gratifying. I'd like to comment on a statement that you included in the article by an unnamed editor and past IRE juror. The editor was quoted as saying that while Coingate stories "had profound results, most of the major findings were made by state investigators." Our reporting has had profound results on state government and state politics, but just as we've led the rest of Ohio's media on this story since we broke it last April, we've also pointed the way for state and federal investigators time and again.

It took only five days for Ohio's inspector general to announce a probe of the state's rare-coin funds after our original story. And it took a little over a month, after further revelations in The Blade about missing coins and felons investing state coin funds, for the state to close down its rare-coin investments.

And while it is true that criminal investigators with subpoena powers discovered the details of the crimes committed by GOP fund-raiser Tom Noe, it was our reporting that expanded the story to the office of Gov. Bob Taft. Our stories on the cut-rate vacations and loans provided to Taft aides by Mr. Noe resulted in the governor coming clean with what he had been given by the coin dealer as well. As of last week, our coverage has resulted in the criminal convictions of Governor Taft and four of his former aides.

Thanks to The Blade taking the state to court to get records released, the public knows more than it did a year ago. That would not have happened if we had not kept the spotlight on the Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

This story continues to unfold, and The Blade continues to lead the way.

Thanks again.
Kurt Franck
Managing Editor, The Blade of Toledo, Ohio

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The 'Art' of Simple Gestures

Reading about Art Buchwald's final days reminded me of the power of simple gestures.

Nearly 15 years ago, Mr. Buchwald gave the Red Smith Lecture at The University of Notre Dame. He declined the honorarium -- about $8,000 as I recall -- and requested it be put back into the writing scholarship in Smith's name.

I was the next recipient of the award. I don't know what was more shocking: being named in the same sentence with the late, great Red Smith, or discovering that my final year of college would be paid in large part through the kindness of a famous stranger. Both surprises helped cement my decision to become a journalist.

Of course, I sent Mr. Buchwald a gushing thank-you note. That summer, while interning in Knight-Ridder's Washington D.C. Bureau, I discovered we worked in the same building. I wanted desperately to take him to lunch or coffee to show my gratitude, but for reasons I can no longer recall -- he was sick? out of town? too busy for some pesky college kid? -- we never met.

He may not have even remembered forgoing that money, but I'll never forget it. Especially now that I'm a columnist myself.

Monica Yant Kinney
Metro Columnist, The Philadelphia Inquirer

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A Remarkable Journey

Hello, I'd just like to convey to the courageous Mr. Buchwald that my thoughts are with him on his remarkable journey, wherever it leads.

Dean Johnson
Orlando Sentinel columnist

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Sending Up a Pulitzer Flare

I just read your article on handicapping the Pulitzers. Interesting piece with insight to what industry folks are thinking, and it's a fun game we all play this time of year. But I was wondering, what about the Mobile Register ... are we invisible down here?

Obviously, The Times Pic deserves big-time attention, as do the fine journalists in Mississippi, for their perseverance and professional fortitude. I hope they take lots of hardware during this awards season.

But people who come to our area from other places, including New Orleans and Atlanta, are amazed at the feistiness and quality of our newspaper, and consider it among the best, for its size, in the country. They usually say stuff like we're the best-kept secret in journalism. And, unfortunately, we have been targeted by hurricanes, including Katrina, the past 2 seasons. I'm just wondering ... do we need to send up a flare?

I work this region aggressively in my editorial cartoons. My priority is to give readers a lot of bang for their buck, and I take pride in "weeding my garden" along the Gulf Coast. It is more important for me to have an impact in my readership area than to draw entertainment cartoons for national attention. I'd rather my work be displayed on the cash register at the local gas station than in Newsweek. So far, I've been pretty successful!

As it turns out, I was the only staff cartoonist hunkering on the stormy side of the Gulf Coast when Katrina came calling. I was drawing from the frontlines the next day ... in lieu of publicity, I've got the portfolio to show for it. I'm fine with that.

I am sending a copy of my new benefit book of cartoons from the 2005 hurricane season to peruse, and if you would, critique. I am interested in your honest appraisal ... how does this work stand up to the rest of the field?

Thanks for your good work in covering our business.

Cheers,
Jd J.D. Crowe
Mobile Register