"Many contractors make donations' but not all make news: JS editor

Wondering why a wire story about County Executive Scott Walker's award of a no-bid contract to a campaign contributor didn't make the Journal Sentinel, although it was reported by many other news outlets,the Dem Party's communication director asked the guy who runs the daily news operation, Managing Editor George Stanley.

Here is the exchange, with his less than satisfactory reply:

From: Jessica Erickson [mailto:jessicae@wisdems.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2005 2:27 PM
To: George Stanley
Subject: Noncoverage on Walker No-bid contract for campaign donors

Hi George,

I was wondering why the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has so far ignored the below AP story on Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker approving a $250,000 no-bid county contract for a campaign donors’ firm – especially when the paper has devoted so much coverage to a proper contract by Governor Doyle’s Administration that was the best price for taxpayers, was properly done, and was with a Wisconsin company.

I hope to see the paper report on this Walker story in tomorrow’s edition.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Jessica Erickson
Communications Director
Democratic Party of Wisconsin

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From: George Stanley [mailto:GSTANLEY@journalsentinel.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2005 5:00 PM
To: Jessica Erickson
Subject: RE: Noncoverage on Walker No-bid contract for campaign donors

Dear Ms. Erickson:

After receiving your email, I asked our reporters about this and learned that David Umhoefer and columnists Cary Spivak and Daniel Bice had checked this out, determined that the contributions were small, that the county’s “time out’’ rule for contributions during contract procedures had not been violated, and that there was nothing suspicious about how the contract was granted.

Dave Umhoefer reported on the contract at the time – it was an emergency situation with hospital ERs overflowing with mentally ill folks and the firm that got the contract had had county contracts for years.

Many contractors make political donations, and we check them out without regard to political party, but not all of them are suspicious or cause for news stories.

I hope this answers your question. I have received a number of emails this afternoon, in what appears to be a coordinated campaign, and I would appreciate it if you could send this response to others you have asked to contact me.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

George Stanley
Managing Editor
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Actually, I am the one who asked people to e-mail Stanley and ask why this story has not seen the light of day in the state's largest newspaper. I have no idea who may have contacted him, nor does Jessica. But if you did, it doesn't sound like you should hold your breath waiting for a reply.

Now, to his reply. The unanswered question is what makes this different from the Adelman Travel contract, which has prompted a series of stories, complaints, and an investigation, largely driven by the newspaper's coverage.

The next question is whether anyone has investigated the other contract awarded to those same donors, in a bidding process where the winning firm ranked near the bottom of the pile.

If these Walker contracts are not worth a story, why was the Doyle contract? Fairness and equal treatment is the real question. Perhaps someone should ask Stanley that.

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Menwhile, the person who uncovered the story in the first place, Cory Liebmann of Eye On Wisconsin, has posted an open letter to Stanley. Let's see if he gets a response.

Open Letter to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Mr. George Stanley, Managing Editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

On November 21, 2005 I posted an investigative story entitled “Contract Questions for Scott Walker”. That same morning I called your newsroom and notified them of the existence of that post and it’s contents. A week went by and I saw nothing about the story in your paper so I decided to email you. If you recall, you responded by telling me “Thanks, we’ll check into this.” I must admit that I was heartened by your short message. I received that email two weeks ago today and still nothing has been mentioned in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Yesterday the AP picked up one part of our investigative report and actually reported on it. This, in turn, has been picked up by several newspapers and a few television stations, but still nothing from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Now perhaps you are investigating a whole new aspect of this matter or maybe you are planning for a story in tomorrow’s paper. In the name of balanced coverage, I hope that this is the case.

As you know, you have reported several times on the contract issue with Governor Doyle. I believe you even had one of the stories on the front page. You also had a lengthily editorial on one occasion. This on a contract that was actually bid and won by Adelman Travel. One of the contracts that we expose in our report is a no-bid contract to a company whose executives contributed to Scott Walker. Yet another one was worth a whopping $1.2 million and was awarded to the same company even though their scores did not even place them in the top 4 of those competing. This alone should warrant a story in the hometown paper shouldn’t it? Your paper even quoted very serious comments by Walker against Doyle, regarding the travel contract. In my opinion, this puts even more responsibility on you to report on this potential Walker scandal.

Am I missing something here? Is there a legitimate reason that this is not newsworthy? If this is the case, please explain. Explain why not only I am mistaken but also why the AP and others are mistaken as well. Without this explanation, we can only assume that you have “a horse in this race” and it just might be the Milwaukee County Executive.

Sincerely,

Cory Liebmann
Eye on Wisconsin