Romney Emails Show Need Of Voters To Scrutinize Media As Much As Candidates

The public has an admirable argument about the preponderance of media spin, especially during the election cycle. There seems to be no end to the bizarre news—if one could call it news—that supposedly claims to give proper information to the public. Every current GOP candidate has been fodder for the media that conjures up news that really isn’t what they claim it is. There are no exceptions: Pick a candidate, and the media will find some strange news to create from him/her. To be clear at the outset, this is not an article claiming to endorse Mitt Romney or any other candidate. This is an article that shows an example of obvious propaganda by the media, and Romney is the immediate target.

Presidential Candidate, Mitt Romney, is
under fire by media for using personal email
as Governor despite being lawful and
showing tenacity for conservative government

Credits:Americasright.com

Case in point is the Houston Chronicle’s own odd piece, entitled, “Election 2012: Romney used private email as governor,“ that they published today, March 10, from an AP bulletin published yesterday. The Chron, following the swath of media outlets using the AP article, tries to lay a claim that Romney was doing something devious, or questionable by using his personal email for transmissions that the newspaper claims were government business.

To be fair, both the AP release and The Chron.com state that there is nothing illegal in Romney's use of private email. No kidding. So, what is their point? Both articles, one simply mimicking the other, imply an improper action by the Governor, turned Presidential Candidate. But a read of the actual emails makes one wonder, even laugh, at the media attempt to display some poor character on behalf of the Governor. In one of the emails, Romney clarifies what message he would like sent in a press release,

…I’d rather lead with something which underscored the dangerous path the legislature is heading down, rather than the pork and waste. E.g., ‘I cannot in good conscience agree to spending money from the rainy day fund in a year of record high rvenues [sic.]. The spending in these bills would put Massachusetts on the same road to ruin we’ve been down before.’

…I’d like to really get the message out that what they are doing is a huge departure from fiscal discipline and that if we go down that road, big problems—like deep cuts to local aid, education and higher taxes—are sure to follow.

‘The last time Massachusetts got into financial crisis, it was because the state spent most of the record high tax revenues that came from capital gains. But unlike today, the legislature then was wise enough to put away some of the money in the rainy day fund. Today, we are seeing the same record high tax revenues coming from capital gains and the legislature is not only spending it, they are draining the rainy day fund at the same time.’

In the email, Romney, showing obvious humility, suggests the person to whom the email is addressed could do a better job of writing the point Romney makes. The email does not lend support to some sort of impropriety. Instead, beyond humility amidst ability, it shows qualities of frugality and genuine concern for the welfare of the state. Had the email displayed some demeanor contrary to the Candidate’s current claims to conservative attributes, we would have reason for alarm. It would show him as something other than what he has claimed. The fact that this is a private email indicates a candid moment of clarifying his concerns. Had this been sent through an official email—a publically recorded memo—we would lay accusation that the Governor was deliberately trying to appear pious and play the part of the hero against a spend-thrifty legislature hostile to his heroic expectations. Rather, because it is a privately sent message is conveys just the opposite: that he is simply using the most efficient means of communication to expedite an already scheduled press release relaying his concerns.

In another email Romney sent via his personal email, he comments on an editorial by the Boson Globe that heralds the Governor’s attempt to preserve the rainy day fund, but that also suggests Romney should pass the burden of balancing the budget onto the next Governor because of it. Vetoing the rainy day fund would cause a possible shortage that Romney can avoid dealing with if he simply passes the difficulty on, the Globe suggests. But Romney emphatically refused to saddle the incoming governor with a budget out of balance. Again, one has to wonder why the media would make this out to be a somehow questionable action by Romney because it was not sent via an official government email address. What is actually demonstrated by Romney is good character, not bad, in an unwillingness to pass the buck.

What is learned here is that the reader must be vigilant in closely scrutinizing conclusions by media in comparison to the actual facts—even facts they cite. (Perhaps, by citing them reporters expect no one will check the sources.) The reader must evaluate whether source documents are consistent with the claims made in the report. In this situation, to distinguish any troubling difference between the public and the private persona, and as in this report, (and I would wager, in most) actually showing a consistency with a claimed virtue by the candidate. More than anything, AP and subsequently, The Chron.com and a whole host of outlets, expose their own questionable character when unwittingly documenting the legitimacy of a candidate’s character, contrary to their own headline and body of text that they spin and negate the facts with.
Stephen Braun, who wrote the piece for the Associated Press, misunderstands what he thinks he was conveying through his own sources. In his own report,

‘Any time public business is being done electronically, whether its public or private email, the public should have a record," said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press, which tracks how states deal with electronic data and other records. "When you use private devices to do public business you remove public accountability.’ [Emphasis added.]

We know from this quote that all emails should be public domain because a representative for the media says so. This is evidence of an article designed solely to promote the cause of the reporter to his/her bottom line to gain easy access to documents otherwise legitimately unobtainable. To his credit, Braun does acknowledge that states are split on whether private and official emails should be treated the same. But that is as far as he goes, (except to note some individuals of notoriety who's emails have been protected by the courts), all the while claiming private emails are nefarious.
Additionally, Braun’s final statement, which Houstonians should be observant of as representing the spin of media, again shows his own inability to see the point he is actually making with quotes such as this one about an unofficial email,

By November, intent on finding an offsetting $425 million in appropriations cuts, Romney wrote Fehrnstrom from his campaign email account that he was considering negotiations but inclined toward a budget battle that would ‘let the fur fly.’ Romney wrote that ‘this is about getting spending under control for the state and a new administration.’

Romney ordered $425 million in cuts that month, slashing medical, social service, education and public works programs. But he backtracked on some reductions because of public concerns.

Obviously, the mainstream media, who took this AP report and flew with it, doesn’t have a clue about the larger behavior they exposed in Romney while criticizing him for a minor infraction that is arguably not an infraction at all. Does it strike anyone else as odd that the media is suggesting that Romney has something to hide in these emails, even though the emails do nothing less than show Romney’s actions as Governor are consistent with his campaign promises of responsible governance, frugality and refusing to pass the buck?

As campaigns come to Houston, it is incumbent upon all voters to learn about the candidates, not by listening to tweaked articles by major media outlets, but by digging deeper to the original sources to see the candidate and his/her actions without the vertigo of the spin. Indeed, Texans would do well to scrutinize the media as much as the candidates to avoid these dizzying reports. Houstonians, as well as Americans at large, should understand the real implications from such articles as this one about Romney. It can, has, and will happen to any candidate, especially when they are the biggest target.

Ultimately, the media’s message here is not about Romney but about their own inability to step off the merry-go-round.

(Originally published on Examiner.com/political-buzz-in-houston, 3.10.12)