Introducing additional, new voices on issues of the day

Sometimes, the impact of even the most eloquent voices can fade with time. Sometimes, we need to get accustomed to hearing from different voices just to keep ourselves active and alert to the issues of the day. With thoughts like these in mind, we're making some changes as well as adding some new writers to the lineup of syndicated columnists offered in the Daily Herald.

We've always prided ourselves on providing the viewpoints of prominent writers from across the political spectrum. The group I'm announcing today will continue that tradition and then some.

If you've been reading the Daily Herald's Opinion page for the past couple of years, you're already familiar with two of the writers. Economics professor Walter E. Williams, a prominent conservative author and columnist, and Byron York, the conservative-leaning political editor for the Washington Examiner, will continue to appear regularly. They will be joined by six nationally known columnists:

• Marc Munroe Dion is a veteran reporter and Pulitzer-nominated columnist based in Fall River, Massachusetts. He writes with a singular grass-roots flair that can be difficult to qualify but is always distinctive and tinged with a rough humorous flair that may remind you of an old-style street reporter.

• Susan Estrich first gained national prominence in 1988 as campaign manager for Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis. Today, she is a lawyer, political science professor, frequent television news commentator and best-selling author of three books.

• Debra J. Saunders was a mostly conservative columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle for 24 years before joining the Las Vegas Review-Journal and writing from Washington, D.C., shortly before the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

• Connie Schultz, an author and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, is professional in residence at Kent State University's school of journalism. The spouse of Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, she approaches issues from a working-class liberal point of view with a biting yet warm sense of humor.

• Mark Shields is known to millions of Americans as a longtime political analyst and commentator on programs ranging from CNN's "Capital Gang" to the "NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" on PBS.

• Armstrong Williams is an author and entrepreneur the FCC identifies as the largest minority owner of broadcast stations in the United States. He hosts a live radio show weekdays on Sirius XM as well as a national network television show for the conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group.

In addition to the regular commentary of these syndicated columnists, we'll continue to provide regular "guest view" op-eds from diverse sources, including authorities on specific state and national topics; conservative, liberal and nonaligned writers on issues in Illinois government and the suburbs; and a regular new approach we introduced Wednesday with an op-ed from Nancy Jacobson, founder of the No Labels organization that is working congressman by congressman to develop a sense of bipartisan cooperation and collaboration in American politics. We'll feature writers from No Labels every few weeks, if only to remind us all that there is nothing shameful about compromising with the other side to make life and government better.

These are exciting changes for readers interested in challenging others and being challenged themselves on the political and social issues of our time, and we have even more on the horizon. We'll tell you about those as they come to pass. Meanwhile, as always, we welcome your thoughts and reactions as you follow our new lineup of commentators.

Jim Slusher, jslusher@dailyherald.com, is deputy managing editor for opinion at the Daily Herald.