NEWS

Happy April Fools’ Day from the Republican, err, Democrat

Gerald Ensley
Democrat senior writer

In a nod to those who call us the mullet wrapper and to paraphrase Gomer Pyle: “Fish, fish, some of you got your wish.”

As you can see on our masthead today, this newspaper has been renamed the Tallahassee Republican.

It’s a one-day special and our little April Fools’ joke — designed to acknowledge those who supposedly wince at our name: the Tallahassee Democrat.

We’re told there are people who refuse to buy this newspaper because our name suggests we are a tool of the Democratic Party. We suggest that’s barroom hyperbole from people who had no intention of buying a newspaper in the first place.

Shift Supervisor Jorge Arroyo dives in to the newly renamed ‘Tallahassee Republican,’ tossing aside a hundred years of tradition for an April Fools' Day joke..

It’s the old judging-a-book-by-its-cover thing.

Anyone who thinks the Democrat in our name is a statement about our politics doesn’t read this newspaper or know our history.

Every day, we carry opinion pieces from all shades of the political spectrum. Our news stories are crafted with a professional dedication to impartiality. Our letters and Zing! sections carry rants from people to the right of Attila the Hun.

For goodness’ sake, for the past 51 years we’ve been owned by corporations whose purpose for publishing newspapers is to make money: Corporate CEOs don’t often vote Democrat.

We’re proud of our name. It was given to us by our founder, John G. Collins, who announced in the first edition of the Weekly True Democrat on March 3, 1905, that this newspaper would “endeavor to preach and practice the undying principles, and to follow the true and tried doctrines of the ‘Old Time Democracy’ of the Fathers ... the ancient and time-honored body of established Democratic principles.”

Johnny G. was not endorsing a political party; he was celebrating this nation’s values.

We continue to celebrate them today and we feel lucky to boast: We’re still doing business under the same name 111 years later.

But we get that some people are literal. We get that they actually do judge a book by its cover.

So for today, a shout out to them: Buy a copy of the Tallahassee Republican.

You’ll find we have something for everyone — whether they’re Democrats or Republicans.

Gerald Ensley is a retired Democrat writer and author of the 2005 book, “Tallahassee Democrat: 100 Years.”