CONCERNING GERI ROTHMAN-SEROT

The above interview represents just half of what the Southeast Missourian wanted to present concerning Missouri's U.S. Senate race. On Sept. 10, both Christopher Bond and Geri Rothman-Serot, his Democratic opponent, were mailed invitations by the Southeast Missourian to do a comprehensive interview with the newspaper's editorial board. We asked that a date be arranged by Oct. 23, this to give the newspaper time to transcribe the taped comments and prepare the interview for publication. This is a procedure this newspaper (and many newspapers) follow as a matter of course in election years.

In the weeks following the invitation, no formal response was made by the Rothman-Serot campaign. There were telephone conversations between Southeast Missourian Political Editor Jim Grebing and Rothman-Serot staff members, but no date for an editorial board interview was agreeable to the campaign. On Oct. 19, a day after Rothman-Serot made a brief stop in Cape Girardeau, a campaign official called the Southeast Missourian inquiring if the editorial board interview could be conducted over the telephone. The Southeast Missourian rejected this as unacceptable and unfair to other candidates who had traveled to Cape Girardeau. The newspaper again urged the campaign to set a date for the interview. The campaign said it would call back. The deadline passed on Oct. 23 and there was no call back.

On Tuesday of this week, four days after the deadline and 39 days after the invitation was mailed, campaign aide Keith Dinsmore (who in 1988 managed the Wayne Cryts congressional campaign) called the Southeast Missourian at 5:15 p.m. and said Rothman-Serot would be available for an editorial board interview the following afternoon. The Southeast Missourian declined.

Ken Newton, Editor