Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist quits Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND (AP) — Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Connie Schultz has resigned from The Plain Dealer in Cleveland to avoid ethical conflicts as her husband gears up for a re-election campaign next year.

Schultz is married to Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Schultz outlined her reason in a letter to colleagues posted on the paper’s website today.

She said it had become “painfully clear” to her in recent weeks that her professional and personal independence “is possible only if I’m no longer writing for the newspaper that covers my husband’s Senate race on a daily basis.”

Schultz apologized in early September for her column about a tea party event featuring a potential Republican challenger to Brown, state Treasurer Josh Mandel. She had not mentioned Mandel’s appearance at the event and she said that was a mistake.

Schultz won a Pulitzer for commentary in 2005.