Guild may demand that Par Ridder resign

A proposal to ask Guild members to vote on a “no confidence” vote on publisher Par Ridder was called “a little soft” by Guild stewards who then voted unanimously to have members vote on demanding Ridder's resignation.

The membership vote is scheduled for 4:30 pm next Tuesday.

Reporter Chris Serres, a Strib Guild officer, says, "It became a pretty long discussion. The prevailing view was that if we believe what he has done is a violation of our code of ethics a 'no-confidence' vote is kind of soft. So then we had to work out questions of a proper statement and timing."

The Guild decision was reported by The Rake, a monthly magazine, launched in March 2002 which is distributed free throughout the Twin Cities metro area (Minneapolis and St. Paul) in restaurants and libraries, coffee shops and public buildings.

Rake columnist Brian Lambert also reports:

Sources at a recent meeting with MediaNews owner Dean Singleton confirm his statement that he has already spent $3 million on his suit against Par Ridder. While Singleton has laid out serious cash for lawyers and forensic work on the Pioneer Press computer files Ridder booted into the Star Tribune system, at least one prominent local attorney believes it is reasonable Avista has or soon will spend as much defending him.

Last time I checked $6 million was somewhere in the range of 40% of the Star Tribune's annual newsroom budget. Obviously I don't have the precise numbers. But the point is you can cover a lot of Minnetonka Sewer Commission meetings with $6 million ... and eventually the loser in this disgraceful mess will be looking to paper over their losses with another round of "right-sizing" (to quote Ridder) in their Twin Cities subsidiaries.

Click on the headline to read his column.