Petrelis Files

(Wash Post Executive Editor Len Downie)








WashPost.com Editor Gave $1,000 in Dec. 05 to GOP PAC

Ben Domenech, the recently hired conservative blogger for the Washington Post's blog section, resigned today because many bloggers smarter than editors at the Post who know how to fact-check showed how he had plagiarized from many sources over the years, trying to pass off the writings of others as his own.

Reading about the Domenech debacle piqued my curiosity about recent donations made by Post journalists to politicians and political action committees, so I did a quick search of Federal Election Commission records, to see, not if, but who from the paper was writing checks.

Media watchdogs may recall that in a January 18, 2004, front-page story, Post media critic Howard Kurtz wrote about reporters and editors giving money to candidates, including writers from his paper:

At the Post, business reporter Albert Crenshaw gave $500 to Maryland Democratic House candidate Ira Shapiro in 2001. Crenshaw said his wife made the donation before he told her that he could not participate in such contributions. Sportswriter Mark Asher gave $500 to Illinois Democratic House candidate Pete Dagher in 2002. He said his wife had worked with Dagher in the Clinton White House.

Kurtz also quoted his boss making the following hollow claim:

Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. said he would discuss the matter with the reporters' editors. "You can't make political contributions at all," he said, citing the paper's policy.

Well, it appears as though not everyone on the editorial side of the Post got the memo about the donations ban from Downie, including Mary Bannon, an editor for the Post's web site.

On Dec. 29, 2005, almost two years after Kurtz wrote his article quoting Downie, Bannon made a $1,000 donation to the Majority Initiative to Keep Electing Republicans, according to FEC files.

To be fair to Bannon, I must point out she's made one other donation as an employee of the Post, back in 2003 when she gave $500 to Democrat Anna Eschoo of California.

Furthermore, since 2001, Bannon, has contributed $11,883 to GOP pols and PACs, and $9,000 to Democrats.

If Downie spoke the truth to Kurtz and Post editorial employee can't make political donations, will the paper move to discipline Bannon, maybe even fire her, for her $1,000 gift to that GOP PAC? I'd sure like to know what the penalty is for Post journalists when they violate the paper's rules about giving money to politicians.

>> [Correction] <<

My bad. I made a mistake about Mary Bannon and her position at the Washingtonpost.com. Tim Ruder, director of marketing for WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive, sent me the following message:

Michael, I just wanted to give you a heads up that Mary Bannon, who you reference in this post, is not an editor at washingtonpost.com and is not on the editorial side of the business. Mary is the director of research at Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive, a position she’s held for some time. Let me know if you have any questions.

My reply to Ruder was that on two web sites that track FEC files, tray.com and newsmeat.com, I found the Dec. 2005 donation from Bannon that listed her employer as washingtonpost.com and her occupation as editor.

Ruder sent back a link to this FEC document, showing an earlier donation from Bannon that lists her occupation as market research director.

However, the FEC document for her $1,000 donation to the Majority Initiative to Keep Electing Republicans clearly lists the Post's web site as her employer and her title as editor.

Bottom line: I goofed, even if the mistake was because of bad reporting by Bannon or the Majority Initiative to Keep Electing Republicans on their FEC form. Perhaps Bannon and the PAC will see fit to contact the FEC and provide them with the correct information.