• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Meet columnist Froma Harrop

Leonard Pitts Jr. David Broder. Kathleen Parker. These are just a few of the Gazette’s syndicated columnists. We believe we employ some of the best in the business. Not everyone will agree, of course, and that's OK.

However, when Ellen Goodman retired from column writing a few weeks ago, it left a void in our arsenal of commentators. We explored options. We could pick anyone we wanted, but we favored adding someone comparable to Goodman, another liberal female, to our mix.

We chose Harrop because she appears to be growing in stature among syndicated columnists nationwide. I met her at the National Conference of Editorial Writers convention in Little Rock in the fall of 2008. Harrop does much of her own research, and she often writes on subjects that don’t follow the herd mentality.

Right now, for example, everyone seems to be talking about President Obama’s tinkering with bipartisanship or Sarah Palin’s appearances. In today’s Gazette, however, Harrop writes about how age discrimination, be it a ban on using cell phones while driving or the drinking age, often targets the young. It’s a nice diversion from the usual.

Here’s more background on Harrop. Creators Syndicate calls her an independent voice on politics, economics and culture. Though often pigeonholed as "left of center," she is known for her unconventional approach and libertarian streak. Issue-oriented, she tends to follow the ball rather than the team. The conservative Heartland Institute has called her a "favorite lefty." Harrop’s columns appear in nearly 200 newspapers. Editor & Publisher named Harrop’s column a Feature of the Year in 2003.

Born in New York City, Harrop was raised in the Long Island suburbs. After graduating from New York University in 1972, she worked on the financial desk at Reuters Ltd., covering business and the Federal Reserve. Harrop now lives in Providence, R.I., and is an editorial board member for The Providence Journal.

I can’t promise which day we’ll run Harrop; it depends on my letters flow and op-ed space that varies from day to day. I will, however, try to get her in on a weekday each week.

You won’t find Harrop on the Gazette’s Web site, by the way. Syndicates who give us free access for online postings, such as Parker, Broder and Rick Horowitz, go up. Those who would charge us extra to do so don’t go on our Web site. To read Harrop regularly, I invite you to subscribe. Call our circulation folks at (608) 741-6650.

Greg Peck