Wayne Laugesen

Wayne Laugesen is an American columnist, editorial page editor of the "Colorado Springs Gazette". His editorials are also syndicated periodically in other newspapers from "Gazette" owner Freedom Communications. Laugesen has also been a writer for the "National Catholic Register", "Faith & Family" magazine, and a former editor of "Soldier of Fortune" magazine and the "Boulder Weekly".

A conservative libertarian, Laugesen has criticized ambitious urban planners for creating elite environments that exclude minorities and the poor [http://archive.boulderweekly.com/011305/waynesword.html] , exacerbating their problems. His work became the topic of a journalistic ethics debate in 2004, when he smashed historic windows [http://www.westword.com/2004-09-23/news/the-message/] from a Boulder, Colo., home in protest of historic preservation orders by the Boulder City Council. As assistant editor of Soldier of Fortune in the 1990s, Laugesen helped obtain guns and training for women in a Boulder neighborhood that had been stalked for years by a serial rapist. [http://archive.boulderweekly.com/050505/bob2005.html#news]

Laugesen stirred controversy among Soldier of Fortune's conservative readership with a cover story that sharply criticized modern police for exceeding their authority and violating the rights of citizens. From his prison cell, convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh sent Laugesen's article [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,17515,00.html] to Fox News' Rita Cosby to answer her questions: "Further describe your motivations for the bombing, and why you chose the bombing over other options."

Though considered a social conservative, Laugesen defends illegal immigrants and has been critical of the war on drugs. His drug war research often appears on web sites hosted by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and other organizations devoted to drug legalization. Laugesen's research into the DARE program (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) led to articles [http://www.fcda.org/droppingDARE.htm] that have been used in campaigns to get DARE out of public and private schools.