Oh, boy. If you follow the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, have we got a present for you. Take all the concealed anger a newsroom holds. Mix in some petty slights, a dose of jealousy, a gallon of bile and a lot of money. The result is a 73-page federal court filing full of anger, cheap shots, dish and the weight of at least one staffer. It's Allison Walzer's response to the TL's motion for summary judgment. Strangely – or not strangely – no one has reported on it. If you're like us, you'll feel dirty by the time you're done reading it. It's a great window into her lawsuit against the paper, which has proceeded largely in the shadows. The low/highlights:
• Everyone, and we mean everyone, has been deposed in this case. Allison. Pat. Iseman. Clark. Joe Butkiewicz. Diana Kurutz! Paige Danoff, Allison's daughter!
• Alison was the “main household breadwinner”
• Allison made $1.74 million from 1996 to 2005! In Wilkes-Barre!
• Since getting the boot, Allison averages $12,000 a year.
• A guy at a temp agency (!) told her she was “kryptonite” in Wilkes-Barre.
• McHugh gave scads of free advertising -- including a free 12-16 page tab three times a year! -- to the Catholic Youth Center. And he hates Jews.
• McHugh made Allison walk his dog.
• McHugh was “a poor student at Miami Dade Community College and Florida International University,” while Allison went to Cornell and Columbia.
• Clark Van Orden tips the scale at 270 pounds!
• Di was going to get rich and famous through her daughter's work as a child model.
• Allison says she was Clark's BFF. Clark says he was scared shitless of Allison. Allison now says Clark is a lying turd.
• Allison says Iseman orchestrated the whole thing “for his own personal ambition.” (?)
And on and on and on. Oh Allison also says Matt Golas is really stupid. And that McHugh hates Jews and women and especially Jewish women. There's a lot of inside baseball about Sharon Petchel and Claire Schecter. And bar mitzvahs. Enjoy. (The files are hosted on another site and will download as .pdf files. If you have a good reader you can search by keyword for your favorite parts!)
74 comments:
Looks like Soprano is trying to shift the blame off his poor work ethic by bashing former co-workers
If you have all this free time on your hands,Soprano, why can't you do the work you are supposed to be doing? I mean come on we all know its you.
Great job digging this stuff up - nice scoop.
I still can't get over how much she was making.
If Iseman orchestrated all this, as alleged, well then it didn't exactly go according to hoil. He's even dumber than I thought.
$300 for Simon and Garfunkel tickets?
Oy.
Wow.
This really takes me back to the days I spent at the TL.
Was there anyone working there who wasn't afraid of upper management?
Pat was a prick -Walzer a bitch- and everyone knew to stay out of their way or they'd be in a bread line.
Iseman doesn't look all that honorable now does he?
Because a crazy lady called him "ambitious"?
All 73 pages boiled down to three words: "Consider the source."
True enough. But Iseman, by his own admission, undertook the "investigation" of the "forced picture taking" with quite a bit of vigor. Even verve. Iseman was shocked -- shocked! -- that Allison might be pushing a staffer around. The claim sullied his virgin ears. Thank God he got to the bottom of it. I only regret he's not still in the TL newsroom so he can look everyone in the eye every day.
Anyone else figure the Prashant deposition was thrown out of the master report due to the inability to transcribe his Indian muttering?
is this woman for real? if there was an anti-christ...
I think this was a link on the TL website months ago. There was a story by Terry Morgan with this link. Read it alreay.
NEPA media is wrong that no one has reported on this. There was a story in the TL weeks ago by Terrie Morgan-Besecker.
There were stories about Walzer's attempt to add Connor to the lawsuit, but no stories about the motion for summary judgment or Walzer's response.
(I'm disclosing that I worked under Allison.) You know of all the things she could have been fired for, why did they pick this one? Was McHugh that oblivious to how she treated her employees? That's the real shame here, that she was canned for this, when if McHugh kept a paper trail of all the shit she pulled, there'd be no questions about firing her. I think this suit brings to light what type of company Knight Ridder actually was, that they would ignore such horrible management through and through.
You almost get the feeling that this whole lawsuit is more about bruised egos than what pretense Allison was fired under.
As for her hurt feelings about all her underlings throwing her under the bus since she left I have two words: Grow up.
yes this was already reported in Tl not all the details but there was a link. Ialso read this on the internet.
The bitch go what she deserved.
I worked for her and thought she was one of the most intelligent, honest and resourceful women I have ever met.
She was a tribute to the TL and her time their was the best years of a now stumbling once great paper.
If we're lucky she'll win her job back and help save us from Rich Connor.
Who told Allison about this site?
Come on Soprano, you coward. Admit that you are behind this post. We all know you don't do a damn thing all day, so this must be your way to pass the time between your bouts of doing absolutely nothing and bitching about all the work you have that you never do because you are too lazy. You should be fired for your comments on here, nobody would miss you anyways, all we do is make fun of you because your work is deplorable
It's not easy being green, is it? I used to work with Soprano. Maybe he looks lazy but he is not anymore from what I hear. He's a decent guy, doesn't hurt anyone so why are you so jealous of him that you need to be so critical? Get a job of your own and let him do his.
Eisman was part of Walzer's dishonesty for years until it no longer suited him. Then he turned, like the coward he is. You could never trust him. He simply wasn't honest. He mocked people and laughed at people and did what he could to help himself even if he hurt others in the process. Eisman was never honorable or brave in any way. He hurt the paper's credibility as much as Walzer did.
Leave Soprano out of this.
Walzer was a stellar boss and manager. She was well liked and respected until the disinformation campaign began.
Thanks Dave.
How's life in Missouri?
FU - I'm not Joe or Dave. I happen to think we had a better paper when she was here. Now we're sinking fast.
Well liked and respected? Funny I worked in Walzer's newsroom for more than 10 years and never ONCE heard anyone utter that. Where did you work the Voice? In fact after moving to the advertising department I never ONCE heard anyone say anything nice about her. Even her own assistants hated her. You must live on Mars or are Allison herself. If you are Allison get to work, you need to make more than $12,000 this year. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
"Eisman?"
I can't come up with an explanation for this. Is Charlie Weiss posting? But even Charlie Weiss could spell. Magellan? But even Magellan knew that if you learned one thing in the TL newsroom, is was HOW TO SPELL THE MANAGING EDITOR'S NAME.
The "Eisman" poster is on the mark. But "Eisman?" Maybe it's the poster's way of disrespecting Dave.
This reminds me of an e-mail message I got from a friend after he left town and the Times Leader. It said, in part:
"At any rate, Wilkes-Barre is quickly receding into the
past, along with folks like Dwayne Iseman, Allison
Walsner, and Tony Soprano. Tell me, what is going on
with Jeff Healy, or that one guy, you know -- with the
bum eye? Give my regards to Emily Vanrose."
Eiseman is the way they spell it in Missouri.
No matter how you spell it, his karma finally caught up with him. Missouri? God.
12:06 pm you are being sarcastic, right? if not, you've got several screws loose.
OK,enough. It's time to hear some of the stories about Iseman and Walzer that have not yet been told.
1:20 you used to work with him
But i do, he is useless and he should be fired. OR maybe 1:20 is Soprano trying to save face on here because no one else he works with will disagree that he is a waste of a paycheck. And if it is you, I'll be keeping an extra close eye on you and making the necessary people aware of your slacking and poor work. Those eyes you feel watching you do absolutely nothing will be mine.
Allison was never well-liked and never respected. The paper was good under her because she had a good ME, Cliff. Then Malloy. The downfall of the paper started when Iseman took over. Think sayso.
Mullay should have been editor.
Another find in the e-mail archives:
Liechty is now writing a daily feature for the
news2use (NEWS2USE?) page -- that's page 2A -- called "ask Mr. Genius."
I am not kidding about the Mr. Genius feature. It
promises to be as riveting as Babs and Ask Dr. Pierogi or whatever the fuck that shit was.
There is a contest where the team that comes up with the most news2use items gets a free lunch for Walzer. This was announced Friday with much
fanfare. Today, there were no local news2use items.
1:28, what the hell you talkin' about?
As for you Walzer defenders, get a clue. You think she would have the same nice words about you your saying about her. It must, must, must be her posting those nice words...or maybe her snob cronies. Perhaps Rusty himself found time to hop his 450 lb frame outta his hot tub to key in a few words of support for his ol' Shavertown pal...Then he cut Conor anothr check. Nothin' like playin both sides of the fence, huh?
Sorry to stray off topic here folks, but I thought I would mention something. If a person is going to talk about things in a newsroom and then come here and post anonymously they should try not to talk loud enough that everyone hears them.
Co-workers don't have to get along personally, it helps, they just have to work together. So my advice to Healey, make sure you don't talk loud enough that everyone can hear you.
And it is so laughable to think that Soprano would be NEPA Media or even McNarney for that matter; one would hope he has moved on to bigger and better things. As for me I could care less who started this blog, but keep it coming I need my joke for the day.
Never worked for a newspaper in my life--but I had some minor dealings with Walzer. The T-L was about to publish a story that, in a roundbout way, was going to harm an innocent man--a friend.
I called Walzer--told her I wouldn't presume to tell her how to run her business--that the main story certainly had merit--but that dragging my innocent friend into it would be like killing a mockingbird.
She went ahead (her right, of course).
Weeks later, when it became obvious the article had done the poor guy needless damage for no purpose, I faxed her the article with some "told you so" comments in the margins.
She faxed back the article and comments--with "FUCK YOU" and her initials at the bottom.
To mix movie metaphors, I've never mistaken her for "Glinda, the Good Witch of the North" since. Doesn't bother me that a house has finally fallen on her.
And she was paid HOW MUCH?????
I worked under Allison for awhile. Yes, she and Iseman came up with some absolutely ridiculous embarrassing features. They're mentioned here. Babs the nepostism-sniffing dog, sayso, mr. genius, sayso. Let's not get into how she ridiculed some religions in news meetings.
She was held in check with Cliff and Jim. Iseman encouraged all of that ridiculous stuff.
I think she was on drugs -- she acted like it. As for Iseman, he was just goofy.
Don't you remember that stupid column they wrote together? Dave and Al.
Don't forget the Perogi column. What a piece of sheet. They were so smug, Walzer and Iceman, they thought they could mock the Polish population here, make fun of a popular food item, and people wouldn't get it. That was their way. They were sneaky and sarcastic. Two very nasty individuals. They were so alike in almost every way.
To the man Walzer wrote fuck you to, do you still have the fax? Does anyone have the pierogi column? THese could be used as evidence in her trial.
Regarding the "F-U" fax: while I was tempted to send it along to her bosses (this was in the Kinght Ridder days) I thought--as if THAT would do any good. Tellwiddumall.
She faxed back the article and comments--with "FUCK YOU" and her initials at the bottom.
How sad, but not surprising.
I guess the old saying it true, what goes around comes around and Walzer is getting it big time.
I don't think anyone should feel sorry for this woman.
This bashing has to stop! She was a professional woman - stop hating her because she was a woman in command. And why all the hatred for Joe? Please stop this. You're making us all look bad and disfunctional.
First, learn how to spell. Second, stop defending Walzer. If you're defending her state your name so we can all see the ONLY one who thinks she was a good people person.
Sure, put my name here and let the rest of the newsroom vultures attack me. I read what you guys are doing to Joe, Matt, Rich, etc. I don't want it to happen to me.
I like my job and have always liked the people I worked with. Ms. Walzer was always honest and fair. You just hate her because she was a powerful woman.
There are a few other powerful women working here now in news, web, advertising. They'll all do well and will help this company get back on track.
You'll see.
Let's be honest people. No one, whether they respected Allison or not, can say she was well liked in the newsroom. When she was fired, there were no tears. The was surprise. She had good news judgement, sometimes, but her mangagement style chased many stars, or potential stars away.
Also, what the hell's with Joe B questioning Golas' intelligence. Because he didn't intimately know WB geography? I didn't realize Joe B was so petty.
Look at facts, Golas had a much better newspaper pedigree than Walzer. He worked at several large papers in several departments. Walzer stayed in WB for decades and now can't get a job.
The people here have to get one thing straight: Any Walzer bashing has nothing at all to do with her being a poweful woman.
Her bad reputation came from the misuse of that power. It wouldn't have mattered if she was male or female, she clearly misused her power.
What few people do not realize is that, near the end, at least three people contacted Knight Ridder and told corporate execs of how poorly she treated workers, for no reason. Surprisingly, KR actually followed through on it. They called a series of people who had left in the few months before Walzer did. Some spilled their guts, others said, Why bother now? They got loads of juicy stories and her pattern of mistreatment of SOME employees was evident. They just had no proof. Hence, the Van Orden photo escapades as the only way to get her out of there with documentation.
Don't you wonder why the HR person was let go at the same time, too? People complained to her and she did nothing.
So, to the one person on here who thinks Walzer was a fine professional who did good for the paper, I guess you were one of the lucky ones who was never unjustly ridiculed by her. Congratulations.
Golas was a good journalist, I agree. But, his behavior after he and the other managers didn't get to buy the paper was a bit telling. Those odes to McHugh?
Iseman's Catholic? Who knew?
Drugs? Did somebody say drugs? Ah, now we're getting somewhere.
Walzer had bigger balls htne any current or past TL manager.
To 8:39 I worked with Allison in management at the TL and I didn't hate her for being a powerful woman. I don't like her ebcause she sucked at her job. Are you in management or a reporter. Because if you were a reporter you did not see the a crucial side of her personality. SO you liked working with her, fine. I worked with her and she sucked.
I overheard Healey gloating about this site. All i can say is wow. I can't believe some of the stuff he posted on here. But i am not surprised by it because as anyone who works with him knows, he is the biggest gossip and instigator going. Some of the people he frequently gossips about are named specifically on here. I thought under that bad hair cut was some class but i was wrong. The things he said about the laziness of some is the god's honest truth but you don't sell out your co-workers.
Yeah, Healey is a bit of a fucking yenta at times. Anybody who's worked there for any amount of time knows no names were safe from being dragged through the mud during his many a latenight gossip session. Him and Kellar were worse than two old ladies in a Brooklyn barbershop.
I see that Healey is mentioned here. I happen to know on good account that he has never said anything bad about anyone. He would never even think about talking behind someone's back, and it was news to him that this site even existed. He does have class its people that come on sites like this and divulge personal comments that have no class, like Soprano who no doubt is the ring leader of this, every time i arrive at work i see him loafing around. Atleast my work gets done and is done right. You are just a lazy hack that has time to come on here and cause problems, i wish they would fire you, i even suggested it. And stop making fun of people's hair cuts, its a perfectly acceptable style.
Hi, Joe. How are you doing? Healey, that is. Nice tribute to yourself.
Honestly, Joe Healey doesn't do anything different than anyone else does in that newsroom -- past or present. Everyone talks about everyone else and that's how it will be always. Get over it and grow up. You make it seem like the guy is totally vindictive and without friends. Suck it up, and get over it.
Now we're talkin'
Best thread ever. More please.
Yeah Healey, you see what your gossiping caused? You hurt Soprano's feelings so he had to come on here and call you an egocentric cock under an anonymous post, instead of waiting til you strolled in a 4pm and say it to your face. Which since he doesnt do anything else he should be able to fit it in his schedule of daily events.
By the way: I know Soprano too, and he should be doing his work instead of typing anonymous posts about co-workers on this site. Why don't you go to Rent-A-Center and rent some comebacks that stopped being funny 10 years ago.
The "egocentric cock" post was NOT Soprano. It was ME.
This is great, great stuff.
ATTENTION........ATTENTION............
JERRY KELLAR from the Times-Leader died last night....REST IN PEACE JERRY...........
Jerry was a good guy. R.I.P.
no doubt. o'boyle had a nice piece on page 1A of the tl. konopki had a nice ode on sports. even the cv's bombulie had a nice tribute to him on their sports front. wbre mentioned it on the 11 p.m.news. (wnep didn't). kellar was good people.
Yes i agree with the above two thoughts...Jerry was good people..may not have always agreed with him......but i liked his style .....rest in peace Jerry.....
Jerry was a good man, and his passing is a major loss to the TL sports department. Rest in peace, Jerry.
jerry was the lifeblood of that sports section
Jerry was always quick with a hello even if you worked in the news department. The TL lost one of their good ones.
As i strolled through the office, i noticed a, we'll go with "thing", who looked like one of those goth people. You know pale skin, black hair, red lipstick. Either she doesn't know how to use make up or is a Marilyn Manson impersonator. Either way she has the face for newspaper.
There was a fine tribute to Kellar at his viewing and funeral this week. Co-workers, former co-workers, going back 20 years, Penn State writers, CV people, TT people. You guys showed that all of this back and forth, animosity, competition, don't mean a hill of beans when it comes down to it.
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