Pulitzer Prize Winning Columnist Connie Schultz, The Wife Of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, Resigns From Plain Dealer

Connie Schultz

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor of The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog. Com(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

Pulitzer prize winning Cleveland Plain Dealer Columnist Connie Schultz, the wife of Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, resigned yesterday, sparking a firestorm of discussion from nearly 300 bloggers commenting on her departure at the newspaper's online venue of Cleveland.com in a matter of hours to media outlets throughout the country, including the Huffington Post.

A liberal and principled journalist, Schultz met Pulitzer fame in 2005 with a story about a Black man named Michael Green who spent 13 years in prison on a false rape complaint by a blond blued-eyed White woman who later recanted. Green forgave her, with the true rapist coming forward after reading the story and agreeing to prison because of guilt feelings, even though the statute of limitations for prosecution had run.

Schultz said she made the decision to quit in good faith.

"In recent weeks it has become painfully clear that my independence, professionally and personally is possible only if I'm no longer writing for the newspaper that covers my husband's senate race on a daily basis. Its time to move on," she wrote in an email to colleagues.

A writer for the newspaper for 18 years who has written two books, including one titled "His Lovely Wife: A Memoir From The Woman Behind The Man" that details her experiences as the wife of a U.S. Senator, Schultz, 54, exits as Brown prepares for a battle for his seat next year against Republican Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel. She battled criticism by Tea Party affiliates and ultra-conservative national media personality Glenn Beck for failing to mention in a column this month that Mandel was present at a Tea Party event that she covered, though others, including Democratic strongholds, came to her defense.

Plain Dealer editor Debra Adams Simmons, who is Black and has increased Black writers at the newspaper since replacing former editor Susan Goldberg in 2010, told the Huffington Post that Schultz is one of the most talented writers in Plain Dealer history and will be missed, comments that have raised speculation on whether Schultz will return after next year's U.S. Senate election. She resigned when Brown sought the seat in 2006, but came back after his victory.

With conservative Plain Dealer Columnist Phillip Morris on leave until next spring on a Knight-Wallace fellowship at the University of Michigan, the Cleveland Plain Dealer now has no Black columnists, though covering the news in a predominantly Black major metropolitan city.

Journalist and Community Activist Kathy Wray Coleman can be reached at 216-932-3114 and ktcoleman8@aol.com