And the Most Irresponsible Journalist Award Goes to… The Politico’s Jonathan Martin!
- Friday, October 30, 2009, 6:28
- Battleground Iowa
- 2,289 views
- 12 comments
By Emily Geiger
So tell me, how do you write a “news” story about an organization paying for a speaker when you don’t even know if the organization is paying for the speaker?
Ask “journalist” Jonathan Martin. He knows all about it.
You see, Jonny wrote a piss poor story the other day about how the Iowa Family Policy Center will be paying a large speaker fee if Sarah Palin comes to Iowa to keynote the IFPC’s fall funderaiser. The only problem is that Jonny has no sources confirming that any exorbitant fee is being charged or paid.
In fact, he had just the opposite. Bryan English, a spokesman for IFPC told Jonny that he did not know yet if Palin was requesting any fee.
Yet, that didn’t stop Jonny from running with the headline, “Iowa Republicans wince at Sarah Palin’s $100K speaking fee.”
And, Jonny had lots of completely impartial sources who were happy to comment and help him “cobble together” an eleven-hundred word story.
Oh, those sources… they were so shocked at this (unconfirmed) unprecedented occurrence. How dare political operatives get paid obscene amounts of money. And speaking of politicos getting paid obscene amounts of money, Jonny went to a very knowledgeable source on that particular issue, Ed Failor, Jr., of Iowans for Tax Relief fame.
Hey Ed, how much were you paid by the Pataki campaign only to end up submarining it when you had a change of heart and decided McCain was your man? Oh well, at least Ed refrained from calling Palin a jackbooted Nazi, so he did show some self-restraint.
Jonny also got some inside info from David Kochel, who was a top aide to former (and future) presidential candidate, Mitt Romney.
Hey Dave, didn’t I just read a story about how Mitt Romney tried to buy off the Iowa Christian Alliance? I heard you helped facilitate that little scheme. And somehow you are shocked at the thought of a well-known political figure (who very likely isn’t running for president) getting paid a speaker’s fee for (gasp) a public speaking appearance?
Another of Jonny’s sources was the Iowa Christian Alliance’s Steve Scheffler, who is totally impartial given that he runs a competing organization which is dealing with its own scandal.
And then we’ve got Tim Albrecht quoted. He was the Iowa spokesman for Romney’s 2008 caucus campaign.
Hmmm… Between Kochel and Albrecht, this sounds suspiciously like yet another case of former Romney staffers “going rogue” and badmouthing their meal ticket’s perceived competition.
And that leads us back to Jonny Martin himself. He was in charge of writing the Politico’s GOP blog during the 2008 caucus season. And it always seemed like, whenever the Romney people had rumors they wanted to start about other candidates, Jonny was their go-to guy to get those rumors in writing in front of a national audience.
Some things never change.
About the Author
Battleground Iowa has written 170 stories on this site.
Emily Geiger writes from a conservative perspective on everything from politics to religion to pop culture. Like the original Emily of Revolutionary War era, this Emily is delivering important messages crucial to winning the raging war of the time, but today, this is a culture war rather than a traditional one. And, like the original Emily, sometimes it takes a woman to do (or say) that which lesser men lack the courage and tenacity to do.
12 Comments on “And the Most Irresponsible Journalist Award Goes to… The Politico’s Jonathan Martin!”
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Politico is notorious for running speculation disguised as news, and Martin is one of the worst offenders.
Are you blinded by your affection for Ms. Palin so much that you can’t see her for what she is? She sold out. She is for sale. She went to communist China where women are abused and treated as second class citizens because they paid her $300,000. She is for sale to the highest bidder. And why should we expect any different here in Iowa? She is really no different than some other gadfly that will only show up for a speaking fee and say outrageous things. Kind of like your friend Perez Hilton.
Hey, if Palin can ask for and get, high speaker fees, why not do it? She’s been almost bankrupted by phony lawsuits brought about by Dims whose sole goal was to bring about financial pressure on her. She needs a way to defend herself.
Whether a group wants to pay her fees, or not, is up to them. It’s like any other commodity. They will have to decide if she is worth it and potential attendees will have to decide if they want to see her badly enough to pay the fee.
Why should you care? BTW, who is Perez Hilton?
So, we’ve heard from a Palin hater who is also missing the point. You can’t say she is “for sale” if you don’t know if or how much she would charge to come. The point of this piece is the poor journalism being exhibited by Martin.
Anyways, it appears to be a moot point now that it has been confirmed that she is not coming due to scheduling conflicts. I was worried about that given that the date of the IFPC event was right after her book release. It would have been fantastic to show up Biden.
Mary,
Palin is a private citizen. If she wants to ask for speaking fees…so be it. What the story here is now is that Palin has fumbled away a golden opportunity that would have created massive media attention for her efforts…not to mention her book sales.
Showing up for a major speech in Iowa, just after the kickoff to the 2010 elections…and having the Vice President DIRECTLY across the street….well..quite frankly…it doesn’t get any better than that for a potential 2012 presidential candidate.
As for Martin’s story…gotta love the fact that he didn’t go to ANYONE in the leadership of the Republican Party of Iowa. Last time I checked, Failor Jr, Albrecht, and Kochel do not speak for RPI. If Martin had any journalistic integrity…he would have at least spoken with Matt Strawn or Jim Kurtenbach…who are the elected leaders of the Republican Party of Iowa…
What does the party have to do with any of this?
How much does Bill Clinton charge?
Hawk, you are dead on right about it not getting any better than that and she blew it big time. What a waste.
Mary,
What does the party have to do with this?
Hmm..when the article is entitled “Iowa Republicans wince at Palin’s $100K fee”..and the article offers up people like Failor Jr, Albrecht, and Kochel as “Republican leaders”…when they are NOT elected leaders within the Republican Party of Iowa. They do not speak for RPI.
They may be able to speak for particular factions or interest groups…but they do not speak for the Republican Party of Iowa.
apparently she is asking for huge fees, if she can get it, more power to her, although many seem to to be relunctant to meet the price. However, if she still has any political aspirations, she has to be careful not to come off as a mercenary more than a true believer, personally I believe the former.
Silence
Silence…
Again..go read the article..in ITS ENTIRETY. The article clearly stated that there was no indication that Palin had directly asked IFPC for a 100K to speak at the event…and if many are so “reluctant” to pay that price…then try to explain why Palin is probably the number one in demand speaker right now…
The bigger point here about the whole Palin/IFPC event is that Palin is missing a GOLDEN opportunity to make a big statement in Iowa..right after the kickoff to the 2010 election campaign…with VP Biden across the street…
If you’re even THINKING about a 2012 run..you’d be a fool not to take advantage of this kind of free media coverage..not to mention the stage of being in front of thousands of likely caucus voters.
Actually, Hawk, I would agree with you. If she is planning on running, it is a golden chance at some great publicity. so this begs the question, if the offer has been made, and it is a such a great opportunity, then why doesn’t she jump at it. I would guess money would be a logical conclusion on the hangup. Hey, it is her right to demand speaking fees and to capitalize on financial opportunities that are out there. I have no problem with it, but if she is seeking future political and higher office, she mind want to re think her priorities in this matter if money is the hangup. Yes, she is in high demand, but from what I have heard and read, groups are reluctant to meet her price and her more diva like demands.
Silence