Jewish Review to become LLC

By JEWISH REVIEW

article created on: 2008-11-15T00:00:00

The Jewish Review, published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, will be reorganized as an Oregon limited liability corporation.

The change was approved Nov. 6 by the JFGP Board of Governors and will be implemented in the near future when the final details of the draft operating agreement are worked out.

Until now, the Review, established in 1959, has operated as a department of the federation.

The move was taken chiefly to separate the business of the Review from that of Federation. Among other benefits, this would help insulate Federation from liability the Review might incur were the Jewish Review to be sued for its content.

Jewish Review Editor Paul Haist said the paper has never been sued in the nearly 17 years he has headed the operation and, to his knowledge, had never been sued at any time.

He said the LLC was proposed and finally approved as what he termed “a best-practices move” taken in concert with a review and upgrade of the paper’s insurance coverage.

When the LLC is implemented, the current Jewish Review Committee will become the Jewish Review Board of Managers and will exercise exclusive and full control over the affairs of the paper.

Exclusive and full control over the affairs of the paper has resided with the federation executive, which will remain the case until the LLC articles of organization are filed with the office of the Oregon Secretary of State.

Under the new arrangement, the federation retains ownership of the paper.

The paper will continue to serve the goals and objectives of the federation as well as the community, but the two organizations will be legally separated and no federation staff will participate in the day-to-day administration or production of the paper.

Jewish Review staff will remain in place, but they will become employees of the Jewish Review LLC, where prior to the new arrangement they were employees of the federation.

In making the final case for the reorganization of the Review, Jewish Review Committee Chairman John Trachtenberg told the JFGP board that the move also made sense in connection with the paper’s new business model.

On July 1 the Review resumed control of its advertising-sales operation, which had been contracted out for a number of years to Community Newspapers, Inc.

Trachtenberg, who operates the AdPrint Company here, explained that it made sense under the new business model that oversight of the newspaper’s operations should be handled by a specialized panel.

The Jewish Review Committee comprises professionals in advertising, journalism, media, printing, financial management, accounting and business administration.

In announcing the board action to the Jewish Review Committee the next day Trachtenberg said, “On behalf of the committee I want to thank Roy Lambert for the time and effort he put forth to help make this happen, and also to Charlie Schiffman for his support.”

Lambert is an attorney who volunteered his time to prepare the resolution the board adopted and the draft operating agreement. He also gave his time to explain relevant issues to the board and the Jewish Review Committee.

Schiffman is the federation’s executive vice president. He said, “This change will result in a paper that is highly professional and increasingly independent. We have always been proud of our award-winning publication and I know that it will continue to represent federation and community articulately and wisely. Special thanks to Roy Lambert who has given countless pro-bono hours to bring this to reality.”