BEAUMONT, Texas — Longtime Opinions Page editor at the Beaumont Enterprise and 12News political pundit, Thomas Taschinger, is calling it quits after nearly 40 years as a journalist in Southeast Texas.
Taschinger announced his impending departure from The Enterprise on Sunday in, of course, the pages of the newspaper where he has worked as the Op/Ed editor since 1995.
Over the past several years Taschinger could also be seen on-air here at 12News where he helped round out our political coverage whether in a specific story or on the anchor desk as returns came in on election night.
In his Sunday piece in The Enterprise he told readers that he was retiring from a career he loved and mentioned his seven grandkids, along with two on the way, as some of the factors in his favor.
“I knew that the big R was coming eventually, and the moment finally arrived,” Taschinger, who is 70, wrote.
Throughout his nearly 43-year career Taschinger says he has covered, among other things, national political conventions, the Worldwide Economic Summit in Houston in 1990 and met with many members of Congress.
He’s gotten a question in to President Bill Clinton at the White House and met and interviewed several governors, including George W. Bush when he was running for president.
He says his interactions with local politicians have been some of the best, though.
“For a political junkie like me, this was real joy, being right in the middle of everything and meeting face-to-face with the men and women who made things happen,” Taschinger recalled in his column.
Taschinger began his print career in 1979, spending two years as a reporter at the McCook Gazette in Nebraska followed by a couple years at The Eagle in Bryan/College Station according to his column.
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By 1983 he had taken a reporting job at the Port Arthur News and ever since then has been living in either Groves or Nederland.
After two years as a reporter Taschinger became the News’ editorial page editor and 10 years later moved to the Beaumont Enterprise in the same position in February 1995 he said in the column.
He was the last editorial page editor for both papers.