KOS - Armstrong Blogola Scandal

Outside The Beltway ^ | June 20, 2006 | James Joyner

[khnyny]

Kos - Armstrong Blogola Scandal By James Joyner Dan Riehl has done some digging and found that myDD’s Jerome Armstrong received rather significant payments from his work as a political consultant on Jon Corzine’s successful campaign for NJ governor. While Tim Worstall has a point when he observes that, “with the amount of cash that swills through American politics, they actually look like very small sums,” they’re pretty hefty for amateur consulting services. (A recent MSNBC story has Armstrong describing his role in the Mark Warner campaign as handling “anything that deals with the Internet or technology, especially with the strategic decisions that are made early on in terms of the vendor relationships, the people we bring on.”)

Peeling back the onion a bit, we see that there seems to be a rather symbiotic relationship between Armstrong’s consulting business and the blogging activities of his Crashing the Gates co-author Markos Moulitas Zuniga. Clients of Armstrong’s consulting business, including rather netroots unfriendly candidates like Mark Warner, strangely seem to capture Kos’ fancy and get ringing endorsements.

[khnyny]

I found the following snippet from the article enlightening:

[[S]ome people . . . compare the blog boomlet they helped create for Dean to the work of online bulletin-board posters who touted dodgy Internet stocks during the boom market without disclosing that they were being paid for their words.

Which, interestingly, is precisely what the Securities and Exchange Commission, in court documents filed last August, alleges that Jerome Armstrong did in 2000. (The original S.E.C. complaint is here.) In a subsequent filing, the S.E.C. alleges that “there is sufficient evidence to infer that the defendants secretly agreed to pay Armstrong for his touting efforts” on the financial Web site Raging Bull.

Without admitting or denying anything, Armstrong has agreed to a permanent injunction that forbids him from touting stocks in the future. The S.E.C. remains in litigation with him over the subject of potential monetary penalties.

It appears that he has found another way to do essentially the same thing. Red State’s Crank:]

And:

[I must admit, it’s most odd that what seems a rather major story like this was not deemed worthy of the NYT print edition or even the public website. After all, the NYT and other mainstream outlets covered the YearlyKos convention, the launch of Crashing the Gates, and various other “netroots” activity with zeal. Especially coming at the tail end of YearlyKos, one would think this newsworthy.]

[Incorrigible]

Bump!!

[kjo]

Gee, do ya think the NYTs is trying to cover up something?

[tiredoflaundry]

bttt

[khnyny]

[Gee, do ya think the NYTs is trying to cover up something?]

Sins of omission can be more insidious than sins of commission (and much harder to fight).

[khnyny]

What needs to be remembered here, though, is Mark Warner threatens Hillary for the nomination and IMHO, is a much more "viable" candidate for the Dems.

[Calpernia]

ping

[george wythe]

SEC complaint:

8. On March 6, 2000 and after, Jerome Armstrong ("Armstrong") promoted BluePoint on the Raging Bull internet site, which carried hundreds of posts about BluePoint. Armstrong received undisclosed compensation from Markow and Goelo in return for his posts.

9. In the weeks and months after BluePoint started trading, BluePoint's price and volume steadily declined from its all-time high of $21. Nonetheless, the Promoter Defendants continued to sell at a profit, having paid Tsai only pennies for their shares. The Promoter Defendants never reported any changes in ownership when they sold their BluePoint shares in any filings with the Commission

It seems that Markos has been conned by a crook. He needs to get rid of this loser, otherwise Kos will be tainted.

I hate Kos' politics, but I want to see liberal sites competing in the marketplace of ideas with conservative and libertarian sites. It would be a shame if Kos keeps his association with Armstrong.

[khnyny]

Markos Moulitas Zuniga (Kos), IMHO, is already tainted. I think there could be better "liberal dialogue" elsewhere.

Moulitas as spokesman for liberal thought, is like saying Jesse Jackson represents the epitome of African American "leadership". They both seem to be shakedown artists.

[bcsco]

Hey PJ! Your 'Blogola handle has been appropriated. Check out the below thread...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1655818/posts

[Bainbridge]

I am a Virginian. Mark Warner is dangerous as he can appear to be something that he is not (he is an authentic Liberal) and the southern dimension makes him more palatable to " swing" ( read squishy) voters.

[khnyny]

Right, I agree with you.

[Sam Hill]

Guardian Praises Dean Stooge, Terrorist-Loving Kos | Sweetness & Light
http://www.sweetness-light.com/archive/guardian-praises-dean-stooge-terrorist-loving-kos

[khnyny]

Thanks for the link.