The Other McCain

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Townhall VP Garthwaite: Alan Moore’s Statements Slagging Christine O’Donnell ‘Unfortunate and Unauthorized’

Posted on | September 17, 2010 | 24 Comments

After former Christine O’Donnell campaign staffer Alan Moore disparaged his ex-boss in an article at Politico, I called attention to the fact that Moore is employed by Salem Communications, which owns the conservative Web sites Townhall.com and HotAir.com. Soon after, I received an e-mail from Townhall’s Jonathan Garthwaite, which he has granted permission to publish:

If you want to chat, we can discuss the unfortunate and unauthorized quote by Alan Moore who manages software development and search engine marketing for me at Townhall/HotAir.
Alan is a good guy but he is not part of the editorial team at Townhall/HotAir, is not a spokesman for townhall and his quotes do not in any way resemble the feelings of the rest of the team at Townhall or HotAir.
As you might have seen, Ed Morrissey, Guy Benson, Katie Pavlich among others have been O’Donnell boosters for sometime.
I believe Alan’s issues with her stem from past dealings as a 2008 campaign staffer/volunteer and aren’t relevant to Townhall or HotAir’s support of her candidacy today.
An O’Donnell win in the primary was the best thing for conservative principles and her victory in November would be a win for the American people.

Jonathan Garthwaite
VP & General Manager, Townhall/HotAir

Thanks for the clarification, Jonathan.

UPDATE: Perhaps it would be helpful to explain why I feel so strongly about disgruntled former employees who disparage their erstwhile employers. I’ve never worked in a newsroom that wasn’t a seething cauldron of frustrated ambition. It’s just the nature of the beast. Any journalist with a scintilla of ambition will, inevitably, be convinced that he deserves more credit, better assignments, more pay, etc.

That’s true at any small-town paper, but the situation is far worse in Washington, D.C., which is a magnet for ambitious people, including journalists. This is the Big Leagues, and people play for keeps.

When I joined The Washington Times, I was a 38-year-old married father of three with more than a decade in the newspaper business. Having already enjoyed substantial success, I was keenly aware that it was both an honor and an opportunity to be hired as an assistant editor for America’s leading conservative newspaper. Grateful for the honor, I was determined not to waste the opportunity.

My first day on the job, I met Michael Rust, a staff writer for the news magazine Insight (sister publication of the Times) who had come to Washington right out of college and had suffered a few “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” during his career.

Michael said to me: “Welcome to Washington, a town where people advance” — and here he made a hand gesture, as if climbing a ladder — “on the knives stuck in the backs of their former friends.”

Oh, that I had taken his warning more seriously!

Ambition is a powerful force for good in human affairs, a spur to hard work and improvement, as people strive to excel at their professions. Yet ambition can also be a force for evil, causing resentments and betrayals when people seek to advance their own careers at the expense of others.

Perhaps nothing is more dangerous than that species of frustrated ambition which channels itself into scapegoating, as people seek to blame other people for their own disappointments and failures. And so we must discuss the unfortunate case of George A.

George A. was an investigative reporter, and a good one. He’d broken some of the most important stories in the newspaper’s history. I always liked George — a jocular, jaunty bantam rooster, a short and wiry man full of energy and enthusiasm.

And then things started going bad for George. I was never privy to the full details, but his marriage fell apart in what was apparently a very bitter divorce. His productivity declined and it was said that he developed a serious drinking problem.

All of this was above my pay-grade, you understand. My job was just to write and edit stories, and I had no influence over personnel matters. But, as I heard it, here’s how George’s situation played out: He left to take a job as press secretary for a politician in a distant state, but got fired after a few months. He then sought to get his old job back, but the position had already been filled. And that’s when he went on a vendetta against The Washington Times.

George started a blog dedicated almost exclusively to disparaging his former employer and, for no reason that I ever understood, decided to make me one of his scapegoats.

When left-wingers started hitting me with that “raaaaaacism” smear, George claimed to have heard me say things in the newsroom that would have gotten me fired — if had I actually said them, which I did not. Among other things, George claimed that I was an anti-Semite, which is the exact opposite of the truth.

Now, consider my situation: Here was a guy toward whom I had no malice. He had no reason on earth to be savaging my reputation so dishonestly. He was merely attacking me as a proxy to strike back at the newspaper, which he felt had done him wrong. But while George was free to say all these outlandish things about me, I was forbidden to respond.

It was the policy of my bosses not to dignify George’s calumnies with a response, and so my marching orders were to bite my tongue — which is certainly not my preferred modus operandi, you understand. But I was “a man under authority,” and my obligation of loyalty to my employer forbade me to defend my own name.

This went on for a period of years and it wasn’t until 2008, when a change in management and a new freelance opportunity gave me reason to resign from The Washington Times, that I was free to address any of the things George had said. By then, however, I’d withstood all his lies and come through the experience stronger than ever, while George had made such a laughingstock of himself that even liberals no longer took him seriously. He eventually discontinued his blog and no one I know of has heard from him in the past two years. 

Here is the great irony in all this: I was just as frustrated and discontented with my job at The Washington Times as George ever had reason to be.

Before I ever came to Washington, I’d been an award-winning columnist and had hoped that my ability in that direction might be recognized. During my first few years at The Washington Times, I’d occasionally do op-ed commentaries. However, when Tony Blankley became editor of the editorial page, he instituted a policy that more or less banned staffers on the “news” side of the operation from doing op-ed columns.

Personally, I admire and respect Tony, but I hated the hell out of that policy, and from that tiny acorn of resentment grew a towering oak of dissatisfaction. I kept asking my bosses to assign me to a reporting job — where I could get a regular byline and not be stuck in the office all day — and they kept turning me down.

My unhappiness increased steadily, but I felt a sense of shame about my frustrations because, after all, this was a job that I had prayed for. Wasn’t I being ungrateful, when this job was quite literally an answer to prayer? Wasn’t I honor-bound to try to make the most of my situation?

At any rate, when I finally decided to resign, I wrote in my letter to Wes Pruden that it was as if God said, “Go.”

Ten years is a long time to work for any one company and, once I made the decision to leave The Washington Times, all my frustration disappeared instantly.

If I didn’t always get the assignments I wanted, that was not my bosses’ fault, it was mine. Had I been less reckless about my loose-cannon reputation, perhaps they would have seen fit to employ me in a capacity where I would have been happier. So I have no cause to disparage my former employer and, indeed, I’m grateful for those ten years of valuable experience. God forbid I should ever become a disgruntled loser like George.

Which brings us back to Alan Moore, Kristin Murray and David Keegan. Let us stipulate that the O’Donnell ’08 campaign was badly run. Let us stipulate further that the candidate was ultimately responsible not only for her own mistakes, but for any mistakes made by her staff — after all, she hired them.

Stipulating all that, doesn’t it behoove campaign operatives to demonstrate some residual loyalty to their former employers? What does it tell any prospective employer — not merely in politics, but in any future endeavor — about your character that you are willing to so publicly disparage your ex-boss?

Look, I once worked for Otis Brumby Jr., the most notoriously temperamental newspaper publisher in Georgia. Otis has a reputation as a cranky tight-fisted tyrant, but I’ll say this about him: He’s still in the newspaper business, when a lot of other publishers have gone bankrupt or sold out to conglomerates. So I’m proud to say I once worked for him.

If I can manage to say something nice about Otis Brumby, I’d think Christine O’Donnell’s former campaign staffers could find it in their hearts to say something nice about her, perhaps starting with, “I’m sorry.”

Category: Delaware

Comments

24 Responses to “Townhall VP Garthwaite: Alan Moore’s Statements Slagging Christine O’Donnell ‘Unfortunate and Unauthorized’”

  1. I’d Like to Dedicate This Song . . . : The Other McCain
    September 17th, 2010 @ 5:46 pm

    […] making clear whether Townhall and Salem authorized Moore’’s actions.UPDATE II: Townhall VP Garthwaite: Alan Moore’s Statements Slagging Christine O’Donnell ‘Unfortunate and … var addthis_append_data='false';var addthis_language='en';var addthis_options='twitter, digg, […]

  2. Kelly
    September 17th, 2010 @ 10:02 pm

    Sorry, it doesn’t matter that Alan Moore isn’t part of the editorial team at Townhall. The fact is, Politico specifically mentions Townhall in that article and therefore it reflects poorly upon the company/site as a whole.

    If I’ve got a job as a water boy for a football team stadium and I’m quoted as saying disparaging things about my own team’s stadium in a rival team’s newspaper, while they specifically state that I work for X football team, I should expect to be disciplined if not fired.

    It doesn’t matter in what capacity you work for a company. Your words and actions reflect upon that company and you should act accordingly. If not, expect to be canned.

  3. Kelly
    September 17th, 2010 @ 6:02 pm

    Sorry, it doesn’t matter that Alan Moore isn’t part of the editorial team at Townhall. The fact is, Politico specifically mentions Townhall in that article and therefore it reflects poorly upon the company/site as a whole.

    If I’ve got a job as a water boy for a football team stadium and I’m quoted as saying disparaging things about my own team’s stadium in a rival team’s newspaper, while they specifically state that I work for X football team, I should expect to be disciplined if not fired.

    It doesn’t matter in what capacity you work for a company. Your words and actions reflect upon that company and you should act accordingly. If not, expect to be canned.

  4. Joe
    September 17th, 2010 @ 10:35 pm

    Message to Alan Moore: It is not a good idea to burn bridges.

    But on the plus side, at least you did not pull a Will Folks.

  5. Joe
    September 17th, 2010 @ 6:35 pm

    Message to Alan Moore: It is not a good idea to burn bridges.

    But on the plus side, at least you did not pull a Will Folks.

  6. SDN
    September 17th, 2010 @ 10:52 pm

    Hey, if Alan Moore is actually reading what AllahPundit is writing over there, I’d say he comes by his views honestly….

  7. SDN
    September 17th, 2010 @ 6:52 pm

    Hey, if Alan Moore is actually reading what AllahPundit is writing over there, I’d say he comes by his views honestly….

  8. DaveP.
    September 17th, 2010 @ 10:53 pm

    Be interesting to watch how Alan Moore’s career progresses now. Every possible subsequent employer will be wondering if he’ll be the next one Moore dishes dirt on, or if he’ll be the one involuntarily drawn into some negative attention when Moore dishes on someone else.

  9. DaveP.
    September 17th, 2010 @ 6:53 pm

    Be interesting to watch how Alan Moore’s career progresses now. Every possible subsequent employer will be wondering if he’ll be the next one Moore dishes dirt on, or if he’ll be the one involuntarily drawn into some negative attention when Moore dishes on someone else.

  10. Pete
    September 17th, 2010 @ 10:54 pm

    Way to go Stacy!

  11. Pete
    September 17th, 2010 @ 6:54 pm

    Way to go Stacy!

  12. Adobe Walls
    September 17th, 2010 @ 11:07 pm

    Once honor has been voluntarily violated especially when one does it just to get noticed it’s almost unrecoverable. A sense of honor is becoming even more uncommon than common sense.

  13. Adobe Walls
    September 17th, 2010 @ 7:07 pm

    Once honor has been voluntarily violated especially when one does it just to get noticed it’s almost unrecoverable. A sense of honor is becoming even more uncommon than common sense.

  14. Estragon
    September 18th, 2010 @ 1:01 am

    Editorial team or not, he’s working with a rival outfit at Politico. In any sane world, that gets you fired and no letter of recommendation.

    Constructive criticism is one thing, but this smacks of self-service above all. Perhaps believing their past association with O’Donnell will hurt their status with their new oh-so-trendy friends, they embark upon a preemptive smear campaign.

  15. Estragon
    September 17th, 2010 @ 9:01 pm

    Editorial team or not, he’s working with a rival outfit at Politico. In any sane world, that gets you fired and no letter of recommendation.

    Constructive criticism is one thing, but this smacks of self-service above all. Perhaps believing their past association with O’Donnell will hurt their status with their new oh-so-trendy friends, they embark upon a preemptive smear campaign.

  16. Nick
    September 18th, 2010 @ 1:07 am

    Eh, let him say what he wants. Townhall can clarify that it is not their opinion.

    I’d hate for political speech to be suppressed due to editorial opinion of the organization at large.

    What if Ross Douthat got a hold of some damaging
    Obama info at one of his cocktail parties in Oct 2012. Should the NYT editorial department threaten his job for publishing it?

  17. Nick
    September 17th, 2010 @ 9:07 pm

    Eh, let him say what he wants. Townhall can clarify that it is not their opinion.

    I’d hate for political speech to be suppressed due to editorial opinion of the organization at large.

    What if Ross Douthat got a hold of some damaging
    Obama info at one of his cocktail parties in Oct 2012. Should the NYT editorial department threaten his job for publishing it?

  18. nathan hale
    September 18th, 2010 @ 3:06 am

    Douthat was a member of the Journolist, he’d never do that, we still don’t have the Khalidi
    tape almost two years later

  19. nathan hale
    September 17th, 2010 @ 11:06 pm

    Douthat was a member of the Journolist, he’d never do that, we still don’t have the Khalidi
    tape almost two years later

  20. richard mcenroe
    September 18th, 2010 @ 3:09 pm

    Just for the record, Stacy, your opposition to backstabbing has brought a perfecttly brilliant
    post I was working on to a complete halt: “Barack Obama IS My Asshole Boss.”

    Thanks.

    You’ll be hearing from my attorney concerning the intentional infliction of writer’s block.

  21. richard mcenroe
    September 18th, 2010 @ 11:09 am

    Just for the record, Stacy, your opposition to backstabbing has brought a perfecttly brilliant
    post I was working on to a complete halt: “Barack Obama IS My Asshole Boss.”

    Thanks.

    You’ll be hearing from my attorney concerning the intentional infliction of writer’s block.

  22. Mark Meed
    September 18th, 2010 @ 8:52 pm

    This post contains enormous wisdom. Thank you for the personal angle which basically brought an otherwise B-Flat treatment (no slight intended – it’s that kind of story) of the disgruntled and disloyal alive.

  23. Mark Meed
    September 18th, 2010 @ 4:52 pm

    This post contains enormous wisdom. Thank you for the personal angle which basically brought an otherwise B-Flat treatment (no slight intended – it’s that kind of story) of the disgruntled and disloyal alive.

  24. Moore’s Bedfellow? UPDATE: Townhall VP Defines “Helps Run” « The Prudence Paine Papers
    September 19th, 2010 @ 12:23 pm

    […] to TheOtherMcCain to read the rest of Garthwaite’s disavowal of Moore’s comments and Townhall’s […]