Posted on Sat, Nov. 16, 2002 story:PUB_DESC

BRIAN LAMBERT Media Columnist

Give Garrison Keillor credit for this: He leaves no questions when it comes to what he thinks of Norm Coleman — just about why he thinks it.

Politicos, media types and startled readers here and across the country are still trying to comprehend the personal tone, depth of antipathy and consequences of two columns the Man from Lake Wobegon filed for the online magazine Salon in the past 10 days.

Last week, two days after the election, Keillor weighed in with a piece titled "Empty Victory for a Hollow Man." In it, he lacerated Sen.-elect Coleman as essentially an empty suit for sale to whoever might advance his career, criticized the former St. Paul mayor's personal life and chided the media for going easy on him.

Then, this past Wednesday, responding to criticism of his first salvo, Keillor returned. This one, titled "Minnesota's Shame," featured such classic lines as "I'm ashamed of Minnesota for electing this cheap fraud." And, moments after referring to "… an empty suit like Coleman," Keillor vented anger over Coleman's alleged exploitation of 9/11, saying, "… for a cynic like Norm Coleman to hitch his trailer to that tragedy is evil. Call it by the right name."

The outbursts, all but devoid of Keillor's customary humor, left Minnesota Public Radio's news division — in the final days of a membership drive — in the uncomfortable position of publicly proclaiming its political neutrality while dissociating itself from the parent company's single brightest light and financial asset. Simultaneously, Keillor's accusation that local media turned a blind eye to long-standing rumors about Coleman's private life had reporters and editors re-explaining their news judgment.

Keillor, who has been on an East Coast book tour the past few days, declined further comment through his representatives, saying only that "the Salon piece says all that needs to be said" by him on the subject.

Coleman's spokeswoman, Leslie Kupchella, said he would have no comment on the Keillor articles.

The whole business left some people grasping for an explanation, other than merely an admirer of Paul Wellstone infuriated by the election results.

"My first reaction," said Republican consultant Sarah Janecek, "was to wonder how badly must Norm Coleman have snubbed him at the St. Paul Grill, or somewhere, for him to be this angry."

Blois Olson, "a Democrat forever" and Janecek's associate publisher at the Politics in Minnesota newsletter, characterized the Keillor rants as "probably the most bitter, immature commentary of that kind that I can ever remember." Looking at the financial downside, Olson added, "And good luck, MPR, the next time you go looking for federal or state money."

The MPR newsroom was on full red alert for unofficial, unvetted opinions on the Keillor columns. No one would speak on record. But it is known that several reporters and hosts were openly angered by the predicament in which the columns put them with the Coleman camp and less sympathetic listeners.

Damage control fell to Marcia Appel, vice president and chief marketing officer, who said: "We regret there may be an implication out there that we share or endorse Garrison's comments. We do not.

"We recognize, as I think our members do, that as an independent author and artist we are not going to be able to stop him from saying whatever he wants to say. But his political opinions are his own."

Keillor's political persuasion is no secret to his fans or anyone who has read his commentaries in the New Yorker, Time and on Salon. But the vitriolic nature of the Coleman pieces offered fresh meat to the usual conservative types ever eager to hammer public radio with the taint of "liberal bias."

Sticking up for MPR, KSTP-TV news director Scott Libin said: "Garrison Keillor's opinionated rant has no more influence in their newsroom than [KSTP-AM host] Jason Lewis does in ours."

Nevertheless, MPR, via Appel, was forced to issue repeated assertions of its separate relationship from Keillor and its neutrality in political coverage. She said the station had received "only a dozen" calls about Wednesday's Salon piece and that "our members, who are not shy about their opinions, seem to understand the difference between Garrison and MPR news."

The question of whether local political reporters have given Coleman "a free ride" on the question of private, personal conduct is one that has been heard throughout his career.

"But," said KSTP's Libin, "we have never heard anything solid enough that it offered a reason to seriously look into anything, much less report anything like that."

KARE-TV news director Tom Lindner remembers two conversations with then-Mayor Coleman on the subject. In both cases, the stories evaporated upon close inspection.

"Believe me, it wasn't that we weren't interested," he said. "Specific names and addresses have been offered. But in the end, there was never anything there."

Chris Worthington, a Pioneer Press managing editor, says the paper over the years has aggressively pursued tips on such matters, but beyond that, "I'd rather not discuss stories on which we may or may not be working."

Lacking any further comment from Keillor, it's impossible to fully understand the root of his anger, beyond losing a man he admired and being left with one he doesn't.

His recollection, in the Nov. 7 Salon piece, of Coleman passing himself off as a patron of F. Scott Fitzgerald is particularly acidic, and it was part of a lighter op-ed piece submitted by Keillor and rejected by the Pioneer Press shortly before Wellstone's death.

Steve Dornfeld, associate editor for this paper's editorial page, says he declined the piece on the grounds that it was "just a funny, unflattering story about Coleman" and "a little light on substance." And yes, it was, he says, the first time he's rejected a submission from Garrison Keillor.

"Yeah," Dornfeld said, "and he doesn't take kindly to that."

-- Anonymous, November 16, 2002

Answers

just trying to stir up some old rumors, maybe?

-- Anonymous, November 17, 2002

I remember when Mondale lost the presidential election. Garrison said the problem was that Mondale was from Minnesota and Minnesotans are too nice to win the presidency. So, I'm wondering if he is still carrying a torch for Mondale.

-- Anonymous, November 18, 2002