Santorum to Pen Inky Column?

Posted on 2/28/07  
Text Size: A | A | A
 
Photo by Zoey Sless-Kitain
Republican former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum is in talks to become the Philadelphia Inquirer's newest op-ed columnist. Reached late Wednesday night, Santorum told us, "We're sort of back and forth, haven't decided anything, but we're talking, yes."

About two weeks ago, Santorum discussed "life after the Senate" with Brian Tierney, the Inky's CEO and publisher, at the paper's headquarters on 400 North Broad. "I stopped in for a meeting with Brian Tierney," Santorum said. "He asked. He wanted to see me. They offered an opportunity to do that." If hired, Santorum would join two other recent high-profile additions to the op-ed page: reporter Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down, and conservative talk-show host Michael Smerconish, author of Muzzled: From T-Ball to Terrorism — True Stories That Should Be Fiction. Tierney had a personal hand in recruiting both Bowden and Smerconish.

Santorum wouldn't go into more detail. He said his talks with the Inky were "an informal dialogue" and the column "may or may not happen." Since losing big in last November's midterm elections, Santorum has been hiring staff and "trying to do some things to influence the public discussion," mainly on the issue of global terrorism. He joined a think-tank in Washington D.C., the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he heads the subtly named "America's Enemies" project on radical Islam. He also signed with the Harry Walker lecture agency — whose client list includes Bill Clinton, Henry Kissinger and Bono — and is working on a book about the terrorist threat. Santorum said that if he were to write an Inky column, "it would be on a variety of different things," including his work on radical Islam. When we asked him about the chances for the column actually happening, Santorum said, "I've got a lot of other things that I'm doing. So part of it is just whether I have time to do it."

Tierney, reached earlier in the day yesterday, was a bit more pessimistic. He said it was true that the Inky had had "low-level discussions" with Santorum. But Tierney put the chances of Santorum's column ever appearing in the paper at "one out of 1,000. We'd probably be more likely to have Dan Rather write a column for us. Seriously. And I'm not being facetious." Tierney said the paper has been talking about potential columns with plenty of other big-name voices, including both the current and past presidents of the NAACP — Bruce Gordon and Kweisi Mfume — as well as legal-potboiler king John Grisham. According to Tierney, having Santorum write a column was originally the idea of his editorial-page editor, Chris Satullo. Tierney also said that if the column were to happen, it would only be once a month. "It's nothing more than blue-sky, guys kicking around ideas."

Tierney, a longtime Philadelphia adman and PR guru, has deep ties to the GOP. In 2000, he reached out to Catholic voters on behalf of George W. Bush, and in 2003 he chaired the losing campaign of Philadelphia's Republican candidate for mayor, Sam Katz. Last year, he and an eclectic group of hometown investors paid $562 million to buy the two troubled Philadelphia newspapers, the Inquirer and the Daily News. "I'm post-political now," Tierney has told us.

Inky editor Bill Marimow, who isn't involved with the editorial board, declined comment, as did deputy editorial-page editor Harold Jackson. Chris Satullo was traveling and couldn't be reached.

The edit-page talks come in the wake of 71 newsroom layoffs at the Inky in January.

Is pursuing Rick Santorum a smart move for the Inquirer? Let us know what you think.
 

User Comments:

Are you kidding me?????????
Posted by Anonymous | Oct. 25, 2007 at 6:23 AM
COMMENT:
Shame on the Philadelphia Inquirer. How could you allow this human (and I use that description loosely) to have an article. Mr. Santorum is the poster child for what is wrong in our society. He has no regard for the rights of women. I am absolutely speechless that the Inquirer, which I thought was a reputable establishment, would allow this guy to publish an article. Are the neonazis the next ones to be getting their own article?
The Final Straw
Posted by AnneMarie | Oct. 30, 2007 at 3:14 PM
COMMENT:
I've been buying the Inquirer since leaving my parent's house in 1969. It's been in a long slide, like most other papers, and the book section and magazine are long gone, as are the Pultizers and original reporting, but in the past year Tierney and Toll have added 3 conservative columnists besides regularly carrying Krauthammer, Goldberg and someone from the Orwellian named "Defense for Democracies" think tank. Dick Polman is liberal, Trudy Rubin a realist who supported the war in Iraq and Chris Satullo, on the liberal side, doesn't seem to write much anymore. I thought we hit a new low for a major newspaper with Kevin Ferris but now the Inquirer is hiring Rick Santorum, anathema to any thinking person, to "write" a column on Islamo-Fascism apparently. Rick is working for a Pittsburg law-firm, for a conservative think tank and as a Fox news commentator all while living in Virgina, but Tierney apparently thinks his friend needs more work. I don't ever remember the Daily News, Bull
 
Philadelphia It List

Philadelphia magazine's Philly Cooks

Join Philadelphia magazine for a unique tasting experience as the city’s top chefs and restaurants compete for Dish of the Year, Best Appetizer, Best Entrée, and Best Dessert.
 
 

The Philadelphia Wine Festival

Join Philadelphia magazine and PA Wine & Spirits Stores at the Lincoln Financial Field and sample hundreds of wines at the most anticipated tasting event of the year.
 
 

Best of Philly 2011 iPhone App

For your iPhone: Keep the city's best restaurants, shops and services at your fingertips! Browse five years of winners including our brand-new 2011 list. Click to download now!
 
 
 
 
 

To view this page, you must be using Internet Explorer 7 or higher. Please visit microsoft.com for more information.