Let's look at ghost-writing question.

In this high-stakes political year, members of editorial page staffs who handle letters to the editor are being bombarded as never before. Both major political parties, and other interest groups of all kinds, have mastered the art (or scam) of providing letters to any writer who wants to copy them and send them in. Our major line of defense has become the NCEW listserv, where daily we alert our colleagues to the latest line of attack.

I'd like to take this debate a step further. We justifiably don't think that readers should be able to take someone else's words and submit them as their own. As Charley Reinken, editorial page editor in Omaha, so aptly noted, he may agree with the Declaration of Independence, but that doesn't give him the right to claim those words as his. But we usually accept without protest opinion pieces that we know have been written by public relations people or communication staff people and submitted in the name of their client or employer.

This has bothered me since the time about fifteen years ago when our city was engaged in a debate over a bond issue for a new library. A public relations person assisting the campaign sent me a heartfelt personal piece from a well-known person in the community (Ms. X) about her fond memories of time spent in the library when she was a child. A couple of days later, the PR person called back to say Ms. X has decided she didn't want her name on the piece so just run it from Ms. Y instead. (Of course, I knew by then that neither X nor Y had written it.)

We are trying to crack down on the practice, much to the chagrin of some local public relations folks who earn their living this way. But what about pieces from political figures who have hired guns to produce their takes on policy? Do we deny them space on our pages? I've just about decided we should.

After all, how can we chastise regular readers from pulling the word of folks hired to produce particular points of view (with which the writers agree) and hold those who can hire a PR person or staff writer to a different standard?

I plan to collar some of my colleagues to discuss this issue at this fall's convention in Chicago.

What's your take on this issue? I'd love to know what you think about running the ghostwritten op-ed pieces. Do you do it? How do you ferret them out? Is there a distinction here that I'm not seeing? What do you think?

Or what similar burr is in your saddle? (Couldn't resist that Texas cliche!) You've got hundreds of people with similar concerns available by listserv, personal e-mail, at regional conferences, at the national convention. That's what NCEW is all about--so jump right in.

Lynnell Burkett is editorial page editor of the San Antonio Express-News in Texas. E-mail [e-mail]