Headline writing ain’t as easy as it looks.
But it looks as if someone at the Denver Post didn’t like the plain-spoken way the paper worded a controversy at the Governor’s office, in particular some statements the Gov made that seem as if he’s pining for the good ol’ days of cutting deals in the smoke-filled rooms of political lore.
Keep in mind, the quote causing the headache for Hick goes like this – “We elect these people to make these difficult decisions, but now they are in the full light of video every time they make a decision,” Hickenlooper said. “We elected these people, let them go back into a room like they always did.”
Here’s how the Post‘s political Twitter account originally announced the story:
Gov. John Hickenlooper defends anti-transparency comment http://t.co/zIVnSBHw1X #COpolitics
— Denver Politics News (@denverpolitics) August 8, 2013
And now here’s how they’ve softened the blow, just hours later:
Gov. Hickenlooper defends comment to Time on transparency’s drawbacks http://t.co/zIVnSBHw1X #COpolitics
— Denver Politics News (@denverpolitics) August 8, 2013
Furthermore, we know from the URL of the story that still exists, that the original headline was, “”Hickenlooper defends anti-transparency comment,” to wit:
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_23816978/hickenlooper-defends-anti-transparency-comment (emphasis added)
It’s as if you can hear Dean Singleton, who loves to have Governor Hickenlooper come over to his mansion for Super Bowl parties, screaming to the newsroom, “You can’t let the Governor be anti-transparency!”
Perhaps Hick’s just more sensitive to the issue after being bruised on transparency issues or by open records requests recently, although none of the issues have been covered by the Post.
Colorado Peak Politics suggested a recent meeting on the West Slope may have violated sunshine meeting laws.
A story by Fox 31 used the state’s open records laws to discover Hick took a top political donor on a ride on the state plane, and as the story was soon to hit the air, the Governor hastily cut a check to cover his expenses, and to cover something else if you know what I mean. This incident has now been converted into a formal ethics complaint by local radio host Jason Worley, but the Post hasn’t given the ethics complaint a word of coverage.
These pages exposed (via the Colorado Open Records Act) the fact that Hick and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg were having lengthy cell phone chats back when the gun-control legislation debates were at their peak in March of this year. The Governor’s office ignored our request for comment, but could ignore no longer when the question finally came from TV station KRDO in Colorado Springs.
It’s enough to make a Governor want to make some reporters and blogs “lose access” to the Governor, and his records, so he can have “less work and more sleep.”
Todd Shepherd is founder and editor of CompleteColorado.com. Send him tips or story ideas at CompleteColorado@gmail.com.
