The Other Side

You've read The Rocky Mountain News story about the "Denver Three" and their run-in with the man they believe was one of the people involved in kicking them out of the March 21 President Bush "town hall" meeting.

From the News:

Jay Bob Klinkerman, leader of the state group for Republicans ages 18 to 40, admitted in an interview that he was at the gate of the Wings over the Rockies Museum when the three people were stopped.

The chairman of the Colorado Young Republicans was one of the people involved in a March 21 incident in which three Denver residents were forcibly removed from a speech given by President Bush because of a bumper sticker.

There's always another side to every story, however. Here's the version from the Young Republicans...

"Denver Three" Member Harasses Young Republican Chair

Karen Bauer, one of three people removed from President Bush’s Social Security meeting posed as a Rocky Mountain News journalist while grilling Jay Bob Klinkerman at a regular meeting of the Denver Metro Young Republicans. Klinkerman is chair of the Colorado Young Republicans, a group unaffiliated with the Denver Metro Young Republicans.

Ann Imse, staff writer for the Rocky Mountain News and photographer Evan Semon, escorted Bauer into the meeting.

"They were waiting in the restaurant area until our meeting began. They then joined our meeting in progress in a private room. They declined signing our guest form or to introduce themselves which is standard at our meetings," said Jude Sandvall, President of the Denver Metro Young Republicans.

It was only discovered after the harsh questioning of Klinkerman that Bauer was not a reporter and that she had shown up with Imse to intentionally confront the Young Republican chair.

"The sad thing is that we have enjoyed a great relationship with the press media in the past. Ann Imse's behavior is beyond our worst expectations in her attempt at deception. I’m truly disappointed with the Rocky Mountain News," concluded Sandvall.

The Denver Metro Young Republicans have been meeting at On the Border Cantina for more than 7 years on the 4th Tuesday every month at 6:30pm. They are independent from any State or National Young Republican organization and have been in continuous existence for more than 40 years in the Denver Metropolitan region.

So that's what they say. Where's the truth? Probably where it always is: somewhere in the middle.
 

Comments

[Let_Freedom_Ring]

I think the former Mayor of Washington DC could sum up this situation with a single sound bite from his video taped past.

It isn't "Yo baby, give me a hit of that crack pipe".

[Hmmm]

One of the "Denver Three," a Rocky Mountain News writer, and a Rocky Mountain News camera man all HAPPEN to show up at a Republican meeting.

Sounds like collusion to me.

Two rules of the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics are 1) Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events and 2) Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting.

Seems Ann Imse is 0 for 2. Maybe she should familiarize herself with them.

[wonderwoman]

Ann has obviously been biased about this story from day one. For example, even though the Secret Service has retracted their statement saying that it was a Republican Party staffer who did it, Imse refuses to print it. Why?

[Curious Stranger]

Has anyone printed it?

[Ter Ducken]

Collusion? Give me a break. Bauer decided to confront the guy and invited the press, and the press followed since it sounded like a good story. It's not collusion, it's good PR.

[Phoenix Rising]

Klinkerman's explaination is interesting, but it doesn't change the fact that he gave no useful answers during the meeting. If, as he claims, Bauer was posing as an RMN reporter, then he declined to answer any questions to "the media". If, as the RMN claims, Bauer confronted him openly, then he declined to get involved in a confrontation.

In either event, the RMN story seems more designed to continue the storyline in print while it develops than anything that actually contributes to the depth of the story itself. This is understandable; look at the Gannongate story - no news for weeks, and now that they have entry/exit logs showing access when there was no reason for him to be there, no-one will cover it because "its time has passed". So an interested media keeps the story alive...

[wonderwoman]

Curious Stranger, the truth is the truth, does it matter if anyone else has printed it? The other papers have continued to print articles about the story, but they leave out the Republican Party staffer because they know it is not true. Ann knows the truth and chooses not to print it.

[Reality]

Actually, Imse corrected herself this morning, albeit a number of days later than everyone else. The Post editorial is an example. Looks like everyone short of Jim Spencer is now, correctly, identifying the guy as a volunteer - not a GOP staffer.

[Ter Ducken]

I really hate this silly argument that reporters conspire to cover things up. Give me a break. Mass conspiracy! Everyone's out to get you! Lock your doors! You really think there's some secret agreement that is made where the press conspires to stifle the truth and fabricate the rest of the story?

If that were true, there's a number of stories that never come out on either side. If you're going to do that, you have to also argue that reporters do the same thing for Republicans. There must be a big conspiracy to not print the truth about the Bill Owens infidelity rumors! Conspiracy! Conspiracy!

Me? I think if there were truth to the rumors, they'd probably print them. They just can't find the story or it doesn't exist. I think the News thought they had a good angle on the story and they went with it.

The reason the media keeps going on this story is simple: 1) the Denver Three have done a good job keeping their PR activities going, and 2) it really has the potential to be a big story, and nobody wants to drop it until they reach a dead end. If it looks like a good story, you keep going.

But seriously, enough with the conspiracy theories. It's silly. Argue the merits of the story but don't use that 3rd grade argument that it's a big hoax.

[Curious Stranger]

In the end, does it really matter if it was Party staff, or White House staff, or Beauprez staff, or some random volunteer. They were obviously considered representative enough to man the front door.

[Hmmm]

Ter Ducken, do you need a diagram to understand this?

Bauer cannot gain access to a regular meeting of a membership club in a private facility without the help of Imse. So, under the guise of a reporter and flanked by a real reporter she is able to confront Klinkerman.

It is precisely the definition of collusion which in case you're not familiar is: A secret agreement and cooperation for a fraudulent or deceitful purpose.

I hope this helps.

[Keith]

Mass conspiracy.
I really hate the silly arguement that fundamentalist christians are out to get you! Lock your doors!

[Ter Ducken]

I couldn't just walk into a Young Republicans meeting? They would keep me out? Come on, you don't need "secret" access. It's a meeting at a restaurant. Once I got there they might ask me to leave, but it's not like you need a secret password or something. Bauer could have walked right in, and they might have asked her to leave, but she could have walked in on her own.

[Reality]

Curious Stranger - it may not matter to most, but it matters to the organization that is wrongly accused of booting the guy. These 3 are already talking legal action! So yes, it does matter.

[Reality]

Curious Stranger - it may not matter to most, but it matters to the organization that is wrongly accused of booting the guy. These 3 are already talking legal action! So yes, it does matter.

[Phoenix Rising]

Who said anything about accusing the (Denver) Young Republicans of booting anyone? Klinkerman isn't the main character, just an important link in a chain. What I (and the Denver 3) want to know is who acted as the Secret Service agent, who trained him to act that way, and who got him the outfit?

Keith - for homosexuals, there already is a fundamentalist Christian conspiracy that's out to get them (lock the doors!) For people who respect the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, there already is a fundamentalist Christian conspiracy that's out to take over their Government, and it's too late to lock the doors. But to insinuate that the media has anything but its own interests in reporting is silly - the media turns down stories and is lax in corrections on both sides, regularly.

[Alva Adams]

It does matter who the person is because of Bob Beauprez, which is one of the reasons we spend so much time on the subject. If the staffer is a Beauprez staffer, then his gubernatorial candidacy takes a big hit. If the staffer is a White House staffer or a volunteer, then it doesn't really affect Beauprez.

[lumberjack]

Okay. I don't want to see anyone wrongly accused.

Perhaps those of you who know the identity of the guy who ejected the Denver Three could set the record straight for those of us who don't know him from Adam.

I expect I'm not the only one curious about his impressive commitment to protecting presidential town halls from citizen input.

[Keith]

Ter- the fundamentalists are running a campaign. The homosexuals are running a campaign. Hardly a conspiracy.
Both sides are seeking votes.

When one side wins- it doesn't mean that the defeated where victims of a conspiracy. It means the voters spoke their will.

[Keith]

I'm sorry Pheonix- I confused you with Ter Ducken.

[Phoenix Rising]

conspiracy: n. a plot to carry out some harmful or illegal act (especially a political plot); a group of conspirators banded together to plan and carry out such a plot.

I'd say the denying of civil rights to group of people is both harmful and illegal in this country (14th Amendment).

The voters have often been wrong in the past; that's why we have the Constitution, its Amendments, and an independent judiciary. That is what the Fundamentalist Right is fighting against, nothing less.

[Keith]

Our voting rights are not at risk. Just because people vote against you doesn't mean we have witnessed an overthrow of the government. No coup here.

Are you suggesting that people who often vote wrong in the past, not be allowed to vote in the future?

[Hugo O'conor]

I expect the average person doesn't care one way or another. Most people that I've talked to that are not deeply involved in politics don't even remember the incident.

[Let_Freedom_Ring]

Does it seem odd to anyone else that there is a pattern of people dressing up pretending to be professionals they are not?

GOP Staffers as Secret Service?

DenverMoveOn Activist as Reporters?

Rocky Mountain News Staff as Journalist?

The mystery continues.... how about some of you jobless activist file a FOIA request for contact information on all the GWB/BB staffers or Colorado GOP volunteers and run around and take their pictures and look for a large white, unibrowed, shaved headed brute with X-Ray vision.

[Phoenix Rising]

No, I'm suggesting that the Fundamentalist Right and the Republicans have joined together to fight against (a) an independent judiciary and (b) the equal rights of citizens in violation of the 14th Amendment.

That those actions are unconstitutional and hence illegal and that multiple people (indeed multiple groups) have joined together to push said illegal and harmful actions constitutes the very definition of a conspiracy.

When voters act incorrectly, the independent judiciary and the Constitution on which that judiciary relies for the basis of law are the sole remedies of the minority who are being persecuted.

By undermining the very foundations of our country in attempting to overthrow the judciary, the Fundamentalist Right becomes the anti-American group they claim the Left to be. All for an Old Testament moral quibble that doesn't affect them and from which the Annointed One released us. And sadly for those Fundamentalist followers, the Republicans in charge spend more time undermining public safety and gutting worker protections than they do in support of those moral issues. Each ally using the other while cutting away at the soul of their beliefs...

And yes, I truly believe there is an ongoing coup; Rove dedicated himself to a "permanent Republican majority", and I believe he will use the Christian Right and any other means he can to fulfill that goal. As Stalin noted, "so long as I control the counting..."