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Giving Rick Skayhan a Rogue of the Week is like giving Michael Jordan a player of the month award. Skayhan--the former publisher of Portland Living, Portland's wannabe society mag--has established such a convincing track record of roguedom that this week's scoundrel honor is a mere footnote. Willamette Week has talked to graphics shops, writers, photographers and ad reps who have done work for Skayhan over the past few years and have either gone unpaid for months or have had to sue to collect their due. Revere Graphics is the latest company that had to drag Skayhan to court to get paid for work on his magazine. According to Revere's attorney Kevin Luby, Multnomah County Circuit Court issued a judgment in April ordering Skayhan to pay Revere $13,000. But Skayhan is this week's rogue for another reason--his treatment of Portland Living's former editorial staff drew the attention of state investigators late last month. Managing editor Michael Russell, associate editor Robert Wederquist and photo editor Robert Kerr were all laid off last month, only to have their final pay checks bounce. What's worse, Wederquist says the Oregon Department of Employment has no record of him ever working for Skayhan--the implication being that Skayhan never paid state-mandated unemployment taxes. When asked whether he paid unemployment taxes, Skayhan said he didn't know. The Bureau of Labor and Industries started investigating the outstanding wage claims last month. Skayhan, who is still working at the paper, sheepishly takes responsibility for the fledgling magazine and his mistreated staffers, but doesn't know when he'll pay up. He's too busy getting ads for the forthcoming June issue--which is rumored to be the elusive April issue that was never delivered. The ex-staffers who produced that issue are fuming that Skayhan is using the fruits of their unpaid labor to keep the magazine afloat. Skayhan says he'd like to pay the ex-staffers, but they were employed by his company, Cascadia Publishing Co., which is now bankrupt. Portland Living isn't responsible for the outstanding payroll, Skayhan says, because it's owned by Portland Media Group. That explanation looks good on a business flow chart, but there's one glitch. Portland Media Group's president, and one of its investors, is Susan Stringer--who is Skayhan's wife. |
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