Comments (on AMG) Lead to Rescinded Offer From LePage Administration

The standard for who can be employed by the government just took another hit. Most of the remarks cited were clearly satirical, and how can anyone be sure who made them?

Of course, the PC Dweebs, who had nothing to say about Al Franken, would have been all over this. Tipping is loathsome, by the way. A direct intellectual descendant of the Puritans, who were the Khmer Rouge of their day. Maybe he will propose bringing back The Scarlett Letter - although it won't be "A" this time. Bill Clinton saw to that....

Reminds me of the "Kenin Jennings" and Van Jones threads here. At some point, every administration has got to make a choice about flak vs. benefit.

Do we know for sure that Pajak wrote what Sharon accuses him of writing in AMG posts? The MPBN hierarchy appears sensitive now -- after its parents' recent problems -- about treating all listeners fairly. I'm not sure that's in Sharon's DNA. See the semi-mea culpa currently offered offered by the MPBN top dogs on their home page.

Mediadog,

I agree, I think we need to be careful though as well. We don't want to be accusing somebody of saying something they did not say. While I have not looked up what "The Distributist" is accused of saying...we can not go off half cocked and take it for granted that this form of media is correct on who this individual is. Just because they are not printing what his response was does not mean he did not have one...we have seen this happen before. I am just asking that we all be careful how we react to these accusations and what we say.

Lots of problems here, all the way around.

1.) According to MPBN, "observers (plural) of AMG say it's common knowledge that Pajak...." What? Common knowledge? Maybe to a few insiders, but how about we use more than one source?

2.) MPBN had a story if they learned that Beardsley rescinded the job offer, but how does Demeritt or Beardsley know this, unless Pajak admitted that he did post those comments? Were they asked how the allegations were verified?

3.) Thras is right...Tipping is a loathsome sort and and even more arrogant and self-righteous than most of his 20-something peers. Susan Sharon is one of Maine's better and most fair reporters. She must know that Tipping had an agenda here, so why not go for the extra confirmation?

4.) Does anyone on AMG have a problem with the DOC offering a job to the executive director of Friends of Maine's Mountains? What if former commissioner McGowan hired Brownie Carson during the Plum Creek hearings? Or is this just more...well...hypocrisy?

I know Mike Pajak. I know Tipping. Pajak is a good guy, who may have made some stupid, ill-advised comments. I hope Mr. Tipping never goes for a government job or seeks office... because the internet never forgets, nor does it forgive.

AMG's Anonymity Policy

Anonymity is protected on As Maine Goes. Any AMGer who gives a public positive identification of any other AMGer without that AMGer's knowledge and consent will be banned from AMG for life. No parole. No appeals.

Someone might have violated this rule somewhere along the way.

Had this been a Baldacci-era appointee who had disparaged Tea Party activists, gun control opponents and Palin supporters, you'd be shouting "Hurrah!" Because it's now one of your own, though, it's a very different reaction. Should be an interesting four years ...

Finding out who released this information and then proving it maybe a little difficult to do. Although this has been discussed I am sure. I mean think about it, whoever outed him, if it is him, violated that policy and they should be dealt with, but proving it is the hard part. We all know the press is not about to give up their sources.

These policies that Scott and others have created are in place to protect this forum as well as ourselves. We need to respect, protect, and obey these policies as they are here to guide us and protect us as well. But, when we start sharing information that is private, like the real names of our User IDs...then that private priviledged information is out the window. That is why you should not share this information. There are only a few people who know who I am and it will stay that way and I know who they are. They know I will never disclose who they are and it is not because of this policy, I have felt this way before I knew about this policy...although I have known about it for a few years now.

So the offer was rescinded based on a story about an anonymous poster of AMG whose identity was speculated upon by an anonymous owner of a satirical website created as a parody of AMG?

Yup, pretty much.

Considering what LePage said about the NAACP on Martin Luther King Day- I don't get it.

Journalism today is in a vary sad state.

Kevin:

I could not agree more

Kevin - There is no real journalism today. All that is out there are partisan, propaganda, yellow press news services.

Yellow journalism or the yellow press is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism. By extension "Yellow Journalism" is used today as a pejorative to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion.

The double standard is dripping with irony.

We have a governor who can tell the NAACP to "kiss my butt" and whatever else comes to mind but the 2006 post keeps a guy from ever having a job in his chosen field again.

Before the bashing begins please notice that Im not against the governors freedom of expression but it should not be more free than a guy who was s regular citizen when he allegedly made statements years or months ago. Or even if he made them today.

The left is a group of idiots for trying to limit speech and expression for some citizens and the administration is full of wusses who back down to the pressure for some but not all people in Augusta.

NancyEH: "Had this been a Baldacci-era appointee who had disparaged Tea Party activists, gun control opponents and Palin supporters, you'd be shouting "Hurrah!""

Your brush gets broader all the time. How do you even pick that thing up?

In the thread title, why is AMG in parentheses? I can think of no grammatical reason.

Don, maybe because the original headline didn't specify AMG and the poster wanted to retain as much of the headline as possible.

Here's a quote Michael Pajak should have taken to heart:

Well, let me give you some very practical tips. (Laughter.) First of all, I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook -- (laughter) -- because in the YouTube age, whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life. And when you're young, you make mistakes and you do some stupid stuff. And I've been hearing a lot about young people who -- you know, they're posting stuff on Facebook, and then suddenly they go apply for a job and somebody has done a search and -- so that's some practical political advice for you right there. (Laughter.) That's number one.

But I doubt that Pajak would ever listen to anything Barack Obama would say.

Makes me glad Beardsley didn't advance any further than he did in his campaign for governor.

Kevin R: "Makes me glad Beardsley didn't advance any further than he did in his campaign for governor."

What does?

Thanks AJ. I understand now. I did not see before that the threadline was from the MPBN website headline. The word "website" should have been left in the threadline followed by AMG in parentheses. Must teach these young uns good composition and style. Good writing produces good understanding.

Beardsley caved to the PC crowd and threw a good man with extensive experience, who championed his candidacy under the bus on nothing more that supposition and allegations (all made by an anonymous person). How effective of a governor do you think he would be when the heat would be applied to him about controversial policies?

Edited to add "all made by an anonymous person" and correct a spelling error

BTW- I have seen Naran use the neologism threadline. Did she invent it?

"But I doubt that Pajak would ever listen to anything Barack Obama would say."

Just wondering Average Joe if you know Mike personally?

ODF: We have a governor who can tell the NAACP to "kiss my butt" and whatever else comes to mind but the 2006 post keeps a guy from ever having a job in his chosen field again.

There's some truly first rate reporting right there......at least in the modern day sense of that once respected word.

Thanks for the clarification Kevin R. I took you to mean something almost opposite.

Im glad I asked for clarification before opposing your statement. It turns out I agree with your position.

That reaction is a timehonored tradition of the republican party. When the pressure gets heavy they not only dont bother to support the fellow traveler who is under attack. They tend to join in on the feeding frenzy.

Ask Trent Lott about it.

"that reaction is a time-honored tradition of the republican party. When the pressure gets heavy they not only don’t bother to support the fellow traveler who is under attack. They tend to join in on the feeding frenzy"

I suspect this is a problem that is prevalent where the republican party (notice the use of the lower case "r") has been diminished in its capacity to lead. Until more of our old-line media represents conservative thought better it unfortunately I fear will always be the case.

Thanks for the chance to elaborate.

Watcher writes: ...There is no real journalism today. All that is out there are partisan, propaganda, yellow press news services.

Now that's a pretty harsh indictment. It's true that we're seeing more opinion than I like in the news columns and on the air, but there's lots of good journalism being performed too. Readers have many choices. For example, those who don't like the NY Times can buy the Wall Street Journal. Those who don't like Time can buy the Weekly Standard. People who don't like the news on the broadcast networks can turn to Fox. And on the same network, those who dislike Hannity can opt for Brett Baier.

It's tougher in-state, where choice is more limited. This is especially true in the north country where the Bangor News has become an increasingly shrill and steady purveyor of leftish dogma. But the internet combined with a number of rational weeklies offer do an alternative there.

A nod in the general direction of Mediadog on this one. Would you REALLY want a media that only told you the things that you wanted to hear and agreed with? We can argue slant and bias until frogs do fractions, but underlying economic theory doesn't lie. What sells, sells.
Remember, a "conservative" paper was tried, it lasted a little over a month. Anyone else remember "Our Paper", a project of Linda Bean?

There is no real journalism today.

I agree with mediadog and Bob Higgins.

I would add that in historical terms real journalism, that is, the expectation of disinterested and factual reporting, is recent and rare. Most news outlets have been the mouthpiece of one interest or another.