Debra Saunders

Debra Saunders
Citizenship	American
Alma mater	University of Massachusetts
Occupation	Journalist
Employer	Las Vegas Review-Journal
Spouse	Wesley J. Smith

Debra J. Saunders is the Washington columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. She returned to the Review-Journal in January 2024 after serving as the newspaper's White House correspondent during former president Donald J. Trump's term and in the early weeks of President Joe Biden's administration. Her podcast, "Covering Trump: War Stories from the White House Press Corps," laid out the experience in six episodes. Her column is syndicated by Creators Syndicate and is carried by newspapers in the United States. Saunders served as a fellow with the Discovery Institute's Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership from 2021 through 2023.

Biography

Saunders graduated in 1980 from the University of Massachusetts at Boston. She majored in Greek and Latin.^[1]

In 1992, she became an opinion-page columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, also syndicated by Creators. She later augmented her thrice-weekly columns with the Token Conservative blog,^[2] before leaving the paper in 2016.

Between 1987 and 1992, Saunders was a columnist and editorial writer for the Los Angeles Daily News. She previously worked for conservative advocacy groups and for a Republican leader of the California State Assembly.

In addition to her columns, Saunders has written for The Wall Street Journal and The Weekly Standard. She is the author of one book, The World According to Gore (ISBN 1-893554-14-7).

Saunders is married to Wesley J. Smith.^[3]

Views

In 2006, Saunders wrote articles opposing the War on Drugs.^[4][5] She campaigned in her column for President Bush to issue more pardons and sentence commutations.

Saunders voted against Proposition 22 in 2000.^[6] In 2004, Saunders wrote in support of same-sex marriage.^[7] She was critical of the California Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage.^[6]

In 2007, she wrote an article that criticized the imprisoned freelance journalist Josh Wolf, although she opposed his imprisonment.^[8]

In 2007, Saunders described herself as a climate change skeptic.^[9]

In 2011, she wrote about the comic character Foreskin Man, which was being used to promote a ballot initiative to ban circumcision in San Francisco.^[10]

Saunders has described herself as a supporter of capital punishment, and has written articles arguing that Kevin Cooper, a death row inmate who claimed innocence, was in fact guilty.

References

1. "About Debra J. Saunders | Creators Syndicate". www.creators.com.
2. April 4, Debra J. Saunders on; PM, 2013 at 1:24 (April 4, 2013). "Foreskin Man goes to Turkey". Debra J. Saunders.
3. "500,000 Californians Lose Health Policies". National Review. October 25, 2013.
4. Pardon more than the turkey Archived 2006-11-27 at the Wayback Machine Debra Saunders, Nov. 23, 2006
5. Your Tax dollars on Drugs Archived 2011-06-11 at the Wayback Machine Debra Saunders, Feb. 12, 2006
6. City Hall of Love Debra Saunders, May 16, 2008
7. The homophobic party? Archived 2010-01-28 at the Wayback Machine Debra Saunders, Nov. 10, 2004
8. Josh Wolf - Blogger - Has No Press Pass Archived 2007-03-02 at the Wayback Machine Debra Saunders, Feb. 27, 2007
9. Polar bear pandering Debra Saunders, Nov. 4, 2007
10. Circumcision ballot measure and anti-Semitism Debra Saunders, June 2, 2011

External links

• Token Conservative
• Podcasts of Saunders' recent articles
• Debra Saunders speaks against clemency for Stanley Tookie Williams