| SPSA in the News |
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June 23, 2008
Heard on the Hill: Woodward Who? |
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| If you think it’s all red carpets and VIP access for journalist Bob Woodward — breaker of the Watergate scandal, inspiration for the movie “All the President’s Men,” prolific author and marquee of the Washington Post brand — think again. |
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| The Hill - April 29, 2008 |
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Tucker Carlson Lets Loose with Senate Flacks
MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson had many opinions to share during a talk last week with Senate flacks as part of a Senate Press Secretaries Association speaker series in the Russell Senate Office Building.
Carlson began with how unvetted Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is:
“Obama’s the kind of guy you sit with on a flight from Dulles to LAX and you have a few glasses of red wine. You have a great semi-drunk five hours across the country. But you don’t know anything about the guy. He could be the escaped state mental patient.”
His thoughts on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.): “You are a drunk, boorish house guest. Get the hell out of here.”
And Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.): “I can tell you that McCain doesn’t know why he got it. I like the guy. He never yelled at me.” (The Hill)
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| Silly Rule -
March 12, 2008 |
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Talk about ridiculous: As an unintended consequence of ethics reform, some journalists — not all — are barred from taking Members of Congress and their staffers to lunch, and ethics lawyers are trying to figure out who can and who can’t.
Gifts and sit-down meals from lobbyists are banned under the new rules, of course, but this also applies to any employee of a company that employs a lobbyist. And this is how reporters get caught up in the net, even though their work is miles away from whatever lobbying interest their employers might have.
Of course, the rule does not apply to all journalists covering the Hill — just those whose parent companies employ lobbyists. This includes The Washington Post Co., but not The New York Times. It does cover the broadcast networks, MSNBC and Fox News, but maybe not CNN, which is owned by Turner Broadcasting System Inc., which does not employ lobbyists, and which is separately incorporated from its owner, Time Warner Inc., which does. Go figure.
The situation is not going to change journalism as we know it, for sure, but it does provide a marginal advantage for reporters not covered by the ban. The Associated Press, for instance, is free to invite Hill sources to Washington Nationals baseball games — AP’s seats are in the sub-$50 seats — because the wire service employs no lobbyists. Those covered by the ban can’t.
For the record, Roll Call and its parent company, The Economist Group, do not employ lobbyists. Nor do the other main Capitol Hill-based publications: Congressional Quarterly, National Journal, The Hill and Politico.
In cases where ownership structure of media companies is complicated, so is the situation involving lunches, cups of coffee and burgers and beer. Some ethics experts say that no matter how many layers separate a beat journalist from his or her lobbyist- employing corporate HQ, playing it safe means not buying.
Then there’s the issue of a reporter paying out of his or her own pocket. House ethics rules allow it — as long as the reporter doesn’t get reimbursed. Senate rules forbid it even then — unless the reporter says that the expense is based on personal friendship.
The Senate Ethics Committee has ruled, however, that a Senator appearing on Meet the Press can accept a cup of coffee and a muffin in the green room before the show without violating the rules. That’s nice.
Greg Keeley, president of the Senate Press Secretaries Association and spokesman for Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), had it right when he told Roll Call that the rules are “too complicated,” adding, “what influence a journalist is going to have on my boss’s legislative agenda, it’s a bit of a long bow to draw.”
We have a solution to offer: House and Senate amendments exempting accredited journalists from the ethics rule.
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| THE HILL – Feb 12, 2008 - Sen. Barrasso’s flack elected president on Super Tuesday |
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It’s not the Oval Office, but hey, it is the Senate Press Secretary Association (SPSA).
On Tuesday, while results poured in nationwide for Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and the rest of the hopefuls, Gregory Keeley, the new communications director for Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), was basking in the glow of getting elected to the highest post in the world of Senate press secretaries.
Voter turnout was high. Of 81 members eligible to vote in the election, 71 cast their ballots for an incredible 88 percent turnout.
The contest was fierce as candidates made a plethora of promises. Jesse Broder Van Dyke, press secretary to Sen. Daniel Akaka’s (D-Hawaii) office, was among those who ran for the board. In a letter to SPSA members, Van Dyke made many promises including personally screening all incoming SPSA mail for anthrax. The aide also wrote that his first guest speaker of 2008 would be Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“If things get out of hand at an SPSA event,” he promised, “I will not hesitate to taser the hippies.”
Another promise: “My boss gives hugs. I give hugs.”
But the best promise of all — next year’s SPSA trip: Honolulu.
Perhaps Keeley, a native of Perth, Australia, can work something out Down Under.
Keeley said in an e-mail that he is “pumped” about his win. “Originally, I tried to frame myself in the Reagan mould, but everyone including Obama is on that wagon. Then I considered the whole Camelot thing, but even the dogcatcher seems to have a Kennedy endorsement these days. So in the end, I was able to reach across the aisle based on the wise words of the great Anchorman Ron Burgundy. ‘For just one night let’s not be Co-workers. Let’s be Co-people.’ ”
He added: “I was surprised by how many people replied that they didn’t normally vote, but did so due to Ron Burgundy. Either that, or it was my special cologne, Sex Panther by Odeon. It’s illegal in nine countries and made with bits of real panther, so you know it’s good.”
Keeley beat out Matt Mackowiak, press secretary to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas.). |
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| February 12, 2008 |
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Greg Keeley Elected President of Senate Press Secretaries Association
Keeley: “The Senate Press Secretaries Association is the only truly bipartisan organization of its type on the Hill, and that is pretty important.
http://famousdc.com/2008/02/12/i-dont-know-how-to-put-this-but-im-kind-of-a-big-deal/
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| Monday Feb 11, 2008 |
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SPSA Elects New Leadership
From the release:Gregory Keeley, Communications Director for U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., was today named President of the United States Senate Press Secretaries Association (SPSA), a bipartisan group of Senate communications staff. The organization hosts regular meetings with notable guest speakers, professional development programs and social events and coordinates meetings with leaders of major news organizations in order to foster improved relationships and open dialogue between the Senate and the press…….
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/capitol_hill/spsa_elects_new_leadership_77201.asp |
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