OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2016
Region greets new publisher
with warm, eclectic welcome
Seeks reader participation
in letters, comments
By DAVID PERO
The Daily Astorian
F
ifty-seven business cards. Dozens of
high-end brochures, booklets and infor-
mation packets. A host of colorful and
detailed maps. Invitations to myriad local
events. Offers for personal guided tours. A nifty
baseball hat. A fancy can each of albacore tuna
and shrimp. Coupons for half-price theater tick-
ets and a free cookie. Delicious candies. A small
tube of sunscreen. Even a wooden nickel.
All were small gifts for “the new guy” at
The Daily Astorian along with, of course, count-
less handshakes and warm welcomes.
After a busy week of orientation at EO Media
Group’s headquarters in Salem, followed by four
fast-paced weeks of meeting, greeting and learn-
ing everything I could about the North Coast in a
relatively short time, I went solo this past Mon-
day as group publisher at the helm of The Daily
Astorian, Chinook Observer, Seaside Signal,
Cannon Beach Gazette, Coast Weekend, Coast
Marketplace, Coast River Business Journal, Our
Coast magazine and our associated websites.
It’s been a whirlwind that blew by quickly
and has been everything I hoped it would be in
moving to the coast from Eugene, both eclectic
like the region itself and extremely welcoming
by those who live and work here.
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
B
ecoming a group publisher for EO Media
was a logical step for me in a media career
that has spanned for more than 35 years in three
states with positions on both the news and busi-
ness sides of companies.
On the news side, there were big stories I was
involved in, providing and directing coverage of
a tragic bridge collapse, ive highly destructive
natural disasters, two high-proile executions and
a highly controversial church. I also participated
in producing three “Extra” editions.
On the business side, I’ve celebrated the sat-
isfaction of connecting readers with advertis-
ers, the improvement of customer service and
delivery, the streamlining of processes with the
advancement of publishing technology and my
participation in creating and improving digi-
tal publishing sites on different internet plat-
forms. I also helped guide a newspaper through
an industry-changing recession with the result-
ing turbulent business drop-offs and painful
downsizing.
M
y career began immediately after college
graduation from the University of Flor-
ida with stints as a reporter at a small newspaper
in Punta Gorda, near Fort Myers in southwest
Florida. I then moved to a reporting position in
Clearwater, in the Tampa Bay area, at a larger
paper then-owned by The Hearst Corp. Later
during my tenure in Clearwater, I was named
the newspaper’s top editor after advancing
through the ranks of newsroom management.
From Clearwater, I transferred to an even
larger Hearst paper in Beaumont, Texas,
moved to the business and operations side of
the company and was promoted into general
management.
After a long Texas tenure, I accepted an offer
to move to Oregon and become the chief operat-
ing oficer at the family-owned Register-Guard
in Eugene and spent 5 1/2 years in that posi-
Assorted informational gifts and souvenirs from local businesses and industries given to David Pero, the new group publisher of
EO Media Group’s coastal publications and digital enterprises.
I’m a common-sense guy more than a person
who leans right or left. I’m also someone who
believes strongly in openness and transparency,
civility and agreeing to disagree sometimes, and
in living what you advocate.
As we go forward, we may make sub-
tle changes to our news and presentation
approaches, but our core values of common sense
and progressive ideals remain solidly in place.
Incoming Group Publisher David Pero, left, and retiring Publisher Steve Forrester, share
a laugh with guests last week at a community open house at The Daily Astorian office.
tion before taking some time off from the media
business.
But my passion for the industry remained
throughout, and when I learned the longtime
publisher of The Daily Astorian, Steve For-
rester, would be retiring, I knew the North Coast
was where I wanted to be.
D
uring my orientation, I was showered with
business cards and other very informa-
tional and unique welcoming gifts from busi-
ness, civic and professional leaders in Asto-
ria, Warrenton, Cannon Beach, Seaside and the
Long Beach (Wash.) Peninsula during more
than 50 hours of individual and group meetings.
While I briefed them on my background,
they illed me in on the challenges and hopes
for their businesses, organizations and cities. All
told me they felt the region’s housing crunch is
the No. 1 issue that must be tackled. They all
also asked about my approach to news reporting
and my editorial leanings.
In news I believe in deep, balanced reporting
with all sides of any controversy covered fairly
and accurately, and importantly, in highlighting
the good things that make us all call the coast
our home.
And as I told those I met with, editorially
M
y goal for our coastal newspapers and
websites is to make sure they are chock-
full of relevant local news and information that
highlight people and activities instead of policy
and process. And I want to make sure that our
Opinion areas in print and online are an open
forum for readers and digital visitors to express
and exchange thoughtful ideas in a civil and
interactive manner on issues that affect us all.
For that, we need and seek your participation
through letters to the editor and comments about
stories and editorials on our website, dailyasto-
rian.com, and through social media outlets.
So please let us hear from you, and know in
the meantime that I’m very thankful to you for
the unique and friendly welcome you’ve thor-
oughly provided.
You choose who to endorse or you lose in the end
By GAIL COLLINS
New York Times News Service
I
f you’re a Republican politi-
cian, announcing you’re not
going to vote for Donald Trump is
a little like declaring that you’re
not going to rob a bank to finance
your next campaign. Really, you
don’t get any
credit unless you
say what you’re
going to do
instead.
“I truly don’t
know,” said Sen.
Susan Collins
unhelpfully.
Collins, R-Maine, made news
this week when she penned an
op-ed for The Washington Post,
announcing that she couldn’t sup-
port her party’s nominee because
“Mr. Trump’s lack of self-restraint
and his barrage of ill-informed
comments would make an already
perilous world even more so.”
It’s tough being a high-profile
Republican these days. People are
always demanding to know what
you think about your candidate’s
latest horrific remark. But unless
you come up with an alternative,
disavowing a candidate is more
like a sulk than a solution.
There’s been a lot of this
going around. Sen. Ben Sasse of
Nebraska, an early evacuee from
the Trump train, said he was going
to wait until October to deal with
the problem. Sen. Lindsey Gra-
ham said he might “just pass —
I may write somebody in.” Mark
Kirk, who’s generally regarded
as the Senator Most Likely to Be
Defeated in November, gave Illi-
nois voters an excellent example
of his leadership capacity when he
announced that he was going to
write in David Petraeus or maybe
Colin Powell.
Obviously, all these people are
trying to avoid taking responsi-
bility for Donald Trump without
being accused of betraying their
party. But it’s very strange to hear
elected officials embracing vari-
ous versions of a don’t-vote strat-
egy. Nobody knows better than
they do that politics is a world of
imperfect choices.
Collins freely admits that she’s
worked well with Hillary Clinton
in the past. But she ruled out vot-
ing for the Democrat, telling CNN
that Clinton wanted to spend too
much money. (“Promises of free
this and free that, that I believe
would bankrupt our country.”)
Faced with a choice between a guy
who could compromise national
security and a woman who wants
universal early childhood educa-
tion, the former chairwoman of the
Senate Homeland Security Com-
mittee claimed to be at a loss for
an answer.
Here’s the bottom line: There
are only three things you can do
when it comes time to elect a pres-
ident. You can stay home and
punt; you can choose between the
two major party candidates; or you
can cop out by doing something
that looks like voting but has no
effect whatsoever on the outcome
of the race.
That includes strategies about
writing in the name of a retired
general, leaving the top line blank,
or voting for a third-party candi-
date who has as much chance of
winning as the YouTube Keyboard
Cat.
The only third party that might
have a line on all state ballots is
the Libertarian, whose platform
includes eliminating Social Secu-
rity, ending gun control and wip-
ing out drug laws. This year’s
Libertarian candidate is Gary
Johnson, the former governor of
New Mexico. Johnson does not
seem to agree with the platform on
many points, but to be honest, he’s
not the world’s greatest explainer.
Libertarians like the idea of a cha-
risma-free candidate, since he’d be
incapable of getting much done.
But truly, this is a silly choice.
Voting for Johnson is exactly the
same as staying home, except
that it involves going outdoors.
Ditto for Green Party candidate
Jill Stein, a doctor who appears to
have a rather ambiguous attitude
toward childhood vaccinations.
Susan Collins said she could
support the Libertarian ticket if
only it had been reversed, with
vice presidential candidate Wil-
liam Weld on top. You can’t
totally dislike Weld, who once told
me that being governor of Massa-
chusetts was pretty much a walk
in the park. (“I used to go on vaca-
tion for a week at a time and I
wouldn’t even call in.”) However,
he’s been out of office for nearly
20 years. He is not the presiden-
tial candidate. And the Libertari-
ans are never, repeat, never going
to be elected.
Right now we live in a world
that’s been messed up by the bad
decisions George W. Bush made
about invading Iraq. He was
elected president in 2000 thanks to
a few hundred votes in Florida. A
state where Green Party candidate
Ralph Nader got 97,488 votes.
Most of the Green voters
undoubtedly thought they were
showing their disdain for both
Bush and the deeply imperfect can-
didacy of Al Gore. And Nader is
a man of ine principles. But look
where those 97,488 votes got us.
Nader himself doesn’t feel
guilty. I talked to him on the
phone the other day, and he
argued, basically, that if Gore
couldn’t win his home state of
Tennessee, it’s not Nader’s fault
that he couldn’t win Florida.
And he’s not voting for either
Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton
in November.
“They’re not alike,” he said,
“but they’re both terrible.”
DAVID F. PERO, Editor & Publisher
• LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
• CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
• DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
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