Business columnist called "commie" and "Socialist"

Howard Pankratz of the Denver Post writes that departing Post business columnist Al Lewis has been called a “commie” and a “Socialist” for covering so many business failures and court cases.

Lewis will begin a national column for Dow Jones Newswires next month.

Pankratz writes, “‘But I’m bullish on business,’ he said. ‘I actually want there to be a free market.’

“Lewis is tickled pink that Stine hired him.

“When he became business editor of The Denver Post, Lewis hired himself to be a columnist. When he was told sometime later by new Post management that he had to choose between being business editor and a columnist, he fired himself as business editor and remained a columnist.

“‘I hired myself and fired myself,’ said Lewis with a twinkle in his eye. ‘This is the first time I’ve been hired as a columnist by anyone other than myself.'”

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