One evening in the mid-1980s, back when Susan Hutchison was still an
anchor at KIRO-TV, a news producer who hadn’t finished writing the last
two sentences of an evening news teaser decided to put in some
placeholder text.
Instead of writing something like “Two Chihuahuas roasted in a house
fire, film at 11!” the producer, Peggy Mapes, wrote: “Blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah.” According to several people who worked for KIRO at the
time, Mapes later updated the text with the correct script—but
someone forgot to update Hutchison’s teleprompter.
“Susan didn’t proofread the tease beforehand,” said Kelly Guenther,
an intern at KIRO in the ’80s who went on to work at KING 5 Television.
The story of what happened next is famous among KIRO staff. “She reads
it cold,” Guenther said, “and actually says, on air, ‘Blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah.'”
Guenther continued: “Apparently Susan doesn’t realize the gaffe, nor
apparently was it ever recorded. But few have ever forgotten that it
occurred.” Other anchors would have ad-libbed the rest—realizing
the text was all wrong—but Hutchison was infamous at KIRO for
being capable of nothing more than reciting the words on her
teleprompter.
“Maybe it was an unfortunate case that her brain was turned off and
she didn’t catch it,” said Natalia Dotto, a former producer at KIRO
television who has heard the story and started about the time that
Hutchison left the station. But, added Guenther: “In the six or seven
different newsrooms I’ve worked in, there really was a sense of this
anchor at KIRO not being the sharpest tool in the shed.”
This sentiment was echoed by a half-dozen former KIRO employees
contacted by The Stranger. Each one of them remembers
Hutchison, who is now running for King County executive, as a dim bulb
who was unfamiliar with current events and was considered unqualified
to report in the field or handle a serious interview. Because of this,
they said, she earned the nicknames “airhead” and “bubblehead,” and had
a reputation as a “dilettante news reader.”
“There were anchors known as journalists, and Susan wasn’t,” said
Lauri Hennessey, an editor at KIRO radio from 1983 to 1989. By
comparison, anchors on competing stations in the same years—Kathi
Goertzen at KOMO and, in particular, Jean Enersen at KING—were
revered as bona fide journalists with a tight grasp on the issues.
Hutchison was KIRO’s lead evening news anchor from 1983 to 2002. It
was plenty of time to generate the name recognition that has helped her
in her race against Democrat Dow Constantine, but it was also plenty of
time to generate a collection of amusing stories that now leave her
former coworkers aghast at the idea that Hutchison could potentially
wind up in the most powerful job in the King County government.
“My friends who worked at KIRO—none of us ever had any
problems with her, but we never expected her to be running the county,”
Hennessey says. “This is a very tough job that deserves a very smart
person. I never, ever, ever, ever would guess that she would be in that
position. I never saw the intellectual depth in Susan Hutchison that I
would expect in a King County executive.”
Among the incidents that have become legend in the KIRO newsroom is
the tale of the vanishing telephone. Richard Pauli, a television-news
photographer for seven years at KIRO, recalled that the phone in the
makeup room kept on disappearing, and “finally someone spray-painted it
yellow and green, and made it really ugly” in order to discourage its
theft.
“Susan looked at the telephone,” Pauli recalled, “and said, ‘This is
an ugly phone—let’s get rid of it.'” When a crew member explained
to her that the phone was painted yellow and green to dissuade people
from stealing it, Hutchison is said to have asked, “Who would want that
number?”
In another story told around KIRO, Hutchison saw an image on one of
the monitors of an employee lying on a couch on the studio set. But it
was a freeze-frame taken earlier, and the man had since gotten up. “She
had a confused look on her face, walked up to the couch, and looked
behind it,” Pauli said, recounting the tale as it was told to him by
people who he said had witnessed the event. “Her reality was so
attached to what was on the monitor that she could not accept that
reality was somehow different.”
Hutchison also earned the nickname “Lazy Susan.”
As this story goes, Hutchison told a producer trying to rotate a
television set that he needed a lazy Susan—a platform that
swivels—and then someone in the newsroom said, “We’ve already got
one of those.”
In addition to all the employee lore, there are also court records
that show that Hutchison created some bad blood at KIRO and was thought
to have a questionable work ethic. She sued the station in 2003 for
what she claimed was age and race discrimination after KIRO hired
Kristy Lee—a younger, Asian woman—to take her place,
according to papers filed with King County Superior Court. Hutchison
alleged she had been “replaced in part because she is older and
Caucasian.”
When Hutchison discovered that Lee received time off over the Fourth
of July holiday in 2002—time Hutchison had tried to take off
herself—she called in sick, according to the court records. But
she apparently wasn’t sick. “I heard that another KIRO employee had
seen Hutchison canoeing in the Bend, Oregon, area on those so-called
sick days,” KIRO former general manager John Woodin said, according to
the court record. On July 25, the station suspended Hutchison for five
days. Following the canoeing incident, a demotion, and a drop in
ratings, Hutchison left the station.
On the campaign trail, Hutchison has repeatedly cited her tenure at
KIRO as evidence of a strong résumé. But the half-dozen
former colleagues who spoke to The Stranger, while all saying
they intended no ill will toward Hutchison, were adamant about her lack
of intellectual depth. They said they felt compelled to speak out now
that she is running for King County executive. “I used to mock her as
crazy and stupid, and now she makes me afraid,” says Pauli. “She has
schooled herself, and she has morphed into an ideologue.”
One former KIRO broadcaster who agreed to speak on the condition of
anonymity was concerned that the public won’t get the full story about
Hutchison because people in television news are not used to being on
the other side of the microphone. This broadcaster said: “You have to
question her ability to run a government as complex as King County when
she needs a cue card to speak.”
UPDATE: Susan Hutchison’s campaign manager, Jordan McCarren, emails, saying, “I have worked closely with Susan every single day for nearly six months. She is tremendously intelligent, capable, dedicated, impressively hard-working and possesses remarkable management skills.”
This article has been updated since its original publication.
Pure Shite article.
Did she have cue cards when she kicking Dow’s ass in the recent debates?
Everyone has low level jealous employee shit-talkers in their past.
Did you interview child cancer patients at Children’s Hospital for this article to get the whole picture?
This shit is worse than Glenn Beck. Seriously, Rush Limbaugh journalism.
This is really bad reporting. The Stranger is now lower than the person being reported on. Next, as reported by the Stranger: “Susan Hutchinson: Should she register as a sex offender?”
The teleprompter thing totally made me think of Anchorman. “Go f*ck yourselves, San Diego!”
I’m going to start calling her ‘Ginger.’
“…recounting the tale as it was told to him by people who he said had witnessed the event.”
That’s a solid source you got there, ace.
I’m Ron Burgundy?
Stranger you bad, Hutchinson good. Boo hoo.
MORE DIRT! I WANT MORE DIRT!
Oh, there you go again, Dom, with that ol’ Gotcha journalism, tryin’ to confuse the Joe Sixpacks out there about Susan and her executive experience and strong fundamental ideals.
And what of our Dear President who is reviled on the Right for his teleprompter reading abilities?
The not-so subtle misogynist undertones of this article are disgusting.
If Susan Hutchison were stupid she would not be endorsed by State Auditor Brian Sonntag, a Democrat, Attorney General Rob McKenna, a moderate Republican, the Seattle Times, the Mayor of Kent, and the Eastside Business Alliance.
Vote for Hutchison. Visit her website.
@1 Yes. Teleprompters are often used in televised “debates”
Another great hatchet job. And another new low. Stick to the facts and stop passing hearsay off as journalism you fucking hack.
@10. The mayor of Kent is a powerhouse player, let me tell you. Oh, and the Seattle Times is a “fair and balanced” newspaper definitely.
I’m no Hutch fan– can’t stand her. But that’s all you got?
Dude. I hate it when the side of progressive ideals looks bad as a result of a dumbass rumor-mongering article like this. Come on, people. There are plenty of reasons to vote against Hutchinson and not one of them is covered here. Stupid.
Ha Ha! Dumb people are funny–except when they’re running a county with a $5 billion-dollar budget.
I’m all for fair criticism of journalists/writers, but the first half of the comments here are clearly from the Hutchison campaign office, which completely destroys their credibility.
hmmmm….someone is channeling Kenneth Anger today and it’s not me.
more, please.
(I heard there’s a city council candidate they used to call “The Human Ashtray” in college)
hmmmm….someone is channeling Kenneth Anger today and it’s not me.
more, please.
(I heard there’s a city council candidate they used to call “The Human Ashtray” in college)
Attention Hutchheads:
I trust you aren’t watching FOX NEWS — because this article is about the same grade of journalism seen on that loathsome excuse for news.
@17 – for the record, I don’t see how I’m “clearly from the Hutchison campaign office”.
(and PS – I voted for Dow)
I gotta say, this article was the most convincing statement to vote FOR Hutchison that i’ve come across.
Wow!! Good thing for this article, i was undecided until i read this, now there is no way I can vote for Hutchison!! I almost made a huge mistake, i’m so happy the stranger takes such a serious stance on their reporting! and never makes any jokes!! and doesn’t write funny and ironic articles that appeal to their obvious reader base!
Go away hutchheads!
The article probably should have dropped the third-hand hearsay and stuck with the “blah blah blah” story, which a LOT of people remember seeing on the air. That’s damning enough. She never was any kind of journalist; she just smiled prettily and read what was on her teleprompter.
Just because she’s a dumb preprogrammed robot reading canned scripts to appear normal doesn’t mean she shouldn’t run for office.
As dogcatcher.
Um, lame. If I wanted to read a random spray of insults laced with misogyny, I’d read comments on ECB posts in the Slog archives.
The Seattle Times endorsed John Kerry, Patty Murray, Barack Obama, Dino Rossi, Rob McKenna, Peter Goldmark, and Susan Hutchison.
Just shows why the Stranger should not be one’s guide to choosing elected officials. Try reporting some solid, interesting news for a change.
I find a lot of The Stranger’s political coverage thought-provoking and important, which is why shit like this shouldn’t be published to muck up the works and make the rest of it seem more dubious than it really is.
Go fuck yourself, San Diego.
like I’m gonna believe someone in TV news named Mapes
KIRO used to have a teen advisory program (maybe they still do), and my best friend was a member when we were in high school. She told me way back around 1990 or so that nobody seemed to like Susan and would make pained faces when asked about her. I don’t have any detailed dirt, but the impression I had was that she was a princess who didn’t take well to not getting her way.
I see the PR flaks for Susan are out in full force in this comments section. The misogynistic accusations are especially interesting… since the article clearly talks about how Kathi Goertzen (whom I’ve worked with and is a STELLAR journalist) and Jean Enersen are great journalists. Go back to your PR holes, guys— Susan’s probably going to win anyway— so why bother?
I love the Stranger, but even for them this is a really disgusting article.
Wow. Seriously lame gossipy bullshit, Dominic. I detest Hutchison and voted for Constantine. But this is REALLY FUCKING PATHETIC. Grow the fuck up, man. I know your superiors at the Stranger(read: Dan)are encouraging you to do otherwise, but this truly a travesty of “journalism” and makes me actually miss ECB’s shrill “reporting”, which is saying a lot.
@15, @31, @37: Eh, get over yourselves. If there were dirt like this on a Democrat the right would not hesitate to trumpet it as much as they could in every news outlet available to them. Trying to “out-nice” the Republicans and claim the moral high ground has always been a losing strategy for the Dems.
@15, @31, @37: Eh, get over yourselves. If there were dirt like this on a Democrat the right would not hesitate to trumpet it as much as they could in every news outlet available to them. Trying to “out-nice” the Republicans and claim the moral high ground has always been a losing strategy for the Dems.
Awww, this article is mean! It`s probably mostly true, but it`s not very nice.
This article is basically a bunch of rumors. I have little doubt that they’re true, but that’s not the point. It’s just gossip.
If you want to take Hutchison down, check out the mailer that Dow Constantine’s campaign just sent out. It’s a simple checklist of issues showing that he’s got what it takes to lead King County and she doesn’t. On the back it’s got a list of women who endorse Dow and a quote and picture by a woman. It’s clearly aimed at suburban women voters and it succeeds by simply telling the truth. If anyone’s undecided and sees that, it will work.
not only is this petty, but it’s pointlessly petty.
Lame article is lame.
Ummm, sorry but this article just confirms what I’ve heard from former associates speaking long before she decided to enter politics.
http://www.SusanHutchison.com
As Susan’s former KIRO colleague Richard Pauli said, “She has schooled herself, and she has morphed into an ideologue.“
This is right on! Susan Hutchinson is being dishonest with voters about her radical religious views.
Why do Susan’s radical religious views matter in this election? Because she served for ten years on the board of the Discovery Institute, which…
— teaches against evolution and lobbies for so-called ‘Intelligent Design’ (code word for Creationism) to be taught in public schools. (The Discovery Institute tries to claim it doesn’t actually support this, while at the same time it urges states to add religious-based ‘Intelligent Design’ to school curriculums.)
— Federal courts have repeatedly ruled against the Discovery Institute in its promotion of religious teachings in schools:
“Its ‘Teach the Controversy’ campaign aims to teach creationist anti-evolution beliefs in United States public high school science courses. A federal court, along with the majority of scientific organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, say the Institute has manufactured the controversy they want to teach by promoting a false perception that evolution is ‘a theory in crisis’, through incorrectly claiming that it is the subject of wide controversy and debate within the scientific community.
In 2005, a federal court ruled that the Discovery Institute pursues ‘demonstrably religious, cultural, and legal missions’, and the institute’s manifesto, the Wedge strategy, describes a religious goal: to ‘reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist worldview, and to replace it with a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions’.”
–the above quote is from Wikipedia.
We don’t need a radical rigid religious idealogue like Susan Hutchinson promoting such nutty ideas for King County & its schools.
You know who else used gossip and innuendo against political opponents? In the 1930s? In a major nation in central Europe? Need I say it?
Wait… the US is in Europe? In the 1930s? ???
somebody speaking on the condition of anonymity once told me that dominic rimmed dan’s ass as he was serviced by an ex-intern from the letterman show.
how’s ass aidz taste, mr. reporter?
Doesn’t really seem like rumor-mongering when a lot of these quotes were from people who witnessed the behavior. Not all the quotes, true, but a lot.
Just the fact that a local television newsanchor is running for public office is enough to make me not vote for them. It’s still just all “cat in tree, film at 11” shit, with few exceptions.
Douchebag Dominic loves to sniff panties and write about it.