Last month, The Denver Post published a guest commentary from the mayor of Pueblo imploring lawmakers to kill two bills working their way through the Colorado General Assembly. She said they were “threatening to the future” of Pueblo and Southern Colorado.
Regrettably, Mayor Heather Graham did not write those words, or any of the words in the opinion column, although she told reporters that she read the writing and agreed to put her name on the work.
I want to take this opportunity toclarify that The Denver Post expects the byline on anything we publish, whether that is a news story or a column, to reflect who actually wrote the piece. Certainly, there is room for collaboration on opinion columns – including dual bylines and seeking input from colleagues and media relations experts.
Reporters for the Colorado Times Recorder and the Pueblo Chieftain discovered that Graham had not written the column after using the state’s open records law to request emails from the mayor about the column, which also was published in the Chieftain.
Emails between Graham and a lobbyist working for EVRAZ, an international company that owns the steel mill in Pueblo, showed that a lobbyist, Sean Duffy, wrote the piece and presented it to Graham for her to put her name on.
The column opposed two air-quality bills and made a point to say the bills were written by special interest groups rather than lawmakers. That is ironic because Graham’s op-ed was written by a special interest group — owners of a steel mill that could be regulated — rather than by a mayor concerned for the jobs of her constituents.
The column included compelling phrases like: “I, like other small business owners, don’t need to read the news to know when plants reduce shifts, or are forced into layoffs. In our case, we count the empty seats, and we, along with our workers, feel the reduced income.”
Graham responded to the email draft saying, “This is fantastic, sounds just like me.”
Duffy, who I have worked with for years as both a reporter and now as an opinion editor, submitted the column to me. I selected the piece for many reasons, including that it expressed a strong opinion on Colorado issues that would be of interest to our readers. I knew, Duffy, who works with Shamrock Strategies, had worked with Graham on the op-ed and I knew he likely solicited the op-ed as part of his work as a lobbyist opposed to the legislation.
I did not specifically ask Duffy who wrote the piece submitted under Graham’s name. Next time a lobbyist or intermediary offers us a column, I will.
Graham told a reporter for the Chieftain that this is common practice – nothing to see here.
“This is something that frequently happens with public officials, that you have people who are, you know, much better writers than yourself put together an op-ed. … I think as long as your ideas come along in it, and it’s something that you can back, I think it’s completely acceptable and it happens with all elected officials,” Graham said.
Graham may be right, that elected officials frequently put their names on things written by lobbyists, campaign donors or other special interests, but I suspect her blasé attitude about it has more to do with her lack of experience in public office than her grasp of what other public figures submit as their own writing.
I want to state firmly that the expectation at The Denver Post is that pieces submitted to us have been drafted by the named author. As long as I’ve been the editor of The Post’s opinion pages, I’ve known city council members, waiters, U.S. senators and engineers who agonize over their writing. Sometimes the writing is not the best, but I’d take an imperfect authentic voice on these pages over sterilized talking points any day. There is a difference between a staffer paid by an elected official helping with drafts and edits and a special interest sending over a completed copy for cursory review.
I’m going to do a better job notifying readers when columns have been submitted on behalf of someone by a third party, and I hope Colorado’s elected officials will be certain they are writing their own words.
Megan Schrader is the editor of The Denver Post opinion pages.
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