Posted on 02/17/2005 3:59:09 PM PST by cyncooper
Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was so concerned about Talon News reporter James Guckert's potential ties to the Republican Party that he stopped calling on him at press briefings for about a week in 2003, Fleischer told E&P today.
"I found out that he worked for a GOP site, and I didn't think it was my place to call on him because he worked for something that was related to the party," Fleischer said in a phone interview. "He had the editor call me and made the case that they were not related to the Republican Party. He said they used the GOP name for marketing purposes only."
He said he resumed calling on Guckert, who used the alias Jeff Gannon, after Bobby Eberle, owner of both GOPUSA and Talon News, "assured me that they were not part of the Republican Party." Eberle is a Texas Republican activist and served as a delegate to the 2000 Republican National Convention.
Fleischer has not previously commented on the Gannon/Guckert affair.
"I don't think that party organizations should have people in that room acting as reporters," Fleischer said, explaining his initial concerns. "They are advocates, not reporters, and a line should be drawn." But, after speaking with Eberle and looking at Talon News, he was convinced that GOPUSA.com and Talon News were not official party sites.
"It looked like a conservative news organization," Fleischer said. "If I thought that they were part of the party, I would not have [resumed] calling on them."
Fleischer served as Bush press secretary from January 2001 to July 2003. Guckert, who has become a center of controversy after it was learned he had used an alias at the White House and had ties to several male escort sites, resigned his Talon News post last week.
Fleischer said he did not know much about Guckert and could not recall exactly when he started covering press briefings. He said he played no part in approving Guckert's requests for daily press credentials (which were handled by his office) and could offer no further comment on that.
But he said he did not know at the time that Guckert had been using a false name and did not know if Scott McClellan, now press secretary but then Fleischer's aide, had known then either. "It came as a surprise to me, because I always knew him as Jeff Gannon," he said. Fleischer said he did not know of any other White House reporters using aliases.
He said he did not know the method the White House Press Office used to keep records of those, like Guckert, who received daily press passes. White House Press Office officials did not respond to several requests today for such information.
Fleischer said he knew that he would get a conservative question from Guckert whenever he called on him. "He was one of the few identifiable conservatives in the room," Fleischer said. "[With] some reporters, you know you will get a question from right field, and [with] some you know you will get a question from left field. I made a deliberate practice to call on everyone in the room. It was a way to make sure large organizations got their questions in, but also to be fair to organizations who do not get their questions in right away."
Fleischer stressed that he did not go to Guckert more often than others or in the hopes of getting a "softball" or partisan question. "Sometimes, you can get tripped up from right field," he said with a laugh.
When asked about the credentialing process for reporters, Fleischer said he purposely did not get involved in deciding who should get passes and believes no one in his former job should. He recalled that there was a rule about credentialed reporters being part of news organizations that "published regularly" but was uncertain how it applied to Web sites. "I don't know that we even had a policy vis-a-vis bloggers and blogs," he told E&P. "I never kept up on any of that.
"Until this issue came up, it was such a low-level thing that it would be below the radar of the press secretary," Fleischer noted. He also believes that the issue will eventually blow over. "I have a feeling that this is going to be one of those issues where people wring their hands, say 'woe is me,' and decide that it is best the way it is," he predicted. "I would advise the White House not to get into [efforts to change the system]."
Fleischer also stressed that, beyond security concerns, reporters from any regular news organization should be allowed to a have White House access unless they can be shown to be a threat. "It is a slippery slope for any press secretary in any administration to pick and choose who gets a credential based on ideology," he said, adding, "so long as they are a legitimate reporter."
Even Guckert's ties to several sex Web sites and allegations that he worked as a male prostitute should not necessarily keep him or any other reporter out, Fleischer said. "The last thing our nation needs is for anyone in the White House to concern themselves with the private lives of reporters," he said. "What right does the White House have to decide who gets to be a reporter based on private lives?"
If allegations that Guckert ran Web ads offering his services as a male escort prove true, however, this would represent more than a “private life” issue. Asked what he thought about the recent revelations about Guckert's past, Fleischer said only, "It is all a bit odd."
When asked if knowing that Gannon was a fake name would have changed his treatment of Guckert, Fleischer said, "I don’t know how I would react to that." Should changes in the credentialing process be made? He said, "the White House Correspondents Association should either seek a change or leave it alone and recognize that there is room for a little weirdness on both sides."
He also said Guckert was "just as legitimate as some of the fringe organizations in the room."
Well, I'll suggest you search on keyword Gannon and see if there are threads outlining the gory details.
I see. I have been away from the keyboard a great deal this week, and suddenly the story looks totally different than when I last read it carefully.
So the liberals are frothing at the mouth because he's gay? I thought that would endear him to them for sure! (And I'm sure he's the first gay newsman ever, right?) (cough)
I don't think it's even established that he's gay. He might be but that could not be their objection. Nor is it. This is all about being from a "legitimate" news agncy and really it is all because he was conservative. Keep in mind he quit, claiming he was being followed, harrassed and threatened. If his secret is a gay secret, he essentially was threatened with an outing. Hardly something the liberal media is supposed to support. Nor do they really want to acknowledge there are conservative gays.
Suddenly the left is concerned with a person's private life?
Um, not really sure as to how this helps.
If Ari was so concerned that there were ties between GOPUSA and the party, then why would a phone call from a
delegate to the last RNC put his mind at ease? That's not exactly what I'd call an arm's length separation between the two.
You are here to stir the kettle. Go away.
While I could imagine speculating (if the story were the same but a dem reporter in a dem WH) if he knew anyone in the WH, there is no way we would state it flatly as fact, as the left has done here.
We would not make wild and inane statements that he was the leaker of Plame's name.
No, we wouldn't act the exact same as the left has behaved here.
I'm sorry it was such a source of confusion to you, though why is beyond me.
It's plain as day. Perhaps re-reading the relevant portion will clear it up for you.
Please point out where I defended him? I just find it curious that the same liberals that want to teach children how to be gay are now suddenly objecting to someone who might be gay--if the allegations are true. I think what they're really objecting to is the fact that he asked some "conservative" questions--to them, that's unnatural, I suppose.
Personally, I think this whole thing is pretty much a red herring to divert attention from the real questions regarding the Plame situation. It seems to be fairly effective, too.
And we are SO glad that you signed on two days ago and are suddenly an expert. Quite a coincidence that TWO people with the same, very recent sign-on date, appear on this thread at the same time. Did you guys' shift just come on board or what?
Let's just say that there seem to be other photos out there that are linked to Gannon's real name, and leave it at that.
So no, there's no *proof* that he is/was a male escort, but it's hard to believe otherwise.
What IS the deal with E&P?
Gre Mitchell from E&P is on Olbermann's show saying that he's a plant.
I agree. They are the ones pushing it; he's on MSNBC right now.
Look at these columns:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_archive.jsp
He is calling Gannon a plant?
E&P is liberal in nature covering newspapers, the defenders of the press. It has always been like that.
So no, there's no *proof* that he is/was a male escort, but it's hard to believe otherwise.
Exactly. The thing is, they've been in full umbrage mode over Talon News daring to offer the conservative equivalent.
That's what he said, along the lines of "for all we know" stuff.
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