Birman's response today:
"Tom was indeed a member of ALEC between roughly 2000 and 2003."
Stale blog offering Perspective on ideas, issues and life from Nevada County, California - belaboring the obvious since 2003
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Tom McClintock aide's denial retracted - he was an ALEC member from 2000-2003
I asked Igor Birman to confirm that the initial denial that McClintock had been a member of ALEC had actually come from McClintock himself; it seemed odd that his name was on ALEC's Alumni list (link) and that ALEC staffers weren't responding to my emails about the discrepancy.
Birman's response today:
Birman's response today:
3 comments:
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So - the followup questions will be...
ReplyDeleteFor Kimberly Pruett - when asked a question about the Congressman you work for, is it appropriate to just relay a denial from a fellow staffer, without independently checking that it's correct?
For Igor Birman and Cliff Wagner - when asked a Q about the politician you work for, is it appropriate to just provide an off-the-top-of-your-head recollection, rather than verifying that your recollection is correct?
(this assumes of course that the Q is of legitimate public interest - e.g., shedding light on who else the Congressman might be working for - and not something off the wall.)
p.s. Update to "ALEC staffers..." - I did get a response from ALEC (confirming that McClintock had been a member)
ReplyDeleteI did email Kim Pruett and Igor Birman asking if off-the-cuff recollections from aides were considered good enough responses for Qs (of legitimate public interest) asked of legislators, but didn't get a response from either.
ReplyDeleteIn light of the faulty information from McClintock aides about his ALEC involvement, I sent a followup email to Cliff Wagner (who'd replied with a "personal recollection" about Dan Logue's ALEC membership), asking that he check with Mr. Logue to make sure his information was accurate - but didn't get a response from him either.