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AUGUST

**19, 2020**

Kuttner on TAP

More About That Boston Globe Endorsement

****

In my previous On Tap post
,
I took a potshot at

**The Boston Globe** for endorsing Jake Auchincloss, the most
conservative Democrat running in one of America's most liberal House
seats, the district once held by Barney Frank and now being given up by
Joe Kennedy as he challenges Sen. Ed Markey. Both contests will be
decided in the September 1 Democratic primary.

Potshots are seldom a great idea, even in blog posts. In this one, I
repeated the published story

that the endorsement was prompted by the family connections between
Auchincloss, 32, a registered Republican as recently as 2014
,
and John and Linda Henry, owners of the

**Globe** and the Boston Red Sox. Linda Henry regularly sits in on

**Globe** editorial meetings.

I received an aggrieved email from the

**Globe**'s editorial page editor, Bina Venkataraman, who insists that
the endorsement was solely the work of the

**Globe** editorial board, with no interference from either of the
Henrys. She wrote, "I can assure you I knew nothing nor was told nothing
about the Henrys wishes about the endorsement, and I truly believe they
had no preference. I knew nothing about their connections, which seem
rather weak if you actually look at the facts. The endorsement
deliberation at the time it occurred led to the majority of the board
converging on Auchincloss."

Venkataraman also says that the connection between the Henrys and Jake
Auchincloss's mother, Laurie Glimcher, is exaggerated. Glimcher is the
CEO of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, beneficiary of the Jimmy Fund,
the Red Sox's leading charitable cause since 1948. Linda Henry has
said that she has only a casual acquaintance with Glimcher.

Support Independent, Fact-Checked Journalism

I take Venkataraman at her word that nobody told her whom to endorse. I
should have done my own reporting before venturing into this story based
on secondhand information. I have no way of knowing whether hints might
have been dropped to other members of the editorial board. Venkataraman
says she is not aware of any; and again I take her at her word.

That said, the endorsement produced great controversy at the

**Globe**. Venkataraman felt the need to do a Zoom event with
Auchincloss to help explain and justify
the endorsement. Space was
given to a

**Globe** columnist, Shirley Leung, to write a scathing dissent

from the Auchincloss endorsement. And to me, anyway, it is far more
persuasive than the

**Globe**'s official editorial of endorsement
.

Given the way the world works, it is just not believable that Glimcher,
whose family is bankrolling her son's campaign, would not want to
promote his candidacy. Nor, given the close connection between the

**Globe** and the Jimmy Fund, do I believe that Glimcher has only the
most casual acquaintance with the Henrys. At the level of elites, Boston
is a very small town. And it doesn't get much cozier than the Sox and
Dana-Farber.

At other great papers, notably

**The New York Times** and

**The Washington Post**, the wife of the owner does not sit in on
editorial meetings and look over the shoulders of the editors. When such
things occur, explicit directives are not required.

I believe Venkataraman when she says that nobody told her, explicitly or
implicitly, whom to endorse. With Linda Henry sitting in on her
meetings, I sure don't envy her tightrope act.

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter

Robert Kuttner's latest book is
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.

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