Evaluating Dr. Thorburn

Some of the comments on county health chief Dr. Kim Thorburn’s evaluations raised the ire of some in the newsroom, particularly those that focused on her clothing. But reporter JoNel Aleccia was commended for avoiding the temptation of dwelling on those comments.

Opinion page editor Doug Floyd shared the lead of a 1998 S-R profile on Thorburn that remarkably parallels the comments on this year’s evaluations:

She is the anti-politician, a wash-and-wear woman in a faded blue corduroy suit who has a talent for giving her opinion, regardless of the consequences.