Register reports Yepsen leaving

Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsen is expected to be announced as the new director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, the Register reported this morning.

Register political columnist David Yepsen

A press conference is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Southern Illinois University.

The Southern Illinoisan newspaper reported that Yepsen’s answering machine said he would be out of the office for the remainder of the week. That is because Yepsen is in the middle of his mandated week-long furlough.

Yepsen started writing for the Register and Tribune in 1974. In 1977 Yepsen became a statehouse reporter for the Register, and in 1983 he became the paper’s chief political reporter. In 1994 he was named political editor and in 2000 became the Register’s full-time political columnist. His column appears on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Register Editor Carolyn Washburn told her paper she was not surprised that Yepsen was looking elsewhere.

“He just finished probably the biggest one Iowa’s ever seen and the biggest one Iowa will ever see for the rest of David’s career,” Washburn said. “So it doesn’t feel unnatural to me that at this moment in his career and in his personal life, that someone would want to tap that incredible mind.

“It’s also understandable to me that after completing what he just has, that he would be interested in another fascinating opportunity,” she said.

Atlantic Monthly political reporter Marc Ambinder laments the loss of the “Dean of the Iowa Press Corps,” then makes a prediction of who will fill Yepsen’s shoes.

Who is Yepsen’s heir? My money is on O. Kay Henderson of [Radio Iowa].