Budget cuts squeeze out veteran Village Voice reporter

Veteran Village Voice political reporter Wayne Barrett, whose investigations have dogged city leaders for more than 30 years, announced yesterday in a farewell column that he’s leaving the paper.

Barrett said he was let go for budget reasons, and that he’ll be working at The Nation Institute, a media center.

“You turn the page and you move on,” Barrett told amNewYork. “Maybe I’ll like the next page I’m on even better.”

Tom Robbins, veteran reporter and metro columnist with the paper, quit after hearing Barrett was leaving, and reports initially said he left in protest of Barrett’s being let go.

Editor Tony Ortega, however, denied those reports, and said Robbins simply “wanted to leave with the guy who brought him here.”

“There are no hard feelings, and I only have good things to say about these two guys. They leave a real legacy,” Ortega said.