Carson: We’ve just heard about the Oberlin News-Tribune changing their format and closing their local office. With all these changes, many townspeople miss the opportunity to read in-depth, local news coverage. We spoke with resident Walt Edling about his opinion of the Oberlin News-Tribune.

 

• Walt: Well, I hated to see the Tribune close. I always enjoyed having the paper and we subscribed to it for as long as I can remember. And it was nice to have something that was fairly intimate and kept us up on local doings, so, it’s okay what they have now, but it doesn't have quite the flavor that it did in those days.

 

Carson: I’m Carson, together with Gilbert and Ben. To get a better understanding of why the Oberlin News-Tribune was so widely respected, we decided to look into the story of Don Pease, the past editor and publisher of the Oberlin News-Tribune. And it turns out that Pease was much more than the editor of a small-town newspaper. He had a long and influential career in politics, on a local and national level. Since his death in 2002, he has had a lasting impact on the Oberlin community.

 

Carson: Ben, why don’t you tell us a little bit about Pease’s background?

 

Ben: Sure. Don Pease moved to Oberlin in 1957 when he accepted a position as an editor and publisher of the Oberlin News-Tribune.

 

Carson: And what did he do during his time as the paper’s editor?

 

Ben: He was especially passionate about writing editorials that advocated for progressive policies. This came from a sense of idealism that he had about how America should be. He argued that every American have a house and a job that paid a livable wage.

 

• Campaign ad: there’s something about Don Pease that sets him apart from the crowd. He’s not flashy, or always after headlines. But in his own quiet way, he gets the job done. And Don’s number one priority is jobs, so we can own our own homes and raise our families in safe neighborhoods. Don Pease has helped to pass top trade laws that opened foreign markets and curb unfair imports…

 

Ben: During Pease’s career at the Oberlin News-Tribune, the paper was widely acclaimed. According to his biography on the Oberlin Archive website, the paper won more than 85 journalistic awards over this 20-year period. We talked to Liz Burgess, the owner of Ginko gallery, about the quality of the News-Tribune when Pease was the editor.

 

• Liz: Looking back, they had pretty full coverage of city council events, of new businesses in town, of, um… they’d have editorials about topics of the day. People rushed to read the, um, editorials, to see... that was a place to get news about what was happening as well as to read people’s opinions. The letters to the editor were great fun.

 

Carson: So Gilbert, Pease wasn’t just a journalist, right?

 

Gilbert: Right, while working as the co-editor of the Oberlin News-Tribune, he started to get more involved in local politics. He joined the Oberlin City Council from 1961 to 1964.

 

Carson: So, can you tell us more about Don Pease’s political career?

 

Gilbert: Sure. To get a better sense of his career in politics, we sat down with Nancy Yood at the Oberlin Public Library. She worked closely with Pease as his scheduler and constituent manager.

 

Nancy Yood used to work as Don Pease's scheduler and constituent manager. Photo credit of Carson Li.

 

Gilbert: so could you tell me a little bit about how you met Mr. Pease?

 

• Nancy: Actually, it’s sort of an interesting small-town story.

 

Gilbert: Nancy explained that she met Mr. Pease through his involvement with the newspaper. The Oberlin News-Tribune wrote a story about her husband, which talked about Nancy’s interest in politics.

 

• Nancy: And so he ran into me at a party and said, “would you like to work on my campaign,” and I said, “no, I don’t know anything about you.” And so I met then with his campaign manager, and that was the start of seventeen and a half years.

 

Gilbert: Nancy told us that Pease became interested in the state senate because he was tired of having to rerun for City Council every two years. So Pease ran for a State Senate seat in 1964, and he won. He held this position until 1966.

 

Carson: What happened in 1966?

 

Gilbert: Well, his term was cut short by a redistricting and he lost the election. He spent the next ten years split between the State House and the State Senate. In 1976, Pease set his sights higher, running for a vacant position in the U.S. House of Representatives. He ran against the Republican Lorain City Mayor, Woodrow Mathna. And later that year, he was elected. Here’s Liz.

 

• Liz: One of the things that impressed me the most, though, is that when Don Pease ran for office, he immediately stepped out of the newspaper businesses because he felt that it would be a conflict of interest.

 

Gilbert: Throughout his time in Congress, Mr. Pease stood up for what he believed in, but was willing to compromise when necessary. Here’s Nancy.

 

• Nancy: He was a straight shooter, he said what he meant, and he listened to a lot of people, and did what he thought was the best thing.

 

Ben: Pease was really interested in tax reform, but President Bush Sr. was very resistant to and plan that increased tax rates for the wealthy, so Pease came up with the “Pease Plan.” This was a solution that involved decreasing tax deductions without increasing the tax rate.

 

Carson: Wait, so instead of just adding taxes for rich people, he essentially took away the amount of taxes that they were able to subtract?

 

Ben: Exactly. Because of this work-around, his plan secured enough Republican support to get the budget passed. It even stayed on the books for twenty-six years until it was repealed in 2018. Besides that, Don Pease was still committed to a variety of other issues. He fought to include environmental protections in the NAFTA trade deal, and he sponsored a bill intended to limit trade with China as a response to human rights abuses. This bill made it through both houses of the U.S. Congress, only to be vetoed by President Bush Sr. Don Pease and his wife Jeanne Pease also participated and volunteered at different community organizations in the area. Don Pease was a director of United Appeal, and Jeanne Pease volunteered at Eastwood Elementary School and Welcome Nursing Home. Mr. Pease’s pragmatic, hands-on approach to politics seemed to resonate with a lot of locals.

 

Carson: While reporting for this segment, we talked to a lot of long-time residents. And we ended up in conversations with people reminiscing about how things used to be. For them, Don Pease is a symbol of nostalgia, a call-back to a better era when politicians worked across the aisle to find common ground on important issues. Many of our interviewees were concerned with this shift in politics, and we think they must be onto something.

 

• Jim Jordan: He didn’t remember because we already had the transcript. He didn’t remember the, he didn’t remember the... we had the Trump/Zelensky transcript had been out for two months. Even though you’re repeatedly bringing this conversation up, as you said...

 

Ben: That’s our current U.S. House Representative, Jim Jordan, during the fifth day of President Trump’s impeachment hearing. After redistricting in 2011, Lorain County was moved from the 13th to the 4th Congressional District, the district which Jordan represents. This meant that Oberlin, one of Ohio’s most liberal towns, became represented by a Republican for the first time in 35 years.

 

• Jim Jordan: …you recall this conversation, maybe it was, the transcript, the call happened on July 25th that's four months ago...

 

Gilbert: Don Pease fought against this brand of party politics. He exemplified an old school strategy of bipartisan engagement that some Oberlin locals seem to miss. When we interviewed residents for this story, they all echoed a common sentiment: While not everyone agreed with Pease’s politics, everyone respected him. He was a down-to-earth politician and an active community member. In Medina, Ohio, one of the places Pease represented, there is now a federal building named for him. While Pease is no longer with us, he has left a lasting impression in Oberlin and the communities he stood up for.