Dr. Laura deserves a fair shake

Our daughter, 12, has been taking acting lessons at the South

Coast Repertory’s Young Conservatory for several years.

One of the interesting things we’ve learned is that nearly all

kids would rather perform in front of adults than they would other

children, even their own friends. That’s because when they make a

mistake, adults are forgiving in their response while kids are cruel.

Kids are often more cruel than adults offstage, too.

But that theory was blown to bits a few days ago when Los Angeles

Times columnist Robert Scheer wrote about the death of Dr. Laura

Schlessinger’s mother on Christmas Eve. Correction, he wrote about

Dr. Laura and used her mother’s death as an excuse to try to destroy

her.

Before I continue, I have to state that I worked for Dr. Laura for

seven months, from April to November, 1999, as the editor of her

national magazine, the Perspective. I have nothing but wonderful

memories of those days.

In case you haven’t heard, Dr. Laura’s mother was found in her

Beverly Hills condominium just before Christmas. She had been dead

for several weeks and although her neighbors noticed her absence, not

one of them thought enough to knock on her door to check on her.

Dr. Laura and her mother had not had any contact at all for many

years.

That was her mother’s choice, a fact that is not in dispute and

for which I can personally vouch.

But that wasn’t good enough for Scheer. He determined that because

she had no contact with her mother, she was not qualified to discuss

the family affairs of the callers to her radio program. Worse, he

painted the picture of Dr. Laura as a hypocrite.

But Scheer conveniently failed to note that Dr. Laura has a

sister, Cindy, who also had no relationship with her mother, also her

mother’s choice. Simply put, Dr. Laura’s mother did not want to have

anything to do with either of the children she made and nothing that

Laura or Cindy tried could change that. It’s hard to have a

relationship with someone when they refuse to acknowledge your

existence.

Most of his column was not about Dr. Laura’s mother and her

strange behavior, but a recap of much of the old Dr. Laura dirt that

has been dredged up over the years. Scheer starts in again on Dr.

Laura’s qualification to the title “Dr.” Schlessinger has a PhD in

physiology. That’s no small feat and anyone who goes through the many

years of schooling it requires and jumps through all the hoops to

achieve the goal earns the title. It’s not up to Scheer to decide --

it’s a fact that you get to call yourself “Dr.” even though you don’t

perform surgery on the wrong leg or dispense pills that people don’t

need.

My brother, Michael is a psychologist, not a medical doctor. He

has a PhD having acquired it through years of intense study at some

of the nation’s finest schools. He is “Dr. Smith” to his patients and

anyone else outside his family. There’s no escaping one name, however

-- mom still calls him “Mikey,” even though he is 57.

If Dr. Laura had only that degree as her qualification to discuss

personal matters with strangers, Scheer might have a small case. But

he failed to acknowledge that Dr. Laura is also a licensed marriage

and family therapist -- and has been for a long, long time -- and was

in a successful private practice before and during the start of her

radio career.

And as if it had anything to do with anything else, Scheer dredged

up Dr. Laura’s three-year-old travails with homosexual activists, who

resented some of her public comments about their sexual preferences.

Dr. Laura apologized publicly for her remarks, earning my tough

approval because she used the words “I am sorry,” not the usual

euphemisms we hear such as “error in judgment” or “I was mistaken.”

The most important part of Scheer’s column seems to be not what he

wrote but what he consciously omitted.

The truth is that over the course of her 20-plus years on the

radio and through her best-selling books, Dr. Laura Schlessinger has

been responsible for the improvement of countless families and

relationships across the country.

Millions of parents have heeded her admonitions about spending

more time with their kids and getting their priorities straight. I

know because I read their letters and published many of them during

my stint as her editor.

I also know because I have been listening to her for 10 years. Her

insights were enough for me to make some very bold decisions in my

life that have resulted in more happiness than I ever dreamed

possible.

I only hope Scheer is never in the audience when my daughter is on

stage.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(949) 642-6086.