This paragraph, fronted by a comment from publicity consultant Steve Sugarman, from a longer piece from L.A. Weekly about Santa Barbara News-Press publisher Wendy McCaw and her predilection for outlandish litigation stemming from reportage on a massive editorial board shake-up at her paper, caught my eye:

“’Though the tactics of McCaw seem unusual as to all the litigation
she’s thrown out, unless you know the business objective of McCaw, it
is not fair to comment on the tactics of a crisis PR consultant,’
Sugerman said. Her tactics might make sense if her goals are to push
out her former editor to cut costs, keep a high-powered union out of a
small paper and produce a cheaper product that advertisers must
advertise in because it’s the only daily in a wealthy community.”

Funny, I thought. And kind of telling. As a former defendant in a $19 million lawsuit of harassment filed by the idiot ex-publisher of my one-time employer, the now-defunct Entertainment Today, I know all too well how aggrieved simpletons deal with falls from grace and/or challenges to their (frequently inherited) power.

Of course, I don’t know McCaw, so let me be clear that I am in no way commenting on what some have deemed her ongoing war against journalists and the first amendment, otherwise impugning her credibility or doing anything other than linking to this story as an act of bemused recollection. I am sure McCaw is a wonderful, intelligent woman who smells like fresh tulips and sweats Clive Christian’s #1. Of course my comments are borne of personal experience, refer solely to such, and are in no way, shape or form comparative to the L.A. Weekly piece. There… that should take care of things.

But get ready to be sued, Ross Johnson. If only because those that can sue do, even (maybe especially) when there’s nothing but noise, fury and a lingering inferiority complex on their side…