"Duh, Mr. Catanese"

A buddy of mine just forwarded me a link to arenaofideas.org.

It's written by a guy named Paul Seale, "a Reagan Republican," who has worked for Roy Blunt and Mark Wright.

Paul, to say the least, is not a fan.

In fact, I'm guessing he may be one of the ones urging Sen. Norma Champion -- and possibly other Republicans -- not to talk to me.

Here is his post, "Duh, Mr. Catanese."

KY3 “political reporter” David Catanese decided to post a nice little story explaining how a State Senator Norma Champion refused to talk to him because of a percieved support for her opponent in the election. The point of controversy centers around a “Harpool for state senate” bumper sticker on his desk in a KY3 blog promotion in addition to a few comments on KY3’s blog about her.

Duh.

What Dave did not discuss is how his personal post and news stories regarding Champion and the district have gone hand in hand with her opponent, Doug Harpool.

I also hear from sources that when Catanese has interviewed Senator Champion in the past the experience was very unprofessional during a couple initial interviews and was taken out of context on this blog entry.

I also hear that Catanese was behind Doug Harpool showing up for Representative Mark Wright’s talk about fee office reform. This was Catanese could could interview Harpool and provide a some sort of positive spin for Doug.

Again, duh.

I do know that I have read blog post warning Dave about his percieved bias and badgering of people who do not share his point of view. I would agree for the most part of those findings. I can see why people would freeze him out.

I my self have heard this from several Republican candidates I know personally. I have thought about picking up the phone and talking to news director Jeff Benscoter (we were friends and fellow department heads and KY a few years ago) but I felt like it was not my place.

My point is that if Dave really cared about fostering honest debate and informing the public about issues he would go the extra mile and make sure he is providing a balanced perspective. If a candidate does not feel they are getting a fair shake then he should stop and listen.

My guess is the guy is a new hire at KY3 and still has the big head. I hope Jeff will help him grow up a little and be a little more objective and fair/balanced in his efforts.

Posted by Paul Seale on Wednesday, October 4th, 2006 at 11:46 am. Filed under Missouri Politics, Media.

Man, and I thought Speaker Hastert was having a rough week.