One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
A Loss For the Right: Political Commenter Tony Blankley Dead at 63
Tony Blankely, 1948-2012
Conservative author and political commenter Tony Blankley, heard locally on KCRW's "Left, Right, and Center," representing the right, has died. Blankley was 63, and had stomach cancer.Born in England, Blankley was a child actor during his childhood spent in Los Angeles, according to the L.A. Times. Blankely's family moved to L.A. when young Tony was just one year old; As a pre-teen, Blankely "appeared in TV shows such as Lassie and Highway Patrol, and had a role in the 1956 Humphrey Bogart film, The Harder They Fall."
Blankely abandoned acting, however, and pursued a degree in political science at UCLA and went on to law school at Loyola Law School. He worked ten years in the state attorney general's office upon passing the bar exam.
He became known in the political arena when he served as press secretary to Newt Gingrich in the 1990s. Gingrich, on the campaign trail for the Republican nomination for candidacy for the presidency, said this weekend he considered Blankely a "very dear friend."
Matt Miller, Arianna Huffington, Tony Blankley and Robert Scheer onstage in 2009 (Photo by Salvador Farfan/www.caughtinthemoment.com)
Blankely came on board "Left, Right, and Center," in 2005, amid displeasure from progressive critics. In October 2009, LAist saw Blankely and his LRC cohorts live onstage for a vibrant discussion.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
