Jerry Heaster, Star's only conservative columnist?
THE BOTTOM LINE: Kudos to Derek Donovan, the Readers' Representative at the Kansas City Star, for admitting that his newspaper has not given anywhere near balanced coverage to Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline. What seems particularly interesting is that Donovan made it seem as if business columnist Jerry Heaster, who retired from the Star with health problems more than two years ago after a sterling 27-year career, was the designated conservative columnist for the newspaper. (SEE HEASTER'S RESPONSE BELOW) Kline commented on the Chris Stigall radio talk show on KCMO radio (5/22) that "it was nice that at least one person at the Star recognizes the biased coverage" he has received. LINK:http://adastrum.kansascity.com/?q=node/229
Piling on Kline? I've heard from several readers in recent days who think The Star is being unfair to Phill Kline after Saturday's Page A-1 story about the Web site standwithtruth.com, which offers to book Kline for speaking engagements. Kline's office declined to comment on his relationship with the site or its administrators. There has been a variety of objections, most not about the story itself, but about several other items in the paper after its publication. In particular, Mike Hendricks wrote a sharply critical column on Monday, and the Opinion section ran an anti-Kline Voices comment. Then the editorial board weighed in against Kline Tuesday. And today's Hearne Christopher column quotes local business owner Chris Seferyn equating Kline with Fred Phelps, saying they make area residents look like "a bunch of knuckle draggers." So far, there hasn't been any defense of Kline -- including from his own office -- in The Star. Now, Dave Helling showed me the entirety of his e-mail exchange with Kline's spokesman Brian Burgess, and despite standwithtruth.com's claims, Burgess most definitely did not reply to the questions posed. That's exactly what the story says. More may be forthcoming, and The Star should cover it when it happens. However, I absolutely agree with readers that it's all but impossible not to get the impression that the paper is piling on here. Part of that is attributable to the fact that different departments operate independently. And the editorial board, Hendricks and Christopher's source are all entitled to their opinions. No one person orchestrates all these things to purposely stack the deck. But this is a place where The Star's imbalance in staff commentators -- something I've criticized in the past -- snaps into focus. Kline has many vehement defenders, but those voices haven't gotten any time in The Star. (And to be fair, he also has strong detractors in his own party.) But especially since the departure of Jerry Heaster, the paper's own columnist lineup leans way too heavily -- and predictably -- to the left. I'm not making any judgments on the question of ownership and money at the Web site. I'm simply pointing out that I understand fully how readers think The Star sometimes isn't fair to Kline, and social conservatives in general.
FEEDBACK/UPDATE FROM JERRY HEASTER (05-28-2008):
My latest PET/CT scan showed no growth or movement on the part of the tumor, which is in the rear of the stomach. So, I shall be around for the rest of 2008 unless I get run over by a truck. My left hip needs corrective surgery but a blood clot in my left leg leaves me on blood thinner until November and I've got post-chemo anemia on top of that. Thus, no surgeon will touch me for elective surgery, and I am not sure I'd want it anyway with as many other things as I've got wrong with me.
It's nice to be remembered in retirement, thanks, but I've been keeping a low profile. I think I did well at The Star with both the readers and my colleagues, because I stuck to my knitting, which was about things economic. I never let it get political even when I saw what I considered wrong in economic and tax policy. If anything, I have probably become more conservative in my dotage, but the GOP has run off the rails as was predictable when they came to power. I wrote some about (Phill) Kline when he was a legislator because I thought some of his economic ideas were good about government's role in the private economy. Since becoming AG (state and JoCo), however, he has used the power to fight against abortion and I have no dog in that fight. As for The Star, what we must remember is that most of the media is liberal, in the sense that they think bigger government is better and they have no sense of economic trade-offs. The push on "going green" is a good example of this mindset but the media, the academe, the corporations, and the politicians are going where the money is. Boone Pickens just made a $10 billion investment in windmills and expects a 20-25 percent return on the investment, but he'll never allow a windmill to be put on his property. Does that tell you something?
My son Randy (Star columnist) has suggested I do a blog and I still hear from old-time readers. But that would again put me in the service of deadlines, which I liked less and less as time went on. ...I am still interested in what is going on and I do miss being out of the ballgame. But I'll let somebody else fight the good fight. It's nice to be missed, and I thank you for that, but I am just tuckered out. It was good hearing from you.
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