I didn't realize that personal e-mail to you was subject to publication in The Independent as mine was in your cover story of October 10, 2007 ("Mixed Messages"). Since that is the case, please print this in the letters to the editor section of the October 17, 2007 issue.
I obviously do not understand or agree with your paper's "basic journalism principles." They certainly do not concur with those that I was taught and practiced for three decades of broadcast reporting.
Therefore, I regretfully request that my agreement to write business/politics columns for the Acadiana Business magazine of The Independent be terminated.
Ron Gomez, Lafayette
Editor's note: In his e-mail correspondence, Mr. Gomez never indicated nor requested that his comments were off the record and not for publication.
Former broadcaster and legislator Gomez knows as well as anyone the meaning of "off the record." Approximately a month ago, he asked Independent Weekly Publisher Steve May to meet with him and District 43 candidate Patrick LeBlanc for a private, off the record meeting regarding LeBlanc's Texas contracts. This is a classic ploy: try and meet off the record with a newspaper owner in order to influence the paper's coverage and/or have stories killed. The Independent doesn't work that way, and May refused the meeting. Gomez never contacted me with a similar offer.
While he might not have an official title with the Patrick LeBlanc campaign, the above instance isn't an isolated example of Gomez working on behalf of LeBlanc. Gomez' advertising firm, Edge Communications, has produced commercials for LeBlanc. So Gomez is being a bit disingenuous by referring to his e-mail to me as "personal."
The Independent now has an opening for a business/politics columnist for our monthly Acadiana Business magazine. Potential contributors can contact me at [email protected]. ' Scott Jordan, editor