laying off staff. Tierney assumed the role as publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer in August 2006 after former publisher Joe Natoli resigned for a job at the University of Miami. The Inquirer's circulation has been dropping since the 1980s, and except for briefly seeing a rise in weekday circulation in 2007, The Philadelphia Inquirer's weekday and Sunday circulation has continued to steadily drop since Philadelphia Media Holdings bought the paper. Loss of circulation combined with an unexpected drop in advertising revenue have forced more than 400 job cuts at The Inquirer and Daily News since they were bought by Philadelphia Media Holdings. As Philadelphia Media Holdings financial situation worsened in 2008 employees began complaining about how management has been monitoring things such as bathroom breaks and the coffee they drink, and that Tierney has been patrolling the parking garage seeing what time employees arrive for work. Despite efforts to manage the financial strain, on February 21, 2009, Philadelphia Newspapers LLC, the subsidiary of Philadelphia Media Holdings that owns the paper, filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company hoped to restructure the US$390 million in debt it borrowed to buy the newspapers, but the end result was that the papers were auctioned off to the company's lenders. The beginning of 2009 also saw the filing of a lawsuit that accused The Philadelphia Inquirer of writing critical stories about Chester Community Charter School's use of public funds after business negotiations between school operator Vahan H. Gureghian and Tierney failed. Other activities Tierney continued his political activism in the 1990s and early 2000s by donating to local and national campaigns and headed George W. Bush's outreach to Catholics in the 2000 Presidential Election. Tierney was credited with helping generate votes for Bush and helping him win important states like Ohio and Missouri. Tierney also frequently appeared as a conservative voice on WPVI-TV's Inside Story. In 2003 Tierney headed Sam Katz's third campaign for mayor of Philadelphia, which he lost to incumbent mayor John F. Street. During the campaign, Tierney was involved in a highly publicized dispute with Neil Oxman. Oxman was a political consultant and friend of Sam Katz who worked on Katz's 1999 run for mayor. Oxman left Katz's 2003 campaign because he was unable to work with Tierney, saying Tierney was a "shameless self-promoter" and "full of bullshit". Katz praised Tierney, who he said was full of optimism, which Katz