White House Blogger is Liberal Political Net Consultant -- GOPUSA

White House Blogger is Liberal Political Net Consultant
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
March 10, 2005

(CNSNews.com) -- Web log author Garrett M. Graff made Internet history when he became the first blogger to post from the White House briefing room this week. But, in a letter to the White House seeking temporary press credentials, the "non-partisan and independent" blogger did not divulge his current position with a politically "progressive" Internet consulting firm that has liberal politicians and activist groups as clients.

Since mid-January 2005, Graff, the former deputy national press secretary for Howard Dean's failed 2004 presidential campaign, has been writing for Fishbowl D.C., "a gossip blog about Washington, D.C. media."

Last week, he wrote an open letter to the White House Office of Media Affairs, asking to be considered for temporary news media credentials. In that letter, Graff stated that, "By both design and practice, Fishbowl D.C. is a non-partisan and independent publication that covers the media industry and journalism in Washington, D.C."

Cybercast News Service asked Graff if he discussed his current or former political work with officials at the White House.

"No, and I don't think ..." Graff said, not finishing the thought. "The simple answer is: My blog doesn't cover politics, you know? I think that you would be hard pressed to read through the, uh, the blog and really see it take any sort of political take at all.

"I mean, it's a blog about journalism," Graff added.

Internet activism for liberal groups and politicians

In addition to blogging for Fishbowl D.C., Graff serves as vice president of communications and articulation for EchoDitto.com, a politically-oriented and politically-liberal Internet consulting firm. Of the 16 team members listed on EchoDitto.com's site, Graff is one of 14 who previously worked on staff or volunteered with the Howard "Dean for America" 2004 presidential campaign. The organization also advertises that "In addition to our full-time staff, we work with a broad network of progressive activists on a regular basis, as well as others on a contract basis."

Graff hesitated when asked about EchoDitto.com's work with political groups.

"All of our clients are actually listed on the EchoDitto website," Graff explained after a pause.

A list of "EchoDitto Projects" published on the site includes a few of charities such as the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. But the overwhelming majority of the firm's clients are liberal organizations like Air America Radio, liberal political candidates and office holders such as Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), and liberal activist groups such as the Campaign for America's Future.

"Not all of those are current clients," Graff explained. "And, obviously, since the election, we've done very little in the way of political work."

Praise and criticism from journalists and fellow bloggers

Some journalists praised Graff for his tenacity in gaining entry to the White House briefing room.

"Landmark Day: First Blogger Gets White House Access," proclaimed the headline on the Editor and Publisher website.

Fellow blogger Ana Marie Cox, editor of Wonkette.com, penned a faux congratulatory post, stating that, "No one could be more thrilled than we are that a blogger is attending the daily White House briefing.

"As we've said, we'd like to see more gay hookers in the gaggle, not fewer, and blogging is about as close to turning tricks one can come without actually making any money," Cox wrote, a reference to former Talon News White House correspondent Jeff Gannon, who lost his job when it was alleged that he had also maintained a website advertising homosexual escort services.

"Seriously: Congrats to Garrett," Cox continued. "He deserves praise for all the hard work he did to secure the pass (we gather it had to do with something called a 'phone,' and talking to 'people')."

Graff insisted that his blogging is not political and there are, in fact, only passing references to political issues in his posts. But the former editor of the Harvard Crimson has taken several rhetorical swipes at White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan.

In a post entitled, "FLASH: Scott McClellan Has No Visible Horns in Person," Graff, writing in first-person plural, described the moment when, "we proceeded back upstairs and found ourselves face-to-face with The Beast himself.

"Scott McClellan was working his way through the reporters' workspace, answering questions and handing down non-answers and obfuscating quotes left and right," Graff wrote.

Later in the same post, however, Graff seemed to defend McClellan personally while criticizing the White House's attitude toward the news media.

"Now overall, Scott got very good reviews from the press corps," Graff wrote. "While his main responsibility - stonewalling for an administration that is remarkably unfriendly to the press - doesn't win him many friends among the regular reporters, they generally describe him as an affable guy."

Graff noted that, following a 20-minute visit with McClellan in the press secretary's office, the two exchanged gifts; Graff offering a bag of chocolate mint cookies, and McClellan reciprocating with a box of White House M&Ms.

"Ahh, good ole chocolate," Graff wrote, "the great equalizer between power and new media."

Testing Jeff Gannon's White House access

Graff decided to seek access to the briefing after White House officials dismissed questions about daily passes issued to Gannon, whose real name is James Guckert. Critics, who had slammed Gannon for allegedly softball questions for McClellan and President Bush, were told that the passes were easily available to journalists who covered the White House even on a part-time basis.

"Part of our experiment was to test how Jim 'Jeff Gannon' Guckert gained access," Graff explained on his blog, "and we spoke with him to ensure we followed the same general procedure."

Gannon, writing on his own new blog, JeffGannon.com, congratulated Graff. "I wish him the best of luck," Gannon stated, while also criticizing the traditional media's coverage of Graff's milestone.

"The New York Times is hailing the first blogger to be issued a 'day pass' to a White House press briefing," Gannon wrote. "It goes to great lengths to play up his genealogical background in journalism, but fails to mention that the Vermont native served as deputy national press secretary on Howard Dean's presidential campaign last year.

"Hmmm," Gannon concluded, "no political ties there!"

The staff of Editor and Publisher challenged Gannon's criticism Monday in a post entitled, "Pot, Meet Kettle: Gannon Comments on First Blogger at WH Briefing.

"Gannon fails to mention that, whatever his political background, Graff is not currently employed by a partisan political organization (as Gannon was during his two-year stint at the White House)," Editor and Publisher stated. The E&P editorial did not mention Graff's current work for EchoDitto.com. Gannon's former employer, Talon News, is operated by a Texas Republican activist.

Liberal bloggers, such as Markos Zuniga of DailyKos.com, ridiculed Gannon as "a partisan plant using a fake name in the White House press corps." Others published photos of a nude male purported to be Gannon from a defunct website advertising an escort service.

Dean campaign paid bloggers to say 'positive things'

Garrett M. Graff's entry into the White House briefing room came just days after reports were published about two bloggers who were paid by Graff's former employer, the "Dean for America" presidential campaign, "to ensure that they said positive things about Dean."

Zephyr Teachout, the former head of online outreach for the Dean campaign, revealed the payments in a post on her blog, Zonkette.

"On Dean's campaign, we paid Markos (Zuniga of DailyKos.com) and Jerome Armstrong (of MyDD.com) as consultants, largely in order to ensure that they said positive things about Dean," Teachout wrote. "To be very clear, they never committed to supporting Dean for the payment - but it was very clearly, internally, our goal."

Armstrong has said that he was not blogging about the election during the time he was being paid by the Dean campaign. Both of the bloggers paid by Dean's campaign appear to have disclosed their role as "consultants" for the former Vermont governor's presidential bid to their readers. Nonetheless, Teachout now seems to condemn the practice of bloggers accepting payment from those they write about, irrespective of disclosure.

"I don't trust the framing of anyone who is regularly writing and speaking about people they are taking money from," Teachout wrote, "even if they told me about it regularly."