An Editor Lands in the Rough   

When Henry Freeman of Delaware's Wilmington News Journal applied to join the prestigious Wilmington Country Club last year, he received recommendations from two powerful Republican politicians, U.S. Sen. William Roth and then-Gov. Michael Castle. Critics inside and outside the paper immediately cried foul, especially after Castle received the paper's endorsement in his bid for a U.S. House seat.

After political reporter Celia Cohen alerted editors to scuttlebutt about the letters in late October and a prominent citizen (the newspaper won't say who it was) complained to Publisher Sal De Vivo, Freeman withdrew his application. Cohen was then assigned to write about the controversy and Freeman called a staff meeting to explain.

"The normal policy is to deal with ethical policies privately," Freeman says. "But I didn't want the staff to deal with rumors."

Cohen, a News Journal reporter since 1978, says she was concerned that the letters might harm the paper's reputation. "The Republicans I talked to were mad because they thought Henry had basically extorted something, and the Democrats were mad because it looked like we were in bed with the Republicans."

Freeman insists he didn't ask Castle or Roth for support but rather pointed out to his nominator, retired dentist George Zurkow, the names of a few club members he knew on a list of several hundred. They included Roth, Castle, De Vivo, two lawyers from the firm that represents the newspaper and a local businessman. "As editor, it's impossible for me not to know the governor and the senator," Freeman says.

Zurkow asked each man to write "essentially a form letter saying they knew I was of good character," Freeman says. Both Castle and Roth have said their letters were "routine" and provided with no expectations of anything in return.

Nevertheless, the incident has caused strong reactions in the close-knit state and at the Gannett-owned newspaper, where staffers are weary from union contract negotiations that have dragged on for three years. A few spoke bitterly of an ethical double standard where top managers can shrug off violations while reporters and junior editors must make difficult decisions about priorities. In one incident, a sportswriter was told that his daughter could not continue as a part-time assistant volleyball coach at the University of Delaware unless he switched beats. She resigned instead.

Other News Journal readers and staffers contacted WJR to express their concerns. "If any public official violated the ethics code like this, they would be raking him over the coals," complained one reader. Added a staffer: "We've got a pretty strict ethics code around here but it applies only to the troops, not the generals. We've been getting calls from people who've been waiting years to get into that country club and they are not pleased."

Freeman, a longtime golfer, says he wanted to join the club in part "to show my commitment to the community," although several staffers scoffed at that explanation, citing what they said was Freeman's reputation as a social climber. De Vivo notes that it's more difficult to avoid potential conflicts of interest in a small state such as Delaware. As for Castle's endorsement, Freeman says he was not involved in that decision.

At the staff meeting, Freeman joked that if he applied to play golf anywhere, "it would probably be over the state line in Pennsylvania." He says now, "In fact, I'm probably going to do that. The next thing I'll hear is [criticism] that I didn't join a club in Delaware."