42. David Willmott
2005 Power List
As both publisher and editor-in-chief, David Willmott can—and does—write anything he damn well pleases in his newspaper. His sometimes off-the-wall but always straight-shootin’ opinions can be found in his “Willmotts and Why Nots” column that appears in 35 editions of the paper that are mailed to more than 545,000 Suffolk households each week. While readers rarely pay attention when a newspaper tells them what to think — endorsements in the most recent elections prove that — Willmott’s conservative rants are often powerful enough to get a whole neighborhood talking.