When we started the Tulsa Beacon in 2001, we wanted our editorial pages to have conservative columnists.

We went to Creators Syndicate and picked out four columnists: David Limbaugh, Robert Novak, Mona Charen and Walter Williams.

Former Gov. Frank Keating back then told me that if he were to pick a set of columnists, he would pick that list.

I used to watch Novak and Charen on Capital Gang, a political talk show that was on when CNN still tolerated conservative opinion.

Novak unfortunately passed away from a brain tumor on August 20, 2009. A veteran of the Korean War, Novak was a reporter for the Associated Press and later the Wall Street Journal. In 1963, he joined with Rowland Evans to start Inside Report. That became at that time the longest running syndicated political column in U.S. history. They later had a show on CNN.

He was dubbed the “Prince of Darkness” because he started his career as a liberal (almost all journalists do) and then he became a moderate and eventually a conservative (most journalists don’t).

When he passed, we replaced him with Michael Barone (who we still have) and on occasion, Dick Morris. We only got Morris on a sporadic basis (we had never requested him). He has a checkered past. He was a political operative for former President Bill Clinton but at one point got fed up the Clintons and is not a conservative critic. We no longer get his column.

Mona Charen, who is Jewish, has a degree from Bernard College and a degree from George Washington University Law School. Early in her career, she wrote for National Review and later she joined the staff for former First Lady Nancy Reagan as a speechwriter. That led to a job on President Reagan’s staff in the Office of Communications.

She was a regular on CNN’s The Capital Gang. But she despises President Trump. She once got booed at the CPAC Convention for some of her remarks. Charen is the only columnist that we have removed. Her columns were so critical that I couldn’t run them week after week. We dropped her in 2017.

Walter Williams was a rare person. A black economics professor at George Mason University, he was a syndicated columnist and author. Williams was a classical liberal (in the true sense of the word and had libertarian leanings. He sometimes filled for Rush Limbaugh on his show.

After teaching a class, Williams’ daughter said he died from heart disease while sitting in his car in the parking lot on December 1, 2020.

We replaced him with Michelle Maulkin.

When Williams passed, David Limbaugh, the brother of Rush, was the last original Tulsa Beacon syndicated columnist. Actually, we started with James Dobson of Focus on the Family but switched to Jim Daly after Dobson left Focus on the Family. And we added Dave Ramsey shortly after. Local columnist Jim Stovall has been with us almost from the beginning.

And following the death of his brother Rush in 2021, David Limbaugh has retired. David Limbaugh decided to quit writing columns and focus on his books. He is a conservative like his brother and he is a devoted Evangelical Christian. He is an attorney and has been a college professor.

Over a decade ago, we sponsored an event that brought David Limbaugh to Tulsa. I picked him up at the airport. He is a wonderful, genuine conservative and we had a good visit.

This month, we have added Larry Elder, a conservative black talk show, author, attorney and politician (he ran for governor in California recently and fell short). He hosts The Larry Elder Show on the Salem Media Network (Christian talk radio).

So, our line up now is:

• Larry Elder
• Ben Shapiro
  At age 17, Shapiro became the youngest syndicated columnist in the nation. Shapiro, who is Jewish, writes for Newsweek and Ami Magazine. He is the editor emeritus for The Daily Wire and he hosts the Ben Shapiro radio show nationwide.
• Michelle Maukin
  She is a former Fox News contributor who joined Newsmax TV. She has written seven books and founded two websites, Twitchy and Hot Air.
• Pat Buchanan
  Buchanan, who is 83, was an assistant and special consultant to former Presidents Richard Nixon. Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. He was an original cast member of CNN’s Crossfire. He ran for president in 1992 and 1996. He co-founded The American Conservative magazine. He also has appeared on The McLaughlin Group.
• Michael Barone
  Barone was the principal author of The Almanac of American Politics, published biannually every year since 1972. He is a regular contributor on Fox News Channel. In 2009, he left the U.S. News & World Report to join the staff of the Washington Examiner.

I think we have a good lineup. Conservative columnists are fading away and replacements are getting harder to find.

I hope this bunch stays awhile.