N.Y. Daily News Editor Resigns

F. Gilman Spencer, editor of the New York Daily News, resigned Thursday just days after a highly publicized row with his publisher over who the paper would endorse in the city’s mayoral primary.

His resignation came after Spencer and Publisher James Hoge clashed over whether the paper should endorse Mayor Edward Koch for a fourth term or come out for his challenger, David Dinkins.

But in an interview, Spencer insisted that his resignation had nothing to do with the squabble that received major coverage in every paper in town but the News.

“Leona Helmsley (the so-called “hotel queen” recently convicted of tax evasion) and I are running off together,” he joked when asked why he quit.

Hoge wanted to endorse Koch or, failing that, builder Richard Ravitch, while Spencer wanted Dinkins, according to Daily News insiders. The paper last week endorsed Ravitch, who finished a distant third behind Dinkins, who won the election, and Koch, who finished second.

Columnists at the paper had lined up behind Dinkins, and many in the paper thought that it would look foolish for the News to endorse Koch after opposing him so strongly over the years.

“It seemed as good as time as any to go,” Spencer said. “I am 64 years old. I would like to get back to writing. That is all it is. It really had nothing to do with the endorsement. I am not going to leave the paper over what is a standard disagreement over an endorsement.”

Spencer said that while he and Hoge had disagreements from time to time, “We worked together for five years and are pleased with how the paper developed. Jim Hoge is responsible for much of what has saved this paper.”

The News, which has a circulation of 1.3 million, was fighting for survival when Hoge and Spencer took it over after its owners, the Chicago Tribune Co., decided not to sell it after a period of turmoil.

Managing Editor James Willse, 45, was named to succeed Spencer.