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A Progressive Political Playground |
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I swear I woke up this morning and it was 2006. Like groundhog day. I find Joe Hallett misrepresenting blogs and (after having admitted reading them) belittling them in a way that left his own credibility in the matter wanting. I also find Brian Rothenberg stepping into the blogosphere and getting his ass handed to him.
Let’s take them one at a time. Joe first.
[This will be long, so click through for the full piece] [click to continue…]
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Former Lucas County Commissioner and Tom Noe conduit Maggie Thurber gets taken to the woodshed by Brian Rothenberg at ProgressOhio. I guess Maggie has been shilling for the payday lending industry, an issue ProgressOhio has been taking the lead on (Vote YES on Issue 5, btw).
Brian asks some really important questions (and gives some rhetorical answers):
1. Was it wrong to help Noe launder money? YES
2. Should the mess in Washington teach us the dangers of loosely regulated capital? YES
3. Is greed one of the seven deadly sins? YES
4. How should we vote on Issue 5? YES
5. Are the payday lenders paying Maggie to blog in their favor? Nothing would surprise me
Maybe Maggie can answer them on her blog…when she’s not busy shilling for her payday masters. Given what we know about Noe and Thurber, should we trust Maggie when it comes to matters of money and politics? I think I’ll take a pass.
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My old boss and technophobe Brian Rothenberg is unbelievably doing high tech. things out in Denver. He’s using his cell phone to interview movers and shakers and get their thoughts and posting it on the Interwebs!
I just have to commend the job Dave Harding is doing in getting Brian up to speed with these things and also commend Brian for stepping out of his comfort zone to do it. Great work guys! The most recent is a candid interview with Brian’s former boss Chris Redfern. The Qik interface will let you watch all the other videos he’s shot as well. (ht Dave@PO)
Qik works with iPhone 3G. Gonna have to try that!
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…and that’s just the good news.
The bad news? He did do some work for them and I’ve been hearing about it from just about everybody that heard it and knew I started PO with Rothenberg back in 2006. Countless emails and IMs that basically all start “dude, wtf?”.
So here’s the truth of the matter, which neither Naugle or Russo had right.
Leo Jennings was paid in some capacity to do some work but was definitely NOT “hired” by PO. He was never in an employee relationship with PO. It’s still one of the dumbest things I’ve heard all year. Hands down. When you combine this with the fact that Progress Ohio completely missed the boat in going after Dann for obvious corruption and malfeasance while in office (even after every single elected person in Ohio – including Dems offered you cover), AND the fact that Dann and his buddies have ties to someone involved in the launch and continued operation of Progress Ohio the whole thing stinks to high heaven.
Political amateurs make these types of plays. Rothenberg and Rusnak should know better. You don’t bang the drum of corruption and right-wing wrongdoing and get away with this kind of stuff. I’m smart enough to see that and I’m not even a “political professional”, much less a communications guy.
So Matt heard partially right and Tim played it partially right in his post. The truth is Leo did a very small amount of work for them – I’m hearing stories ranging from “consulting” to “editing”. That the guy got within a phone call or 200 yards of the place is amazing to me. Stupid, really.
I don’t have time to share my thoughts fully on the state of Progress Ohio since I left. Suffice to say I’ve been relatively disappointed.
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Not that it’s the first time I’ve ever disagreed with Brian Rothenberg, but it’s time to do so again. Brian and I are famous for our squaring off over a dinner with Barack Obama. We even had a few roundabouts in the office when I worked at ProgressOhio.
So here we go again.
Brian’s latest Shadows on High column reads like a defense of Marc Dann. The argument? It’s just SEX (and the media are obsessing over it).
Well, it’s not just about sex. The lurid details about pajamas or no pajamas aside, this story is about inept leadership and replacing a Culture of Corruption with a Culture of Caligula. Marc Dann and his cronies seemed to have set up shop in such a way as to create a hostile work environment for women – something no progressive in their right mind would ignore or accept. That’s the real story. We were promised professionalism and ethical behavior. We got neither. The reason the media and the public has such a hair trigger is that we just suffered through 16 years of corruption and unethical behavior at the hands of the Republicans. Pardon us if we don’t immediately begin to hand out benefits of doubt to the very person who was to be cleaning up the place!
The individual sex acts are the icing on the media cake. The substance of the matter is that Dann was elected to rid us of poor statewide office cultures. He pounded on it time and time and time again. The media was there for just about every morsel Dann fed us. Brian now thinks it’s silly that they want to cover this story now that the white knight of culture cleanse has embroiled himself in scandal? You almost have to laugh knowing he thinks nothing of the sort. Which is why his post is so surprising.
Can you argue that all of this media claptrap is distracting us from the real issues Ohioans need to be facing? You sure can. Who should one blame for this distraction?
Marc Dann.
Can you argue that there are other “zipper scandals in a post-Eliot Spitzer world”? You sure can. But who is the Attorney General of the STATE OF OHIO?
Marc Dann.
Shining the light on the misdeeds of others is not an acceptable form of argument for those who have erred. Ask my daughters. They don’t get away with. Why should Marc Dann? I’m surprised this argument is even made. It’s laughable in it’s inability to explain away the problems in Marc Dann’s AG’s Office. It’s also laughable as a form of argument against too much media coverage. Is anyone REALLY shocked that the Ohio press corps is paying more attention to Marc Dann than Kwame Kilpatrick or Jim Gibbons? Come on!
Has Marc and his office done some good things for Ohio? Sure thing. I believe many bloggers have made this point over and over again. The problem is that there is a list of political blunders, bad decisions, mismanagement, and poor leadership to go along with all the good. It’s a real shame that those successes are overshadowed and future ones are at risk due to what has transpired. Who do we blame for all of that?
Marc Dann.
Are there things that we should be hearing more about over the noise of DannGate? Uh huh. It might be good for blog traffic, readership of newspapers, and ratings of TV shows, but ask any progressive minded person and they’ll tell you they’d rather be talking about something else. Most especially with a presidential election coming up in a state we know we’ll have to deliver. Nobody likes this.
So we can wax poetic about the media’s desire for salacious news coverage and the inability to break through to talk about things that really matter to the lives of Ohioans. You can argue that these distractions are what is damaging. What you can’t argue is whose fault it is. The answer to that question is quite simple:
Dann, Dann, Dann!
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