Wayne Laugesen is leaving the Weekly to become the editorial-page editor of the Colorado Springs Gazette, Westword reports. In its ad for the job, the Gazette said it was looking for "a libertarian thinker ... in tune with our philosophy of (a) respect for the individual, (b) limited government, (c) free markets, and (d) free trade," which might not seem a great fit for someone who had worked at the progressive Weekly on-and-off for 13 years. But Laugesen never espoused the views shared by most of his colleagues. "It's always been heated and tense, politically," he tells Westword. "I don't know how many times I've written some right-wing thing for the Weekly, which is owned by a left-wing publisher [Stewart Sallo] and has a liberal editor [Pamela White], and somebody has called up and said, 'You're fired.' It's definitely happened -- but generally we were back on good terms within a few days." He speaks well of the Weekly, but says he's excited to be going to an organization where he's "under the same big umbrella, philosophically."
Wayne Laugesen has drawn attention for his inflammatory Boulder Weekly columns (and, once, for smashing some windows). Now, the former Weekly editor hopes to draw listeners. According to a feature in Longmont, Colorado's Daily Times-Call, Laugesen "is building a sound studio in his Boulder County home at a cost of $10,000 to $15,000," in the hopes of launching money-making Catholic podcasts. Specifically, Laugesen is planning a talk show on which he'll debate "liberal journalist Pamela White"--the current editor of Boulder Weekly.
