A Wealth of Support

Thanks to everyone who has sent warm wishes to me after hearing about the verdict. As you might have heard, Avista will mostly likely continue with the trial. They're not a group who will just go down without a fight obviously. You can bet that the hacks are pumped about the idea of a longer trial, it gives them more to write about. But I'm still going to take the high road on this and will abide by the judge's decision for now.

A friend of mine who sent her regrets also showed me an internet post that says that a new internet site wants to hire me as a joke. They want me to be their unpaid intern. That shows you what kind of class these internet hacks have. All they can do is report on things that other people do and kick people when they think they are down.

If I was going to work for any new internet blog, it would be Kramer's MinnPost. I've already got the experience managing almost all those reporters, and if I worked there I wouldn't have to pay for any benefits or retirement when they all retire in the next five to eight years. The bottom line would be golden and they could go back to writing the same stories that they have been writing for the last twenty years.

Thanks again to the people who have sent cards and notes and have called. You're the best.

A Sad Day for Minneapolis Media

Well, as I'm sure you've heard, Judge Higgs has ruled in favor of Dean Singleton and has said that I'm on a year long vacation from the Star Tribune publisher position.

I could whine about how unfair the ruling is. I could complain about how the sharks like Lambert are going to use the unfair ruling to take pot shots at me and the paper because they don't have any class and use other's misfortune to make a living. I could take my own shots at Dean Singleton for dragging both companies through the mud by suing everyone associated with the Star Tribune (Kevin gets to stay, by the way, I'm the only one found "guilty", surprise surprise).

But I'm above that.

I will just say that the law is the law, and Judge Higgs interpreted it as he saw it. I'll also say that Harte will do a great job with the paper and that when I come back to the publisher position, I'm going to make the paper even better than it was before.

Also, I'd like to thank all my supporters and the people at the Star Tribune for working through the tough times. Don't worry, we'll get through this.

The Truth Will Set You Free

The truth is finally making its way out to the media about my trial. Well, some of the media. I've checked through the local papers and looked on the internet hack sites, but no one seems to care that transcripts with important points from my trial are now out there.

Let me tell you a little about publishing. It's not like being the editor. Editors just sit in their offices all day and say "this story will get traction" or "that angle won't work, find another one". Every once and a while editors will also get a story idea and tell a reporter to go out and report on it. Then the editors check in with each other and see how the paper turned out. Big deal.

It's not like that for publishers and managers. They have to direct everything that's happening for their paper. They have to know how their business is doing, whether they are succeeding, getting people to purchase their paper. They have to also know their market, like how other papers are doing. And not just papers, but other places advertisers are placing ads.

If you read my testimony, you'll see that management at newspapers get information on competing papers in their markets. They do this because a lot of those papers don't have similar sized competition in their area, so it's tough to set benchmarks to measure success. You can't know how successful you are or aren't unless you have a way to measure. You also can't measure performance.

Take Tiger for example. If Tiger didn't play with any other golfers, he wouldn't know if he was good or not. But when he beats everyone for the PGA Championship, he knows and everyone else knows how awesome he is at golf. And playing with other pro players on different courses, he can also see where his game needs improvement.

It's the same with publishing. We need to know how we're doing. And some of us are like Tiger. We're good, but we still care about improving our game. If our paper is losing money from not managing the labor line, we need to work on that part of game. But we can't work on it unless we know it's a problem.

Here's a question for you. If it's okay to get information for benchmarks on papers in totally different parts of the Midwest, why wouldn't it be okay to use the information you compiled yourself for the last several years at a paper that's in the same city? It's like Tiger from this year playing against Tiger from a few years ago!

Hopefully more of the trial will make its way out. It's helpful to clear up the misconceptions people have on what really happened.

(And congratulations on the PGA Championship, Tiger.)

All Comers Welcome

When you're on top, people will come after you. It's just how it works. Everyone wants a shot at the champ.

I'm used to it. The key is not to get worked up, even when the nobodies try to make money off you. That's why this retarded post from Pioneer Press reporter Ken Doctor doesn't even phase me. I mean, first of all, this clown thought up penalties for me even though my civil trial is still on-going and will in the end show that I didn't do anything illegal. And did you read the penalties? No wonder this guy isn't a reporter anymore, he doesn't have any creativity. Burying my laptop for people to find on the treasure hunt is probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

Here's a real penalty. Having to read crap from internet hacks like this guy. This is exactly why I don't check out these stupid internet blogs unless someone from management or my lawyers send it to me. But it always happens. Talking shit about me is financially rewarding. And that means people are going to keep doing it.

I See How It's Gonig to Be

You've probably heard by now that the writers guild voted to not vote on "no confidence". Nope. They're going to wait to vote that I should resign.

Fine. Go ahead. See what difference it will make.

Did you read Lambert today? Everyday with this guy. He said Singleton has spent 3 mill suing me. What a fucker. It's cost almost htat much for Avista, too. When my civil trial end, you can bet we're going to counter sue that bastard for every penny we lost. And we're going to get it back, too. You'll see. Avista isn't going to loose that kind of money. Not a private equity group. I'm going to show returns. Even if the Stewards don't want me to, all of them.

What a fiaso. In our meeting today I told Chris we I should have just let someone else from management take that damn information and had soeone else void the non-competes. Breach of ethics. This is business! I told Barrett that too tonight when we were out for drinkss. CEOs can't catch a break man. I'm telling you.

One Night With Paris

Last week my wife was watching Paris Hilton on Larry King, because she had recorded it on the DVR. Larry King is great. Nobody does an interview better than him. He even made it interesting without playing clips of that weird porno tape she made.

My wife made a good point about Paris. People just don't understand how difficult it can be to be raised wealth-conscious like I was. We make little mistakes that other people don't. Paris has made a few mistakes. Okay, Paris has made a lot of mistakes, but not all of them were terrible.

The reason I'm telling this story is this. Someone from management who's on my side sent me an email that had been going around the newsroom. The email had quotes from Paris and quotes from me. Like, trying to say that I was as stupid as Paris.

I'll show you part of it so you can see how dumb it is:

"I've never done drugs." - Par(is)

"I didn't use data to hurt PiPress." - Par

"It really baffles me sometimes when I read things." - Par(is)

"Revenue has been declining since 2004 and we need to respond to that reality." - Par

"I didn't plan on using the Pioneer Press financials." - Par

"I don't want to cause a whole media circus." - Par(is)

"I should have been more sensitive to that." - Par

"I consider myself normal." -Par(is)

Nice try fellas. But I could take any sentence that you have said and make it sound stupid, too. Everyone makes mistakes, but we only get in trouble because of the public spotlight. If I could have a mulligan on those ad sheets and non-competes, I'd tell people flat out that I was taking them. Then it wouldn't have been such a fucking scandal.

Paris also said, "I did my time." Having to go through this trial is like doing time. But when my lawyers settle, I'll be free again, too.

Ganging Up on Me

Brian Lambert had to bring in re-enforcements for his daily attack on me yesterday. Ron Rosenbaum from KSPT called my testimony lies and called me stupid. Thanks guys. I'm testifying in a trial right now and it doesn't help to have journalist hacks call me names.

Both Lambert and Rosenbaum wanted to know why Avista hasn't fired me yet. I'll tell you why. It's because the organization needs a good publisher. And I'm that publisher. That's why I was brought over from the Pioneer Press. And that's why I brought over the last few years of data from that newspaper to my new job. Was it illegal? Of course not! It was being prepared for my new job!

And if Lambert or Rosenbaum or whoever think I got my new job as publisher just because my parents are close to Avista, you're wrong.