Times newsroom staffers are circulating another petition expressing support for editor Dean Baquet and their unhappiness at the ouster of publisher Jeff Johnson. The call for signatures is below:

From: Loeb, Vernon
To: yyeditall
Sent: 10/6/2006 10:51 AM
Subject: Express your support for Dean

Colleagues:

Frank Clifford, Jim Newton, Henry Weinstein and I have drafted a new petition now in circulation expressing our regret and disappointment over the dismissal of Jeff Johnson and our total support for Dean in his efforts to convince our new publisher, David Hiller, that we cannot cut our way into the future and must invest in our newspaper and our website. Please show your support for Dean and sign a petition. It is vital that we get as close to 960 signatures as possible. There are copies for signing by my desk in the 3rd floor newsroom, across from the telephone operators. Petitions are also being circulated to all of our bureaus.

Thanks you all,

Vernon Loeb
California Investigations Editor

Staffers gathered 400-plus signatures on a letter sent to Tribune a couple of weeks ago. It didn't save Johnson.

* Petition text: At Romenesko.