On Oct. 11, the News Tribune endorsed Doug Wardlow for Minnesota attorney general, making the case that he would take the politics out of the office ( Our View/Endorsement: “ Remove politics from AG's office with Wardlow" ).
After that endorsement, Wardlow reportedly said at a fundraiser for GOP Rep. Jason Lewis that if he is elected one of his first actions would be "to fire 42 Democratic attorneys right off the bat and get Republican attorneys in there." Since this came directly from Wardlow, we don't have to wonder whether he was misrepresented. Obviously the statement was as partisan as a candidate can get, suggesting the voting record of an attorney working for him would be more important than that attorney's work ethic, qualifications, commitment to the job, or effectiveness.
Either the News Tribune Editorial Board did scant research into Wardlow or he successfully hid his hyper-partisan tendencies until now. The question is: now that this information is known, will the newspaper amend its endorsement?
Lynn MacLean
Duluth
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