A DO-OVER IN KOCH-CONNECTED WENDY ATTACK

"Citizen Anderson": Editor and AFP Policy Analyst

The characters carrying out the latest attack on Wendy Davis have now reacted to my expose about their gross violations of journalistic ethics. Have they decided to drop the complaint brought to the Texas Ethics Commission, embarrassed for getting caught red-handed trying to foist this unsavory goober on the public? Hardly. They've done a do-over. The original attack was so compromised that they've handed the "story" over to another "reporter." 

Nice that the do-over discloses the relationship between the subject/source of the "story" and the "news organization" that is "reporting" it. Thanks for acknowledging that you've already thrown away any semblance of journalistic credibility.

Does that really help legitimize this attack? 

I have no doubt that these folks, many tied to Americans for Prosperity (the notorious Koch brother front group), are scrambling to get enough online coverage from the usual not-too-choosy Far Right sites. With that, Fox News can justify picking up such a fetid tidbit. Some call that success. Others call it dirty tricks, bullying and intimidation.  

Now, for those interested in reality-based reality,  a few simple questions about the complaint itself.

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If this were substantive why didn't "AFP" Lou Ann Anderson, the "reporter" that filed it, simply REPORT her research findings as news? Then, others would have filed the complaint based on her reporting, right?  What did it serve to compromise whatever little credibility she and her "news organization" had by making the complaint herself? 

Let's Anderson explain.

“What I found were questions — questions that it doesn’t take being a CPA, a lawyer or other government policy analyst to recognize,” Anderson said. “Information (for the cited years) provided to the IRS is far more detailed than information provided to the Texas Ethics Commission as mandated by state law."

Anderson: "I Am AFP!"

So she compared the different filings - those to the IRS and those to for the Texas Ethics Commission.  Do you suppose that she checked to see if what's required for the IRS is DIFFERENT than the Texas Ethics Commission? Would ANYONE be surprised to discover that what's required by the IRS is more detailed than what the TEC requires? Texas is not noted for its rigor here. The State Integrity Investigation gave Texas a D+. One shortcoming?  Asset disclosure forms:

When average Texans request asset disclosure forms for state officers — known as personal financial statements — filed with the Texas Ethics Commission, they may be left with unanswered questions, said Smith of Public Citizen. “They lack essential detail,” he said of the reports.

Maybe Anderson isn't looking to sell this smear to "a CPA, a lawyer or other government policy analyst."  The less informed, the better.  

Oh, still no reply from the public relations handler at Franklin Center about my interview request with her. 

As I've mentioned before, I've encountered this kind of abuse before with folks connected to this crew. What we're watching unfold is a textbook case of a Far Right hit.

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Tips? Suggestions? Ideas? Drop a line to carl (at) inanityofsanity (dot) com

KOCH BROTHER CONNECTION BEHIND LATEST WENDY ATTACK - UPDATED

Reporting the news - or making it up?

WOW!  Another hit-job in the ongoing smear campaign against Wendy Davis!

Who's behind the latest?  Would the Koch brother-connection come as any surprise?

Yesterday, the Right Wing echo chamber began reverberating with the latest cooked-up scandal against Wendy Davis. It started with a news item put out by the "Watchdog Wire":

CITIZEN FILES ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST WENDY DAVIS

Watchdog Texas State Editor Lou Ann Anderson

A Kevin Palmer reports that the complaint filed at the Texas Ethics Commission alleges that Wendy "knowingly misrepresented her assets on her annual Personal Financial Statements." Who is the citizen who brought the complaint?  She is just identified as " Lou Ann Anderson of Temple."  No additional information is provided.

As it happens, "Watchdog Wire" is part of the Franklin Center, a Far Right news organization. The local affiliate, Watchdog Texas, is edited by - Lou Ann Anderson!

I've e-mailed the reporter to ask if she edited the news item he wrote. 

Anderson has an interesting background.  She served as a Policy Analyst for Americans for Prosperity Texas. AFP, of course, is the notorious Koch Brother front group. 

Needless-to-say, it is an outrageous breach of journalistic ethics to fail to reveal the connection between the reporter/"news organization" and the party to a complaint they are "breaking the news" about.  I've seen this before with Franklin Center-connected folks. 

MORE LATER IN THIS BREAKING NEWS!

In the meantime, read this fascinating profile of the Franklin Center, "Partisan Hacks" by Laura McGann in the Washington Monthly.
UPDATE 6:19 CST:

I've now spoken with Kevin Palmer, the "reporter" who wrote the story.

Palmer was featured in a story last year in the Columbia Journalism Review about the Franklin Center. He's described as a recent Harvard College grad, but his other associations and activities are more interesting. It took a little effort to tag those down. His Linked In profile has been taken down...but just recently! It showed up in Google cache. As it turns out, he's part of the Koch Associate Program at the Charles Koch Institute. 

What do Koch Associates do?

Associates spend one day a week immersed in Market-Based Management® curriculum while working full-time in Washington, DC. The program not only connects you with full-time positions at non-profit partner organizations, but also includes weekly professional education. It’s a unique chance to combine your profession with your passion while expanding your knowledge, skills, and network.

So it would seem that Palmer finds himself at the Franklin Center courtesy of Charles Koch! Oh, and Palmer was also an "Immigration Intern" for the Tea Party Senator voted out in Massachusetts.

I spoke with Palmer in Alexandra, Virginia. His actual title is Communication Coordinator for the Franklin Center, a "journalism non-profit" as he describes it. Watchdog Wire Texas is "separate program." His primary function is ghostwriting opinion pieces for people the and - also for others outside the organization.

According to Palmer, Anderson is not an employee of the Franklin Center though she  receives a stipend from them as the Texas State Editor for Watchdog Wire. She edits and promotes the "citizen journalism" that they create.

Palmer said that Anderson gave him the story directly. There was no press release or apparently any other outreach to the media. When we initially spoke, Palmer offered to provide me Anderson's contact information. Instead, he emailed the email address for Michael Moroney, the Franklin Center's Director of Public Affairs. In a follow-up call, he said that any such inquiries had to be directed through that office.

"All our citizen reporters go through him first. He'll schedule the interview (with Anderson) for you," he said.

When I said that I didn't wish to contact her in her capacity as a Franklin Center reporter, that I wanted to talk to her about her complaint, he pulled back.  

"I have the right to withhold my source. Michael (Moroney) may or may not give it to you."

Asked about additional details on Anderson, he said she works full-time elsewhere. I attempted to contact her at what's apparently her employer, an advertising and marketing firm in Temple. A message left for her has not been returned, nor has an email sent to Moroney requesting an interview and a copy of the complaint.

Simple question:

Who's running this story? It certainly look like the Franklin Center's public relations director is handling the PR for it. Or is it Charles Koch?

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Tips? Suggestions? Ideas? Drop a line to carl (at) inanityofsanity (dot) com.

DOUBTS ABOUT ABBOTT'S BIOGRAPHY - WITH AFTERWARD

Wendy with Maria Shriver at the trailer park on the TODAY Show

The Perry-Abbott machine is going berserk because Wendy Davis was two years older when she divorced than she'd said. And apparently, she did not spend sufficient time living in a trailer park to suit their tastes. This avoids the important question: does she know what it is to be poor, to live under adverse circumstances? The answer: a simple, unqualified YES.

Now, can the same be said of Greg Abbott? To find out, it would seem that there's some details in his story that require clarification. There's a claim made in the cover story in Texas Monthly last Fall that DOES NOT ring true for me - and I think you'll see why.  

"His father, Roger, was a proud University of Texas graduate who worked as a stockbroker and insurance agent; his mother, Doris, was a homemaker....

When Abbott wasn't cleaning animal cages

During Abbott’s sophomore year, his father died of a heart attack, which devastated the family. But it also gave him new admiration for his mother, who went to work in a real estate office to make ends meet. Abbott himself mowed lawns and worked at the local general store, where he stocked the shelves and cleaned the animal cages."

The impression here is that Abbott's father's death left his family in financial straits. The future candidate and his mother had to fend for themselves. His mother, a "homemaker" was forced into the workplace to "make ends meet" while he had to pitch in by juggling multiple part-time jobs while going to school. 

Now, let's unpack this a bit more. Abbott's father, "a stockbroker and insurance agent," apparently didn't have much in terms of assets or carry a decent life insurance policy to take care of his family? Terrible for an insurance agent to be uninsured or under-insured! No family or family money either to help, I guess. At least they had Social Security survivor benefits, right? No help from Social Security either?

To be sure, losing your father young is a terrible thing. Adding financial hardship on top of that, worse still. But is this really the situation that Abbott "overcame" in childhood? The "worked his way through school" tale seems to taper off in the Texas Monthly account while he was an undergrad at UT.  

Now, maybe this is all true. Perhaps, penniless, Abbott had to scrape his way through. Or it is perfectly possible that Abbott is not responsible for this impression. Did Brian D. Sweany, the Texas Monthly reporter, fluff this up from biography into hagiography. Fact-check anyone? What IS the reality here? 

Since the Perry-Abbott machine wants to raise doubts about Wendy Davis' hardscrabble days, let's have a look at his! The important question: does Abbott, like Wendy Davis,  know what it is to be poor? 

An over/under man?

Meanwhile, there's ANOTHER detail from the Texas Monthly tale that seems dubious to me. Admittedly this may be picayune. But as a gun aficionado reading a story about a gun braggadocio... Again, I'm open to being wrong here but....

The story opens with the writer describing his adventure shooting clay pigeons with the candidate. This is the central metaphor for his portrait of an "overcomer" who had faced devastating setbacks and come out on top.

"What was notable was his endurance. Everyone else took breaks; Abbott just kept blasting away. His shoulder, I caught myself thinking, is going to be black-and-blue tomorrow."

Now, the cover photo for the issue shows Abbott with an over/under shotgun. Abbott's shooting habits would be masochistic if he were using full-house 12-gauge loads in an over/under. But that doesn't seem to be the reality. The over-under looks to be just for show. Other pictures indicate that the weapon he actually used when the reporter was on hand is a Remington 1100. This makes for a VERY different shooting experience than an over/under. The gas-operated autoloader soaks up a great deal of what could be a punishing recoil with an over/under. 

The missing detail here is what they were using for shells. If they were using skeet loads, then this business about Abbott's "endurance" under fire is, at best, mistaken. Skeet loads, designed for shooting clay pigeons, are light and pleasant to shoot. Yes, you can go round-after-round without flinching or fear of mangling your shoulder. 

Maybe Abbott isn't a masochist (is that a bad thing?) and this is just a clever public relations image cooked up to deliver the desired result.

And if Abbott really IS a masochist? 

Here's another thing I learned when I cut my teeth skeet shooting at thirteen. I also used a Remington 1100 with the aforementioned skeet loads. But I preferred using a 20-gauge. When I really wanted to challenge myself, I opted for a 28-gauge. You see, the smaller-bore shotguns make it more difficult to powder the pigeons. It makes it a true test of skill. Using a 12-gauge takes the sport out of it. 

Perhaps the TRUE image for Abbott here is a man of mediocre talent. The Texas GOP political machine does a great job covering this up, but the reality remains. The best he can do is blast away blindly with their blunderbuss of Far Right ideology. That will do little to provide real solutions to the challenges we face in Texas. 

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AFTERWARD:

Shortly after posting this, I followed-up by submitting the core of it to the Texas Monthly as a letter to the editor. The key question: does the candidate know what it is to have to make ends meet? 

The new boss at Texas Monthly

I was pleased and surprised when Sweany, the author and (at the time) the magazine's Senior Executive Editor, responded personally via email. We went back-and-forth several times as I tried to pin him down to answer the question. In short, the answer is no, Abbott has no personal experience of his mother facing financial difficulties after his father's death. Even so, he stands by his statement that she went to work at that time "to make ends meet." Apparently for Sweany, the phrase "to make ends meet," despite the commonly accepted meaning, does not imply financial hardship.

Also, in a follow-up phone conversation, I asked about the shotgun shoot

that frames his story. I wanted to get the answer to the question I raised in the posting about the shells used. Sweany, as it turns out, isn't very knowledgeable about firearms. He did say that he saved one of the spent shells as a souvenir. He said he'd get back to me as to whether it was high brass or low brass (high recoil, full-power or light skeet loads). No follow-up. He did not provide the answer despite repeat requests. 

Since, he has been promoted to Editor-in-Chief.
I should add that Sweany left the door open in our email exchange: "If you have new reporting, I'd love to hear it." Well, I made a trip to Duncanville, and found documentary evidence that raises questions about the fact-checking for his story. I wrote him about this - no reply.

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Tips? Suggestions? Ideas? Drop a line to carl (at) inanityofsanity (dot) com.