Posted on 08/25/2009 9:44:27 AM PDT by Bean Counter
Did he or didn't he?
It has been a bit of whirlwind especially on a few blog sites.
We're talking about whether our Congressman Brian Baird reported a death threat to Capitol Police.
Let me back up a little:
-- Baird opted not to hold public town hall meetings on health care. He made the decision because he was concerned about what he was seeing out there at other town hall meetings. Safety issues.
-- Baird said part of his decision was based on some death threats he had received.
-- He called some of the tactics he had seen as "close to Brownshirt."
-- Later Baird apologized for the comments and held several town hall meetings.
All of this was reported by us.
Then a blogger got involved. God bless bloggers. There is a role for bloggers in today's society. Bloggers mostly comment on stuff but they can -- and do -- some reporting.
So this blogger makes a phone call to the Capitol Police trying to confirm Baird had reported the death threats. He says he spoke to a helpful lady responsible for typing and submitting claims. She said if a death threat was reported she'd know it.
But she had seen nothing.
That was enough for the blogger to go after Baird. And us too, or course. Despite our stories mentioned above and critical editorials and columns, we somehow were providing cover for Baird.
Go figure.
But back to the blogger's point. If true, if Baird didn't report the death threats even though he said he did, that would be a good story.
But a few things puzzled me:
-- There was no name attached to the info the blogger said he had from the Capitol Police. I asked the blogger if he had a name. He said I was bothering him. I should do my own legwork.
-- The Capitol Police had been quite uncooperative with us but was willing to give out info to someone else?
-- And why would Baird lie about something like this? Eventually you would be certain to get caught.
Hey, not that politicians don't lie. You know, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" and, "I'm not a crook."
But with Baird, a paper trail or lack of a paper trail would exist.
Still, we tried to track it down for days with the Capitol Police. No luck. Finally, I tried on Monday. Spoke to a Sgt. Kimberly Schneider with the information office. "Did our congressman report any death threats?" I asked.
"A matter was brought to the attention of Capitol Police from Congressman Brian Baird's office. But we can not comment on any details of any ongoing investigation."
Finally.
But I pushed for more. Was the "matter" a death threat I asked. She wouldn't say. In fact, that was all I was getting, she said.
And -- even more significant -- "cannot comment on any details of any ongoing investigation." This sure sounds like an ongoing investigation.
I also called Capitol Police Chief Phillip Morse to see if I could shake out any more. Later a return call came from his spokeswoman ... Sgt. Schneider. The same Sgt. Schneider.
She said it was just a courtesy call since I had put the call in to the chief but no additional information was coming because "it's an investigation."
Hey, that is additional. "It's an investigation."
Look, we hold all politicians accountable. I'm sure Baird has been none too pleased with much of our coverage. But we won't jump into a story without vetting it first. We'll still make mistakes. But we'll work hard at not making mistakes. And don't blame the bloggers here. Users simply have to manage the information they get. From wherever they get it. And the best bet for good info still is newspapers.
Lou Brancaccio
"Once a newspaper touches a story, the facts are lost forever, even to the protagonists."
Norman Mailer
yah....we're moving forward all right...
First, I am "the blogger" that Mr. Brancaccio lacks the stones, common courtesy or integrity to identify by name, and the website where I blog is http://www.clarkblog.org/ . I have never made a secret of who I am, or how to get in touch with me in the three years I have been online.
This story was "blogged" by Mr. Brancaccio himself at the columian's website late yesterday afternoon, shortly after local Conservative Talk Show host Victoria Taft announced that she was going to ask "Where is Brian Baird's Police report", and announced that she was going to discuss this with the local blogger (me) who first brought this question up.
Victoria Taft picked up on my blog post over the weekend, and she told me when I talked to her before the show, that she was having her producer make some telephone calls to verify my story, and he had informed her that I had some good points, and recommended that she call me herself.
The only request for information that I have ever received in regard to this matter from Lou Brancaccio or anyone else on his news staff was when he e-mailed me yesterday afternoon while he was frantically drafting this editorial, and all he wanted to know was what the name of the lady I talked to was at the Capitol Hill Police Department.
In the interest of accuracy, my exact reply to him was:
"Do your own legwork, gumshoe..."
The bottom line here is that if Mr. Brancaccio was not forced to panic and start digging into the Baird Police report story, it never would have happened. Lou normally published his agonizing to read "Press Talk" columns on Saturday, not Monday afternoon.
I think it is important to note that he said nothing about this in his regular "column" three days ago.
We still have no word directly from Congressman Brian Baird on this, and the statements the columbian published to day from Baird's Chief of Staff raise more questions than they answer.
What is particularly fascinating about Mr. Brancaccio's article beside the fact that such a terrible writer is published so frequently, is how closely it mirrors the comments of the DailyKOS article that popped up about my website posting on this topic over the weekend. They too accused me of making this all up, and called for sending the FBI to investigate me.
Again, I think we need to hear directly from Congressman Brian Baird about this now that everyone has weighed in (finally!!) with their various opinions. The ball is in the Congressman's court, and I look forward to any official statement of fact that his office cares to produce. We have not seen that yet, so what the local newspaper editor says about this is every bit as irrelevant as he claims my remarks last Friday to be.
Your turn, Congressman Baird...
I like how he slipped in that little gem about “the best bet for good info still is newspapers”.
This article reads like he wrote it eating a cheesesteak while driving in the Indy 500.
Disjointed, poorly written and little value added.
Keep up the good work, BC.
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Great work B.C.!
Good job, BC. Like you say, the balls in his court.
Awesome job, BC. Keep up the great work and don't let the "baird" get away.
If Mr. Brancaccio applied the same standard of diligence that he demands of you to his own piece, he would have titled it; “Baird Alleges Threats”. Everything else in the title and much of the story is biased hyperbole and self-aggrandizing fluff...
Glad you have protection. These loonies are vicious!
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