You deserve to know who I am and what makes me tick: Letter from the Editor – cleveland.com

I was a reporter at The Orlando Sentinel before I moved to Cleveland 25 years ago, and a columnist there named Charley Reese started every year with a disclosure column. Columnist Scott Maxwell continues the tradition today.

Its a good idea for a columnist, and its a good idea for an editor. I direct all content you find on cleveland.com, in The Plain Dealer and on all of our other platforms, so you deserve to know what makes me tick. Im stealing the idea from Charley and Scott. Here goes:

On the personal side, Ive been married for 35 years to a woman I began dating when I was 17 and we worked together as counselors in a summer camp. We have two grown children, a son who lives in Michigan with his wife and 4-year-old son, and a daughter who lives in North Carolina with her husband and 1-year-old daughter. We live with a gentle 9-year-old golden retriever named Ella who gives us much love and daily laughs.

On the professional side, I was a reporter for 20 years in New Jersey (where I grew up), Delaware, Harrisburg, Pa., Orlando and Cleveland, where I covered crime and City Hall before becoming an editor in 2002. I became Metro editor at The Plain Dealer in 2006. Ive been editor of cleveland.com since 2013 and The Plain Dealer since last June.

My job today is directing our coverage, suggesting story ideas, engaging with readers by email and text, hosting a couple of podcasts five days a week, sending out messages about what we are working on to people who subscribe to my texting account, participating in Editorial Board discussions and doing all the tasks that come with managing a newsroom. I usually start the day between 5 and 5:30.

I think the most important roles we play are keeping people informed, holding people in leadership positions to account, providing a wide band of perspective and viewpoints on issues that matter and advocating for ways to make life better for people in Northeast Ohio.

On the conflict-of-interest side, I am a board member of the Ohio Debate Commission. Advance Ohio, which operates cleveland.com, was a big supporter when this commission began a few years ago, driven by Dan Moulthrop, the City Club of Cleveland chief, and Jill Miller Zimon, the executive director. The goal of the commission is public discourse, something we feel strongly about in our newsroom. Im proud to be part of it.

For a few years, I had the titles of both editor of cleveland.com and president of Advance Ohio, and as president, I served on the boards for the United Way, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the City Club. When Brad Harmon took the reins as president of Advance Ohio and Advance Local Midwest a little more than a year ago, I resigned from the boards.

It was an interesting dance serving as both editor and president, and Im glad to no longer be doing it. And Im glad Brad is here. In just a year, he has improved our financial fortunes, giving us all more confidence that we are on a path to long-term sustainable journalism.

On the financial side, my wife and I own two houses, in Cleveland Heights and in Michigan. We bought the Heights house when we moved to Northeast Ohio 25 years ago. We bought the Michigan house a few years ago, with money my dad left us when he died, to make visits with our son and his family easier. We dont own stock in anything that would give me a conflict of interest in directing coverage of stories.

On the political side, Im a registered voter but not in a party. If I didnt have this job, Id register as a Democrat, because in Cuyahoga County, almost all of the important races are determined in the Democratic primaries. By not being a registered Democrat, I have little say in local elections. In this job, though, I think its important to be registered as an independent.

If you analyzed my politics, youd likely say I lean left, but I dont think its that simple. Yes, I believe Donald Trump is the worst president in history and marvel that anyone could vote for him, but on the other side, Im a big supporter of gun rights. I think the Second Amendment is so strongly written that I dont even understand how people can be required to get concealed carry permits. That seems like an infringement to me, and when you infringe on one amendment, you make it easier to infringe on the others, like freedom of speech. Im absolutist on that one, too.

On the health side, I was diagnosed with Celiac disease 20 years ago this year. Back then, no one had heard of it and nothing was marketed as gluten-free.

On the religious side, Im not. I guess Im what the late novelist Kurt Vonnegut called a humanist, which he said means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without expectations of rewards or punishment after I am dead. My philosophy matches closely with a quote Vonnegut attributed to his son: We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.

Vonneguts one of my favorite authors, by the way. The others are John Irving, John le Carr and a Cincinnati-area woodworker/philosopher/writer named Chris Schwarz. Woodworking is one of the things I do for fun. The others are photography, riding a Peloton bike and, for the last two years, trying to play a guitar with terribly uncoordinated fingers.

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You deserve to know who I am and what makes me tick: Letter from the Editor - cleveland.com