Columnists are pretty much given free rein on topic selection. We generally try to let them have their own voice. In other words, we don't push their work through a cookie-cutter editing process. We don't try to force the column into a style or format. Those of us in the newspaper business cherish the First Amendment and all that it entails.
Freedom of speech is our lifeblood.
Their work does go through rigorous editing. It's edited for spelling and grammar, of course, but also for accuracy, for cogency of argument, for crispness of thought, for taste. Here's where we collectively fell down with the column in question. We weren't rigorous enough in the editing. The column did not make a crisp point.