Defending Judith Regan

You knew it had to happen. After being pummeled pretty consistently these past 10 days for her scurrilous ways, the ousted L.A.-based book publisher is picking up some defenders. LAT Book Editor David Ulin writes in this morning's Current section that "it's hard not to feel some regret" about Regan's firing. Ulin plays up the local angle, pointing out quite correctly that Regan's decision to move her imprint to L.A. from New York provided a town not known for book publishing with some instant credibility. Los Angeles, Ulin wrote, "stood to benefit from Regan's presence, no matter how superficial or profane. How does a city establish itself as a publishing center? I can't really say. But it doesn't hurt to have a high-stakes publisher, one who draws attention to the community and herself." He also notes that despite Regan's penchant for the sensational - the O.J. Simpson book being the most obvious example - she managed to publish some decent stuff.

In the last several months, she put out Jess Walter's novel, "The Zero," which was nominated for a National Book Award, as well as Roger Friedland and Harold Zellman's "The Fellowship," a look at Frank Lloyd Wright's years at Taliesin. It's unfortunate, because her departure leaves her imprint rootless, disconnected from this city and the one it left behind. HarperCollins has announced that Cal Morgan, Regan's editorial director, would take over the operation and that, for the moment anyway, the staff would remain in place (as would the name ReganBooks, even without her). Morgan is an experienced editor who spent 11 years at St. Martin's Press before signing on with ReganBooks in 1999, but let's be honest: Without Regan's personality, her driving ambition, her eye for the commercial jugular, it's hard to imagine that the imprint can survive. And if it doesn't, that would be L.A.'s loss.

On Friday, the Regan story took on another bit of weirdness with the appearance of one Carmen del Toro, a temp worker who claims to have heard THE conversation Regan had with HarperCollins attorney Mark Jackson - the one in which Regan was accused of making anti-Semitic rants. Well, del Toro claims to have listened in on the conversation (how a temp worker had that kind of access is not explained), and she says that Regan did not say that she was the victim of a "Jewish cabal," which is what HarperCollins is claiming (HarperCollins is a unit of News Corp.) Del Toro apparently called the office of superlawyer Bert Fields, who is representing Regan. Fields and Regan are talking about a lawsuit, which of course would give Regan even more press than she's already getting. I would imagine that News Corp. will want to cut her a check and be done with this.