Follow the Money Part 2

First of all, I would like to thank the many Statesman employees and former employees who have contacted me to share some of the nastiness going on inside the Statesman newsroom.

There are so many things to write about when it comes to the Statesman and McClatchy Newspapers. They have been so dishonest and unethical its time the Society of Professional Journalists should start their own investigation on these so-called journalists because they (the Statesman) are destroying what’s left of a rapidly dying industry.

Today, Kevin Richert couldn’t even help himself. He had to take a cheap shot at Larry Craig just because it was fun for him. Fellow staffers heard chuckling while he was writing his column.

Now for one of the new questions of the day. Why did a certain reporter along with the Statesman editorial staff decide not to cover the Jade Riley DUI story during the Mayoral elections? Jade Riley is a key staffer for Boise Mayor Dave Bieter and his DUI was swept under the rug by the Statesman. Why? Is the Statesman somehow tied to the Mayor’s office?

We’ll have more on this and other issues about the Popkey tabloid material in future blogs. Feell free to contact us at wp2 and share your stories with us. I won’t release any of the information and will be happy to share whatever you would like the world to know about the unethical behavior of the Statesman and McClatchy Newspapers.

Follow the Money

December 20, 2007    One of the great things about this new venture at workingpresstoo (wp2) is the willingness of so many that used to work for McClatchy and the Statesman to talk with our reporters about what’s going on in the Statesman.

Dan Popkey said he worked on Larry Craig story for six months. Anonymous sources inside the Statesman said he and Mia (I want a Pulitzer) Parrish were giddy when they met and Dan worked on the story for over a year. They couldn’t even be honest about that.

He bragged to one of the young girls he dated on the Statesman staff (Dan like’s them half his age) about how he was going to take down the Senator. Not only could Dan find no evidence to run a story, but he found exactly the opposite of what he was trying to prove.

What to do. Oh, what to do.

Again, insiders and former Statesman reporters helped us piece this together. By May of this year it was clear they had no story, so they needed a hook to run the bogus material they collected.

That’s where Minneapolis comes in….former last newspaper stop of Popkey’s executive editor, Vicki Gowler. Both Vicki and Dan had become very familiar with what was going on in the Minneapolis airport. Besides the fact that Vicki lived their, Dan had traveled thru many times following Craig as he tried to catch him at something. Dan bragged in his stories about showing Craig’s picture to people in gay bars and public restrooms.

wr2 has found that Dan showed and even shared pictures of Craig with the so-called airport sting clowns. All this was done after May and into June when the Statesman decided they didn’t have anything.

When Craig walked into that restroom he was checkmated. If he plead to anything it was a story. If he fought it it was a story. Either way Popkey had what he needed.

Now, how to get the story out of Hennepin County. Popkey knew Craig was going to announce for reelection in early September, so the August recess was a perfect time. But if the Statesman had reported the story if would have looked to fishy.

What to do. What to do.

Several sources in DC (working press) told wr2 that the Hennepin County prosecutor leaked the story to the Roll Call reporter in August. What perfect timing. And it had the added benefit of taking Popkey’s fingerprints off of the setup in Minneapolis.

Roll Call writes the story, Popkey and his indignant editor, Gowler, claim they have the right to destroy Larry and they run their bogus material. Then this month they write a total tabloid piece of hearsay on the front page. Even Statesman readers call BS on their so-called reporting. The Swanky Conservative website’s December 3rd entry has a great description of this. swankyconservative.com

So what does this have to do with following the money? Check out McClatchy’s stock website and all the analyst downgrades in the last year. And then check out the December 18th story “McClatchy’s Fall From Grace” piece by Louis Hau of Forbes.com If McClatchy stock falls much more they will be ripe for a takeover and the liberals at McClatchy would hate to see a Rupert Murdoch swoop in and by their precious liberal rags.

If there was ever a time to “follow the money” and see if a story passes the smell test, now is the time.

There’s a lot more, but wr2 will be patient and wait for our Statesman insiders and former staffers to give us more of the dirt on America’s newest tabloid, the Idaho Statesman.