There’s lots of discussion in the local blogosphere this week about the Sun-Times‘ editorial page changes. Steve Huntley, long-time editor, is now a columnist and is openly admitting is sympathy for conservatives (and libertarians). But the editorial page is under new management and is returning the paper to its liberal routes. This has lead many to ponder whether the Huntley era was really “conservative” in the first place. Tom Roeser writes:

There wasn’t a single issue that Huntley espoused as editorial page editor that wasn’t liberal. Not a single one. It endorsed gay marriage, pushed abortion and lefty social issues to the farthest extreme. Now Huntley tells us he has been a conservative all along with the exception of abortion…but his editorials and selection of Op Eds could have fooled us.

This is probably true, though Huntley does say that he’s relatively libertarian on social issues. But having followed Huntley’s work closely over the last couple of years, I always thought it was pretty clear he wasn’t the run-of-the-mill liberal wack-job. He went out of his way to voice the dissent on those “liberal” editorial positions, often publishing columns devoted exclusively to giving limited government position on the issue. Dare I say Huntley was the fairest of editors … and it’s only sad that fair doesn’t sell.

I look forward to his column.