By Constitution Staff

The Oklahoman newspaper, a pillar of the Sooner State since 1903, has been sold to Colorado businessman Phillip Anschutz. The transaction includes most of the assets of the Oklahoma Publishing Company (OPUBCO) including the newspaper, NewsOK.com, the corporate headquarters building, printing facilities, an art collection, and a variety of real estate and other properties.

Christy Gaylord Everest, an heir to the newspaper founded by her grandfather, Edward King Gaylord, completed the sell. The paper remained staunchly conservative under E.K. Gaylord's son, Edward L. Gaylord. Conservatives have lamented for years at the leftward drift under Everest of the once conservative paper. Some have even wondered if the present generation of Gaylords were ashamed of the strong conservative views of their father and grandfather. While the editorial page once offered national columnists of a solid conservative stripe such as Pat Buchanan and Joseph Sobran, along with strong conservative commentary on local and state matters, the Oklahoman now carries national columnists known for more tepid conservatism, at best, and outright liberal thought, at worst.

For example, the Oklahoman regularly derides those strongly opposed to illegal immigration, once even calling anti-illegal immigration persons "selfish" in their views. News stories are routinely slanted to favor the editorial positions of the paper. While it would be inaccurate to call the Oklahoman a liberal newspaper, it certainly can no longer be clearly identified as a conservative newspaper.

So, while in one sense it is sad to see the paper pass from ownership of a great Oklahoma family, there is hope that the new owner will support a more conservative stance on the editorial page, and not use the news section of the paper to advance a liberal agenda.

Phillip Anschutz, the new owner, is a very wealthy Colorado businessman with investments in energy, real estate, railroads, sports teams, resorts, and entertainment companies. Forbes ranks Anschutz as the 34th wealthiest person in America, with a net worth of over $7 billion.

Anschutz got his start in the family oil business and continues to have extensive holdings in various parts of the U.S. through Anschutz Exploration Corp., an independent oil and gas exploration company. He also has interests in other energy sectors including ownership of the Power Company of Wyoming LLC and TransWest Express LLC which is developing a proposed 725-mile transmission system to move electricity from Wyoming to markets in Arizona, Nevada and California.

Real estate interests include extensive ranching and farming operations in Wyoming, Colorado and Texas.

In 1984, Anschutz's company ventured into the railroad business with the purchase of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. The company later purchased the Southern Pacific Railroad, which later merged with the Union Pacific Railroad providing him an interest (less than 5 percent) in the Union Pacific.

The Anschutz Corp. owns Xanterra Parks and Resorts, which operates lodging, food, retail and other facilities at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, the Grand Canyon, and Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, Zion, Death Valley, Petrified Forest and Crater Lake national parks. It also operates businesses at seven state parks and an Ohio marina.

Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) owns a number of sports teams including the Los Angeles Kings, a National Hockey League team, and a minority interest in the Los Angeles Lakers. Anschutz was co-founder of Major League Soccer (MLS) and currently owns two MLS teams, the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Houston Dynamo. Other sports holdings include several European hockey teams, a Swedish soccer club and interests in professional lacrosse, tennis, boxing and cycling.

AEG is also the largest owner and operator of sports and entertainment venues in the world and owns or operates arenas and sports facilities in dozens of U.S. cities, and several foreign countries. These include the Staples Center in Los Angeles; the O2 Arena in London; Home Depot Center in Carson, California; and the Nokia Theatre at Times Square in New York.

Anschutz Corp. is the majority shareholder of Regal Entertainment Group (REG) which bought three movie theater chains, merging them into the largest movie theater circuit in the country, with 6,623 screens at 530 theaters in 37 states and the District of Columbia.

Walden Media, a division of Anschutz Film Group, specializes in family films. Anschutz says he expects their movies "to be entertaining, but also to be life affirming and to carry a moral message." The company's notable releases include "Holes," "Amazing Grace," "The Chronicles of Narnia" series, "Journey to the Center of the Earth," "Nim's Island" and "Charlotte's Web." The company also produced the highly acclaimed documentary, "Waiting for "Superman'" which analyzes the failures of American public education by following several students through the educational system, hoping to be selected in a lottery for acceptance into charter schools.

Newspaper holdings include the San Francisco Examiner and Washington Examiner. In 2009, Anschutz purchased the moderately conservative The Weekly Standard from News Corporation (the parent company of FOX News).

Anschutz is an evangelical Christian, and funds a number of conservative causes. The Anschutz Foundation, chaired and financed by Anschutz, supports many important players in conservative education reform movement including the Manhattan Institute, Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, Hoover Institution, and the American Enterprise Institute. The foundation has also contributed to the Freedom Works Foundation, Washington Legal Foundation, and various other conservative organizations. He helped fund the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based organization that promotes Intelligent Design. He is a member of the American Petroleum Institute, and is credited with helping kill the Kyoto Protocol in 2001.

With this background, conservatives have high hopes that the leftward trend at the Oklahoman may indeed change.