Jim Bates, the deputy editor on the entertainment-tech desk in the Times' Business section, is jumping into the crisis PR game at Sitrick and Company. He has the second-longest tenure in the Business section and more bylines than anyone on the staff, accoding to the memo from Business Editor Davan Maharaj.

From: Maharaj, Davan
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 5:52 PM
Subject: James Bates

Comrades,

The rumors are true: After 22 years in the Business Section, Jim Bates is leaving to take a job with Sitrick & Co. Jim said the decision was purely personal -- that he wanted to try something new and make more work for us from the other side :-).

There's no getting around it : This is a huge loss. Jim is a stalwart of the Business Section. His tenure here is second only to NancyRB and he has the most bylines in TOL (2725) of anyone in the section. That makes him the Barry Bonds of Biz (hmm, I've always wondered why he kept asking for comp time for his trips to BALCO).

The good news is that Jim will be here for a few more weeks. We have permission to replace him, even though we can't really replace him. We'll miss him, his enormous reservoir of puns and his encyclopedic knowledge of the place.

Give him your best and wish him well as he joins the ...er snake pit, ...er sweatshop, ...er what I really mean: the suit- and- tie crowd.

Jim will always be persona grata in Biz, but don't fall for his spin and give him a hard time when he calls on behalf of a client :-).

Good luck, Jim.

Davan

Nancy is Nancy Rivera-Brooks. Bates joins recent ex-Timeser Glenn Bunting (and longer-ago LAT Biz reporter John Lippman) at Sitrick. The firm's alumni include Mark Saylor, who also had been an entertainment-tech editor in Business.

Yesterday: New hire at LAT Business