The Times has figured out what to do with soon-to-be-ex assistant managing editor Miriam Pawel. She will join the never-larger ranks of reporters who write at-large about California, with a special deal where she answers to managing editor Dean Baquet. Pawel is to be replaced in June as the honcho overseeing state and local news coverage by Janet Clayton, who is moving over from Editor of the Editorial Pages. That job, of course, will be filled by Michael Kinsley.

The Pawel memo follows:

I am pleased to announce that Miriam Pawel will become a senior projects writer, reporting to the managing editor.

In this new role, Miriam will do a range of projects, focusing initially on enterprise stories about state issues. Though she has spent much of her career as an editor, leading two staffs to Pulitzer Prizes, Miriam was a formidable statehouse reporter and bureau chief for Newsday during the first administration of Mario Cuomo. She was known for tough-minded stories and an intimate understanding of the intricacies of state government. She wrote a story for Mother Jones that many New York reporters remember for being one of the early skeptical pieces about Cuomo, then a leading light in national Democratic politics. It was called "Ten Great Myths about Mario Cuomo."

She and I will be talking in the coming weeks about possible projects and stories.

-- Dean Baquet, Managing Editor
May 19, 2004