Weekly Paper Takes Pulitzer
Tuesday April 5, 2005
Willamette Week (Portland, OR) has become the third alternative newspaper in the US to win a Pulitzer Prize. It was honored for an
investigative story on former Governor Neil Goldschmidt that documented a sexual relationship he initiated in 1975 with the family's 14-year-old babysitter. In Oregon, it is considered rape when an adult has sex with someone younger than 16.
Prior to running the story in May 2004, Willamette Week advised Goldschmidt's lawyers of the publication date. In quick succession, Goldschmidt resigned from Oregon's Board of Higher Education and then met with The Oregonian's editorial board. He acknowledged a one-year "affair with a high school student," according to the almost hands-off editorial which followed. Interestingly, in today's Oregonian piece about the award, this "affair" is more accurately characterized as "sexual abuse."
The relationship, which began in 1975 while he was mayor, ended in 1978 just before he moved to Washington, DC to be part of the Carter Administration. He subsequently returned to Oregon and served one term as Governor.
The young woman's adulthood has been characterized as "troubled;" WW documents psychological issues, drug use, time in a federal penitentiary: a far cry from the "bright and beautiful girl her childhood friends remember." She was a straight A student who dropped out of high school her sophomore year.
In the 1990s, Goldschmidt began giving her money to ward off a lawsuit. The story was rumored, it seems, throughout Oregon's political and media circles. From the Seattle PI:
Public records from the Goldschmidt administration as governor are now online. (tip to Research Buzz)
Other alternative weeklies that have won Pulitzers: The Village Voice (3) and the Boston Phoenix (1). Willamette Week has an unpaid circulation of 90,000.
See AP (Seattle Times); CNN, Oregonian, Seattle Post-Intelligencer (column),
Prior to running the story in May 2004, Willamette Week advised Goldschmidt's lawyers of the publication date. In quick succession, Goldschmidt resigned from Oregon's Board of Higher Education and then met with The Oregonian's editorial board. He acknowledged a one-year "affair with a high school student," according to the almost hands-off editorial which followed. Interestingly, in today's Oregonian piece about the award, this "affair" is more accurately characterized as "sexual abuse."
The relationship, which began in 1975 while he was mayor, ended in 1978 just before he moved to Washington, DC to be part of the Carter Administration. He subsequently returned to Oregon and served one term as Governor.
The young woman's adulthood has been characterized as "troubled;" WW documents psychological issues, drug use, time in a federal penitentiary: a far cry from the "bright and beautiful girl her childhood friends remember." She was a straight A student who dropped out of high school her sophomore year.
In the 1990s, Goldschmidt began giving her money to ward off a lawsuit. The story was rumored, it seems, throughout Oregon's political and media circles. From the Seattle PI:
"A web of relationships protected the story," said Steve Forrester, publisher of The Daily Astorian. "It was a giant case of co-dependence. People depended on Neil in various ways, for contracts and personal meaning and memories of the best days Portland ever had. An offshoot of co-dependency is often denial."Also according to the Seattle PI, revelation of the 30-year cover-up has had extensive ramifications. For example, Goldschmidt had organized local suport for an attempt by "by Texas investors to absorb the Portland General Electric Co. from its bankrupt corporate parent Enron." The Public Utility Commission recently denied the request.
Public records from the Goldschmidt administration as governor are now online. (tip to Research Buzz)
Other alternative weeklies that have won Pulitzers: The Village Voice (3) and the Boston Phoenix (1). Willamette Week has an unpaid circulation of 90,000.
See AP (Seattle Times); CNN, Oregonian, Seattle Post-Intelligencer (column),