When Ted Kulongoski served as Oregon governor from 2003 to 2011, his wife, Mary Oberst, kept a low profile.

But Oberst made an unusually public statement late last month when she submitted a brief piece to The Guardian, the U.K. newspaper that enjoys wide readership in the U.S.

Oberst, a Portland resident, wrote to The Guardian July 29 explaining why she'd discontinued reading The Oregonian and instead become a Guardian subscriber.

The Oregonian used to say, "If it matters, it's in The Oregonian." That

motto proved not to be true regarding important stories. The Oregonian

also used to claim that it was "Oregon's only statewide newspaper." That

also proved untrue when it quit reporting stories outside of the

Portland area. Then it quit being a daily newspaper. Then I gave up.

Oregonian publisher N. Christian Anderson III declined to respond to Oberst's observations.