Candidate slates ready for 2006 elections.

Candidates for secretary

Becca Rothschild

Say NCEW and I think of two things: The places it's taken me and the people it's introduced me to.

I've sat in a palace in Saudi Arabia and stood on a slab shorn of its house on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I've cruised the Nile and buzzed New Orleans in a Black Hawk. I've peppered some of the leading experts in international relations at the State Department and the United Nations with my own curiosities. None of those things would have happened without NCEW.

And that doesn't even begin to stack up against the people who make up this organization, which has shown me so much warmth over the past eight years. Some of the best people I know, and the best friends I'll ever have, are NCEW members. So are some of the biggest smart alecks in the world, but that's what makes it so fun.

High on that list of good people is Tom Waseleski of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who is in the midst of planning yet his second blockbuster convention for this fall. (If you haven't made plans to attend, you should.) Tom is salt of the earth and a gentleman of the first order. We could all do a lot worse than to have him join the leadership ladder.

But this is supposed to be my pitch and it is simple: To give more editorial writers the access to top thinkers, travel to news hot spots, and fabulous fellowship I have experienced through this organization. Building on the board's spring strategic planning, and venturing into the blogosphere, I also hope to help us all find our way in the future of our rapidly changing business.

For the past two years I have been proud to serve as a member of the NCEW board. This spring I helped organize and lead members on a tour of the post-Katrina Gulf Coast. (Check out Kathleen Ingley's report elsewhere in this issue.) I've also organized two State Department briefings and hosted several conference calls with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton.

Professionally, I've been deputy editorial page editor for the Detroit Free Press since the summer of 1998. I was a suburban bureau chief at the Times-Picayune for more than three years, and jack-of-all trades at the Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff for about the same time.

I would be honored to serve as your secretary.

Tom Waseleski

When the NCEW Nominating Committee calls and asks if you'll consider running for secretary, you have two reactions. One is you're not worthy and should turn them down; the other is you'd do anything for NCEW and should, of course, say yes. That's why this nomination is a dilemma for me.

I joined NCEW in 1990, the same year I began writing editorials for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I came to know the organization through The Masthead, my copy of the membership directory, and those mysterious editorial exchanges by e-mail. I didn't feel very much like a part of NCEW, but I sensed it was a good group and would become helpful to me.

It wasn't until 1995 that I attended my first NCEW convention (San Antonio), took part in my first critique, and got a taste of the real NCEW experience--opinion writers learning how to do the job better, sharing the same struggles, and finding friends in far-flung places. It was easy to get charged up about NCEW, with so many terrific and committed people involved. (Today one of them is the other candidate for secretary, Becca Rothschild.)

So I offered to help out. I was a regional membership captain, served on the "NCEW faculty" at a couple of student writing seminars, and did a two-year term on the NCEW board. In 1997 I offered my city as a convention site, won the bid, and liked the job so much I've decided to become a convention-chair-for-life.

Actually, the cancellation of our 2001 event because of the September u attacks led to a pivotal moment for me: a month later I was rankled that our convention effort had become just one more disappointment from that dark day. It didn't sit right, and it had cheated NCEW. I decided to ask the board and NCEW members to give Pittsburgh another shot and finish the job. So here we are.

If nothing else, an NCEW convention teaches you humility--not in the 9/11 sense, but in the reality that a majority of our members do not, indeed cannot, attend. That's why our organization must not be convention-centric. The officers and board have to find ways to bring NCEW to its members--through more regional sessions, low-cost education opportunities, critiques by mail or online, and other options that don't require purchase of a plane ticket.

I'd be the first to tell a new NCEW member what a great experience the convention is--for learning, renewal, and camaraderie. Yet we ignore at our peril those members who are non-attendees but who look to NCEW for the same service and who deserve the same benefits. That's got to be the top priority as we move our organization forward.

Candidates for the board

Robyn Blumner

Hi, all. I've been told to inject some personality into this profile. So, in the vein of Inside the Actors Studio, my favorite food is mint chocolate chip ice cream, and my favorite curse word is F--k. (Seems to fit nearly every occasion.)

Now that we've gotten to know each other some, here are some particulars. I am a columnist and editorial writer at The St. Petersburg Times, where I have worked since 1997. Before then, I was the executive director of the ACLU of Florida, or better known as "that godless, Communist ACLU girl."

I made the jump over to a new career after writing a regular oped column for The St. Petersburg Times for a few years and figuring out that the work was extremely fulfilling, and had the added benefit of not requiring me to raise boatloads of money every year.

I was delighted to be asked by the Nominating Committee to run for the NCEW board. This organization has been key to my professional development in all sorts of ways, from the valuable critique sessions at the annual meetings, to the broadening fact-finding trips I have taken to Africa, China, the Middle East, and, most recently, to New Orleans.

Now it's time to give back a little and do some of the work that I have been allowing others to do for me.

Coming out of the non-profit world, I am used to working toward consensus with fellow board members, doing conference organizing, and all the other details that go into running an organization. I hope you give me the opportunity to serve our group as well.

Shelley Epstein

When Barb Drake, editorial page editor of the Peoria Journal Star in Illinois, went to Ottawa for the 1998 NCEW convention, she left Mike Bailey and me with this plea: Don't forget to vote. Barb was running for the board and, like any good Illinois politician (if there is such a thing), she didn't want to take any votes for granted.

In vote-counting that presaged Florida's hanging chads, Barb tied for the third open board seat with Froma Harrop. In a second round of balloting, Barb lost by one vote.

Returning to Peoria, she related convention tales and asked if Mike and I had voted. I had. Mike hadn't. It wasn't funny then, but it has become so over time.

I relate this story to encourage you all to vote for the NCEW board candidates on these pages, whomever you prefer. They're all good folks. And NCEW is a great organization, but it needs all of us participating to keep it strong.

I've done a very small part during my sixteen-year membership. I'm most proud of a regional conference that the Journal Star and NCEW sponsored and that I organized in Peoria.

At the 2004 Chicago convention, I was the critique chair. Some may remember me as the guy delivering coffee. I know what makes a good meeting. Also, I've helped recruit new members and keep old ones for the Membership Committee. The job would have been easier if there had been coffee to give away.

As for my background, I've been playing in Peoria--sorry about that--since 1974. I mostly covered city, county, and state government affairs and politics before a stint on the city desk. I've been writing editorials since 1990, moving to the edit page the same week that Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. I've never been convinced there's not a connection.

If fortunate enough to gain a seat on the NCEW board, I pledge to uphold the high standards and goals of the organization. In particular, I'd like to encourage more regional conferences.

Thanks for considering me. By the way, the Ottawa voting story has a happy ending. Barb was appointed to the board the next year. And Mike Bailey is still employed at the Journal Star.

Doug Floyd

I've been newspapering professionally for thirty-seven years, all at the Spokane Chronicle and later The Spokesman-Review in Spokane. I covered a typical selection of beats--medicine, courts, county and state government, and politics--before moving to the editorial page. That was twenty-five years ago, and I've been at it since, almost without interruption.

Almost? In 1994 our editorial pages underwent a major restructuring aimed at connecting better with readers. I was reassigned from editorial page editor to interactive editor, and for the next seven years I mixed editorial writing with a variety of projects to bring more readers' voices and issues onto our opinion pages. In 2001 I became news ombudsman and held that job for eleven lively months before returning to the editorial page.

My core belief about journalism in general and editorial writing in particular is that we should give readers the information they need to be effective citizens, and while it's nice to persuade them, it's better to motivate them to become involved in their community.

I belonged to NCEW for several years prior to my "interactive" phase, and when I rejoined in 2002, I was pleased to find the same rich mix of professionals, equally eager to share their own experience and learn from colleagues. Discovering the listserv was a special delight.

It's an honor to be considered for a board position, where I would hope to help develop even further ways we can support each other and keep our profession strong.

Doug MacEachern

My first brush with the NCEW was a hard, cruel kiss. (Forgive me, but a friend gave me the entire James Bond series as a Christmas present.)

It was September 1999. I was alone in a Denver hotel room. Nerves on edge. Determined. I had a vodka martini. You know how I like them. With editorial pages of The Boston Globe and The Seattle Times lying about from bedpost to doorway. What the devil do I know about environmental depredation on the Charles River?

Seven years later, I'm still at it. Still trying to figure out critique sessions. Still struggling to master that urbane, John Taylor look at cocktail parties. Is it the glasses pushed up on the head? The great hair? If it's the hair ... well, I'm doomed.

But if I cannot look the part of a competent editorialist, I can at least thank the NCEW for helping me impersonate one on the job. I've done critique sessions three times; sat through dozens of seminars, lectures, and coaching sessions on the art of the craft; and run through the velveteen gauntlet of the State Department. This organization truly is like a cruel, hard kiss. It seduces you into working hard.

For seven years I have been an editorial writer and columnist at The Arizona Republic. I ran once previously for the NCEW board, in 2004. I was the guy who (for reasons we'll discuss in the Pittsburgh Station Square lounge, if you like) failed to make the business meeting to vote, presumably, for myself. I lost.

Additionally, I have been the editor of The Masthead since November 2004. As genuinely proud as I have been to serve as your Masthead editor, I'm giving up that esteemed duty at the end of the year. (Editor's Note: I'm in the market for a replacement. Call me. The bennies are marvelous.)

In the words of that old Texas philosopher Tom DeLay, it's time to move on. If it's to the NCEW board, swell. If not, I've got an entire James Bond series to keep me occupied.

Mark Mahoney

My name is Mark Mahoney, and I'm the editorial page editor at The Post-Star in Glens Falls, New York. I would be honored to be a member of the board of National Conference of Editorial Writers, and feel I have a lot to offer the organization.

For the past three years, I have served on NCEW's Journal ism and Education Committee, having participated regularly in critique forums for college editors at Columbia University in New York City. I'm a regular contributor to the NCEW listserv, participated in the NCEW-sponsored state government forum in Albany last year, and have been published in The Masthead. I've been writing editorials at The Post-Star since 1994 after serving at various times as city editor, regional editor, and reporter. In addition to my editorial writing duties, I organize and host our newspaper's political debates. I'm heavily involved in the creative design of our opinion pages and in doing more with our newspaper's Internet site. I most recently oversaw our newspaper's freedom of in

/// formation project. I also regularly speak to schools and civic groups about the newspaper's role in the community and careers in journalism.

I've been the recipient of numerous state and national editorial writing awards over the years, including the ASNE editorial writing award in 2004. I was also a finalist in the contest in 2003 and 2005.

Prior to coming to Glens Falls, I was a legislative correspondent at the New York state capitol and a radio news reporter in Poughkeepsie, New York. A native of Wappingers Falls, New York, I attended Ithaca College in New York, graduating with a degree in communications management in 1985. I'm forty-two years old and live in Queensbury, New York, with my three daughters.

Robin Washington

We heartily endorse Robin Washington for the NCEW board. The editorial page editor of the Duluth News Tribune and a frequent commentator on National Public Radio, Washington is well-qualified for the position. His past service on the boards of the National Association of Black Journalists, Unity Journalists of Color, and the New England Press Association are particularly noteworthy, especially his two terms as NABJ'S parliamentarian, during which he oversaw a rewrite of the organization's constitution and handled many other thorny governance issues with finesse.

A Chicago native whose passion for change through journalism can be traced to his upbringing in a family of black and Jewish civil rights activists, Washington was a columnist for the Boston Herald before joining the News Tribune in 2004.

His near thirty-year print and broadcast career includes positions as a reporter, producer, and publisher for news organizations ranging from the three-thousand-circulation Lake County News-Chronicle in Minnesota to PBS flagship WGBH-TV Boston and Black Entertainment Television.

In particular, we think Washing--

What? Oh, this wasn't supposed to be an editorial? And don't use the editorial "we"? All right. Then just vote for me. J.R. Labbe asked me to run, and I said yes. I do want to serve. Honest. And thanks. For more information, go to robinwashington. com/ncew

EDITOR'S NOTE: The election of new NCEW leadership is always a key function of the convention, and the duty of members at this year's gathering in Pittsburgh is no different. At the business meeting scheduled for the afternoon of September 16, members will select for secretary either Becca Rothschild or Tom Waseleski. According to NCEW bylaws, the secretary automatically becomes next in line to assume the duties of the NCEW presidency.

In addition, members will vote on three new board members from a slate of six candidates, all of whom are profiled on the following pages. Those three new board members will replace out-going board members Peter Kohler, Becca Rothschild, and Pat Widder.

Last, members will vote on the site of 2009 convention, as well as proposed changes to the organization's bylaws, outlined on page 26.