Gloria Ferris

By now, we all know that the Wide Open experiment at the Plain Dealer is history, but I just can’t seem to get this thought out of my head–a measly $100 contribution to a congressional candidate wiped out a really good idea.  How can that be?  An idea that would go a long way to securing the Plain Dealer’s presence beyond print media gone, just like that.  It was bold, it was cutting edge, and it was risky.  I think Jean Dubail knew all of that, I think Tom O’Hara knew that, but unfortunately for Jean, Tom has moved on and Brent Larkin remains, and Susan Goldberg is just too damn new to Cleveland, The Plain Dealer, and the lay of the land here.

But back to that $100. They hired these four bloggers to write opinion and to debate issues and candidates, right?  If campaign affiliations or ties to candidates could become an issue, wouldn’t you think that this would be discussed up front, or would you expect it to be “understood”?  Actually, there is much more to undertand in regards to affiliations than mere contributions.  Connecting the dots can be so much fun, and actually, the dots on the other side of the equation are much more complex than Yellow Dog Sammy’s dots.  Liberal+Ohio Daily Blog +Critical post on Congressman LaTourette=Yellow Dog Sammy.   Plain Dealer+Wide Open+Liberal+Blogger=Yellow Dog Sammy. These are Jeff’s dots for the purposes of this post.

But back to that $100.  I just couldn’t believe that a complaint by a sitting congressman because of a contribution to a challenger could be the ONLY reason that Wide Open hit the skids.  A few years ago, much was said about Jennifer LaTourette’s position as a lobbyist with Van Scoyoc Associates, Inc., and her association with Steve LaTourette–she is his wife but nothing much ever came of it.  I guess you would call it sort of a “flash in the pan” discovery.  I already knew that Congressman LaTourette served on the Financial Services Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure committee in the House of Representatives, but I didn’t know much about Jennifer and her firm. I googled Van Scoyoc and found the website. When I clicked on biographies and then, Jennifer LaTourette,  no biography appeared.  Only three of her other colleagues had the same glitch.  I called the firm and talked to a very nice receptionist who said she had had that complaint before and she didn’t know why it happened to just those few.  She put me through to Katie McCall’s voice mail. She said that she would be the person to help me. me.  I haven’t received that return call -so, I apologize, but I don’t know Jennifer LaTourette’s specific areas of expertise.   I was able to glean from another on-line source that she served as Steve’s chief of staff for 5 years and that she had a brief stint at the Cleveland Clinic.

The Van Scoyoc firm lists 21 areas of expertise on their website, but for my purposes I will use only two: Financial Services and Transportation and Infrastructure.  I clicked on the client list, and here is what I found: Clients in Northeast Ohio: Akron General Health System, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland Museum of Art, Hiram College, and Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority. There may be others but from a cursory look this is what I found. So, Ted Diadiun’s explanation of the “firing” and journalist ethics being different than blogger ethics takes on a much different meaning.    Complaints could have come from any one of a number of people or places as well as Congressman LaTourette. Although Ted and Susan only compare blogger and newspaper reporter ethics I would go as far to say that newspaper reporter ethics and newspaper owners ethics may have quite a different set of criteria as well.

But see it never was about a $100 contribution,  it was all about ethics.  So lets, connect these dots.  Believe me, this is a much longer connection than the one above so I have broken it down into parts and feel free to connect the dots in other ways for I have in no way made all of the connections.  In fact, I have probably barely scratched the surface. U.S. Congress+House of Representatives+Financial Services and/or Transportation and Infrastructure Commitee +Congressman Steve LaTourette,  Jennifer LaTourette+Van Scoyoc Assocites, Inc. + The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and/or Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, The Plain Dealer+Terry Egger+The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. I have not given all the connections here but it is truly fun to hop from one connected source and tie them to another connected source., try it for yourself.  Power and influence are alive and well in Northeast Ohio.   I am sure that many of you know of other links and associations that would make these connections even more interesting.  

And then, when the dots intersected,  Wide Open+Jeff Coryell+Bill O’Neill+ PlainDealer+Steve LaTourette+???, Wide Open and Jeff became negatives and the negatives outweighed keeping the experiment alive.  Now I don’t know about you, but  I feel a bit better that four stellar bloggers are no longer associated with the Plain Dealer for maybe a bit more than a $100 contribution to one congressman. Hey, I don’t know anything for sure, but I’m  just saying…

Power and influence could have played more of a part in this little storm than anyone has said.  I can live with conflicts of interest a whole lot better than thinking that Congressmen and newspapers think that we don’t know that it’s not all about the money. And then when it is about the money, it isn’t about the campaign contributions, but about the contracts and the money to be made from our tax dollars. Power and influence go a long way in deciding what regions get what contracts.

Voters have the ability to change this culture or keep the status quo.  Unfortunately, non-voters think that they don’t have the power or the influence to change the culture as it stands today. And the percentage of us who decide who leads us becomes more and more of a minority.  And as the balance  in the House of Representatives shifts to the Southwest from the Northeast, the Senate becomes ever more important. Voting should not be an option. And voters should use the ballot box to remind our elected officials that they are to represent us and the public good.

When you live in a city with one newspaper who tends to follow and not lead it is hard to have hope that this can and is changing, but I do have that hope because there are those who work at the Plain Dealer who “get it” and they will continue to work for a change of “the old guard”.  I heard recently that there may be another buyout at the paper soon.  The problem with buyouts can be that higher management remains, the middle with the expertise leaves, and all  you are left with are “newbies”  still trying to find their legs. 

And, with appointed boards such as the Port Authority, the GCP, and the Arnold Pickneys and Sam Millers and oh so many more in this town trying to hold on for dear life. But, as the “old boys club” is striving to remain significant by using the Plain Dealer as their bulypulpit,  more and more people are talking to each other, and the dialogue is changing.  We have thought leaders and new industries in this region that are looked at not only nationally but internationally due to the changing ways we share information which then becomes knowledge which turns into action and that fact gives me great hope that Ohio is not only a political epicenter but a change conduit.  We are in the place to be in the 21st century. 

But back to the $100.  It was never about the $100. It was about the collective voice of Wide Open and how it could change the dialogue.  The Plain Dealer simply wasn’t ready for it because the ties to the old ways are just to strong. But, we’re getting there.  And as Tim is fond of saying “the song of the turtle will be heard across the land” and some day The Plain Dealer will have an investigative reporter who wins a Pulitzer Prize.