Founders Day at Freedom, Inc.

I'm pretty sure it was Cathy Taylor's idea for Freedom Communications to mark R.C. Hoiles's birthday, Nov. 24, as Founders Day (though it might have come from somebody in corporate). I can't remember when we first did it -- 5-6 years ago? Anyway, we try to highlight some aspect of R.C.'s life and ideas, and their importance to the larger freedom movement (R.C. was never quite satisfied with the term "libertarian," though I suspect he would eventually have acquiesced to using it more often. He died in 1970, just as the modern libertarian movement was starting to define itself -- having libertarians kicked out of YAF in 1969 was a key moment, leading Don Ernsberger to found Students for Individual Liberty (SIL) and marking something of a divorce from the conservative movement.

Founders Day is whyI did the piece on R.C. for Sunday, and this editorial that ran today. The little pamphlet from which I extracted quotes (intro and transitions written by D.R. Segal, I'm pretty sure -- gee, he was a fun guy yet unquestionably sharp as an executive) said that if journalism were a person R.C. was its hair shirt.

This is a bittersweet Founders Day for us, and not just because of the sorry state of the newspaper business just now. Sometime early next year Freedom Inc., family-held for so long, will be officially owned by a consortium of banks, having emerged from Chapter 11. We don't expect they'll want to change editorial policies at the Register, but will hang onto properties that are at least modestly profitable until there's a decent market for them. But we don't know. I understand why "may you live in interesting times" is a Chinese curse. But I'll continue to interpret it as at least part blessing.

Freedom Communications files Chapter 11

Freedom Communications, the parent company of the Orange County Register, where I've worked for the last eon or so, has formally filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11, which means reorganization, not liquidation. This stems from all the money borrowed 5 or 6 years ago during the family feud, when certain members of the company-owning Hoiles family asked to put the company up for sale or be bought out because they said they had no real say in running the company. Investment bankers Providence and Blackstone were brought in and given equity to raise the money to buy them out -- and then the Perfect Storm hit and revenues went into the crapper. Now revenues aren't close to being enough to pay the debts and the banks will take ownership.

Just got back from a company meeting with Terry Horne, our publisher. He emphasized that it is a pre-agreed bankruptcy plan (after tough negotiations with the banks) and it should take 120-180 days to work through the formalities, at which point Chase, Union Bank and some bank in Atlanta will own us. Terry thinks the only way the banks get their money back is to wait until there is a history of improved revenue and profitability and a market develops for newspapers and other media companies -- a possibility if the recession turns around. At this point nobody wants to buy newspapers, so they'll just have to ride out the storm with us. At least the Register is still profitable and never did lose money, though the profits are precipitously below what they were in the salad days.

So no substantive changes for at least 6 months, and then probably nothing that will affect me or the libertarian nature of the Register editorial pages. But it's a long way from being fun.

People used to laugh at the old man, R.C. Hoiles, for his refusal to take on any debt, but to grow the company through revenues and buy new properties only when we could pay cash. If his offspring had followed that philosophy the company would not be in this position.

Dick Wallace retiring from Freedom Communications

I didn't blog last night because I was at the surprise retirement party for Dick Wallace, who is sort of retiring after almost 47 years at Freedom. He married into the Hoiles family and has devoted most of his life to working for the company -- at everything from learning at low-level jobs to being general manager of the Register to some sort of executive vice president at corporate.

I got to know Dick reasonably well when he was at the Register, and liked him instantly. He is genuinely devoted to libertarian ideas -- he has donated a huge library of libertarian books to Chapman University and has been the prime mover behind Freedom School, where publishers and editors and editorial writers go to spend several days "thinking about big ideas," as Jonathan Rauch, one of the speakers at the most recent one, put it. Jonathan told me he knows of no other company that does anything remotely similar.

Dick and Pat have three sons, two of whom are very active with the company and the moving force behind the desire to keep the company in the family and keeping it devoted to libertarian principles.

Anyway, it was a great party, at the Balboa Bay Club, and it was a genuine surprise. Tom Palmer sent a video and David Nott of Reason Foundation came. And Scott Flanders, Terry Horne, Dave Threshie, Tibor Machan, Tom Grochow and about 75 others came. It was a well-deserved tribute and sendoff to one of the really good guys.

Dick won't be completely gone. He told me one of the reasons he's "retiring" is so the company can have his salary for other purposes, but he plans to remain active, especially in organizing the Freedom Schools.

Freedom's underlying principles

At the Freedom School here in San Antonio we held a session moderated by Tom Palmer of the Cato Institute, who was sent local-issue editorials from almost all the Freedom newspapers and asked to analyze them. Tom is a very smart guy and a good synthesizer, and he teased out the principles underlying the editorials he was given to read, with these results:

1. Freedom papers tend to support the widest scope of personal freedom consistent with equal freedom for all.
2. The rule of law is an important principle, meaning that societies should be guided by institutions that operate consistently rather than by the personal predilections of leaders or rulers — and that the law applies to the rulers as well as the ruled.
3. Economy in government — that the primary purpose of government is to provide justice and other genuinely essential services, that choices have costs, and that when services can be provided without coercive action, the voluntary route is better.

Not a bad set of principles. Having been to a couple of them, I can't help but think that the Freedom Schools, where top-notch scholars and speakers are invited to give presentations and lead discussions on applying freedom principles to everyday issues, have something to do with this kind of consistency. I'm very pleased that Freedom Communications thinks this is important and invests some of its profits in the endeavor.

Working for freedom

It had been longer than I had remembered since I was in San Antonio. Like everybody, apparently, back then, I had been mainly impressed by just how small the Alamo (or the part that is left; I understand there was more to it back in 1836) seemed as compared to the large mythology surrounding it. I don't think I spent more than a few minutes on the Riverwalk -- which is underneath the streets cars go on, virtually invisible if you're just driving around -- on that previous trip. This time I spent about an hour, walking through countless outdoor cafes and enjoying the entire scene. Quite a bit of good music. Come and enjoy it if you get the opportunity.

At the reception Tibor Machan introduced me to Jonathan Rauch and we had a good time chatting at dinner. He's a smart guy, but not (quite) a libertarian, as advertised in the program. We'll see if we can jolly him along a little bit. Not much of great substance at dinner tonight, more a matter of getting acquainted or reacqauinted. Tomorrow we'll tackle immigration, hear Ed Crane on whether freedom is on the march or in retreat, and discuss church and state with Tim Sandefur.

Here in San Antonio

Well, I made it to San Antonio for Fredom Communications' Freedom School. Flew on Express Jet, apparently a new airline. It uses smaller je ts (56 passengers) and the flight was smooth and generally trouble-free. The event starts at 6:00 local time (4pm PDT), so I'll meander on the Riverwalk a bit, then change clothes. I'm looking forward to it. It will be interesting to see how widely the perception that the newspaper business is changing in fundamental ways is shared, particularly in smaller cities. And to get a little refresher course in freedom. I'll report my perceptions beginning tonight.

Remembering the Alamo

It's off to San Antonio tomorrow morning, to attend the Freedom Communications Inc. Freedom School. The company that owns the Register (and about 27 other papers and a half-dozen TV stations) has one of these events every 12-18 months, mostly for editors and editorial writers to get a little refresher course in libertarian thought, and with any luck ways to apply it to the kinds of issues that arise in communities as well as nationally and internationally. Tibor Machan, who's now teaching at Chapman U. in Orange, and is an adviser on freedom issues to Freedom Inc., puts these events together. The main speakers this yhear will be Jonathan Rauch (I've read him for years but never met him), Ed Crane, Tom Palmer and Timothy Sandefur. I'm very much looking forward to it. Should be gone through Thursday but plan to find some time to blog.

Freedom CEO makes case for Obama

This one has already made it around the blogosphere pretty well, and I think into a couple of news stories. Freedom Communications CEO Scott Flanders had a debate/discussion with the company's libertarian guru, Tibor Machan, on the voting choices this year. Tibor made a case for voting for a reasonably principled libertarian. Then Scott said the important things for him this year are getting out of Iraq, restoring separation of church and state, easing away from victimless crime laws like the drug laws, and the Patriot Act. He said the best chance for progress on those issues was -- Barack Obama (though he acknowledged he would probably increase spending and taxes, a tough trade-off).

That's Scott's personal opinion. As always, the Register and other Freedom Newspapers will not endorse any candidate (as I like to put it, it only encourages them). But Scott's opinion is interesting. Several older readers are very unhappy, as they've been eager to let me know. I'm just amused.