Pay-For-Play? Washington Post Cancels Plans to Hold Costly Dinner for Lobbyists to Discuss Health Care. Only $25,000 per plate for "sponsers".
That is for just one meal, if you want to buy an annual "sponsorship", that will cost you $250,000 for 11 meals.
Washington Post Cancels Plans to Hold Costly Dinner for Lobbyists
The newspaper had circulated a flier offering lobbyists and organization executives a chance to meet with the Beltway insiders at the home of publisher Katharine Weymouth, for an "off-the-record dinner and discussion" -- for a fee. After an uproar, The Washington Post canceled plans for the session.
FOXNews.com
Thursday, July 02, 2009
After a newsroom uproar, The Washington Post has canceled plans to hold a high-dollar dinner at the publisher's home at which the company would have charged guests $25,000 and up for access to top officials in Washington.
Politico.com first reported Thursday on the dinner, saying the newspaper had circulated a flier offering lobbyists and organization executives a chance to meet with Beltway insiders at the home of publisher Katharine Weymouth, for an "off-the-record dinner and discussion."
The flier called the discussion an "exclusive opportunity to participate in the health care reform debate among the select few who will actually get it done." The "few" included Obama administration officials, congressional leaders and Post reporters and editors. The fee was $25,000 per "sponsor," and $250,000 for an annual sponsorship.
But Post editorial executives apparently did not know about the dinner, and promptly canceled it.
"The flier circulated this morning came out of a business division for conferences and events, and the newsroom was unaware of such communication," Post spokesperson Kris Coratti told FOX News. "It went out before it was properly vetted, and completely misrepresented what the company's vision for these dinners were, which were meant to be independent, policy-oriented events for newsmakers."
Coratti said the newsroom would "never participate" in such a dinner.
Post executives expressed frustration at the plans, according to an account by Post media reporter Howard Kurtz.
"I'm disappointed," Weymouth told Kurtz. "This should never have happened."
She said that the newspaper would not do anything to "impugn the integrity of the newsroom."
Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli told Kurtz he was "appalled."
"It suggests that access to Washington Post journalists was available for purchase," he said. "We do not offer access to the newsroom for money."
The newspaper's ombudsman, Andrew Alexander, called the nixed plan a "public relations disaster" in an online column Thursday afternoon.
Newspaper executives told Kurtz the fliers appeared to be put out by overzealous marketing employees.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he didn't know whether anyone at the White House was invited to the dinner, but that he didn't think anybody accepted such an invitation.
The invitation "would likely exceed what the (legal) counsel would feel appropriate," Gibbs said.
Click here to read more in The Washington Post.
Click here to read the full story in Politico.com.
Washington Post Cancels Plans to Hold Costly Dinner for Lobbyists
The newspaper had circulated a flier offering lobbyists and organization executives a chance to meet with the Beltway insiders at the home of publisher Katharine Weymouth, for an "off-the-record dinner and discussion" -- for a fee. After an uproar, The Washington Post canceled plans for the session.
FOXNews.com
Thursday, July 02, 2009
After a newsroom uproar, The Washington Post has canceled plans to hold a high-dollar dinner at the publisher's home at which the company would have charged guests $25,000 and up for access to top officials in Washington.
Politico.com first reported Thursday on the dinner, saying the newspaper had circulated a flier offering lobbyists and organization executives a chance to meet with Beltway insiders at the home of publisher Katharine Weymouth, for an "off-the-record dinner and discussion."
The flier called the discussion an "exclusive opportunity to participate in the health care reform debate among the select few who will actually get it done." The "few" included Obama administration officials, congressional leaders and Post reporters and editors. The fee was $25,000 per "sponsor," and $250,000 for an annual sponsorship.
But Post editorial executives apparently did not know about the dinner, and promptly canceled it.
"The flier circulated this morning came out of a business division for conferences and events, and the newsroom was unaware of such communication," Post spokesperson Kris Coratti told FOX News. "It went out before it was properly vetted, and completely misrepresented what the company's vision for these dinners were, which were meant to be independent, policy-oriented events for newsmakers."
Coratti said the newsroom would "never participate" in such a dinner.
Post executives expressed frustration at the plans, according to an account by Post media reporter Howard Kurtz.
"I'm disappointed," Weymouth told Kurtz. "This should never have happened."
She said that the newspaper would not do anything to "impugn the integrity of the newsroom."
Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli told Kurtz he was "appalled."
"It suggests that access to Washington Post journalists was available for purchase," he said. "We do not offer access to the newsroom for money."
The newspaper's ombudsman, Andrew Alexander, called the nixed plan a "public relations disaster" in an online column Thursday afternoon.
Newspaper executives told Kurtz the fliers appeared to be put out by overzealous marketing employees.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he didn't know whether anyone at the White House was invited to the dinner, but that he didn't think anybody accepted such an invitation.
The invitation "would likely exceed what the (legal) counsel would feel appropriate," Gibbs said.
Click here to read more in The Washington Post.
Click here to read the full story in Politico.com.
Views: 40
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Pipeliner on
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Flier:
"Underwriting Opportunity: An evening with the right people can alter the debate," says the one-page flier. "Underwrite and participate in this intimate and exclusive Washington Post Salon, an off-the-record dinner and discussion at the home of CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth. ... Bring your organization’s CEO or executive director literally to the table. Interact with key Obama administration and congressional leaders."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24441.html#ixzz0K8nO3jy2&...
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Permalink Reply by Pipeliner on
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Here is the complete article from Politico:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24441.html#ixzz0K8nO3jy2&...
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Permalink Reply by sesport on -
These "salons" are regular affairs ... just like Everyday Joes going to McDonald's, Burger King & Pizza Hut.
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Permalink Reply by philpapa on
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This deal did not surprise me at all. I suspect this kind of thing goes on in the beltway regularly. The thing that did surprise me was, Helen Thomas, of all people, interrupting a press conference to say that the national media was being scripted by this administration. When Helen Thomas complains of media bias, that to me is news.
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Permalink Reply by Pipeliner on
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Did the Washington Post Violate Lobbying Laws With "Salons"?
Why this is important (and Emptywheel misses this) are the criminal implications of this statement (see legal discussion below at Update #1).
Back in April of 2009, Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post wrote a glowing review of the Atlantic salon dinners that the Washington Post then apparently decided to replicate. Here's Kurtz describing these plush and cozy events:
"Last Tuesday evening, Rahm Emanuel quietly slipped into an eighth-floor office at the Watergate. white-jacketed waiters poured red and white wine and served a three-course salmon and risotto dinner, the White House chief of staff spent two hours chatting with some of Washington's top journalists -- excusing himself to take a call from President Obama and another from Hillary Clinton.
As the journalists hurled questions and argued among themselves, Emanuel said: "This feels a lot like a Jewish family dinner."
For more than a year, David Bradley, the Atlantic's soft-spoken owner, has hosted these off-the-record dinners at a specially built table in his glass-enclosed office overlooking the Potomac. And the guests, from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to Jordan's King Abdullah II, are as A-list as they come.
NOTE: "a specially built table". If you want a table with a built-in "Washington Pig Trough", you have to have it specially made. I would not think you could find one as a floor model, for immediate delivery from a furniture store. (poster's note)
Kurtz's gushing words hardly seem like criticism from WaPo's newsroom and the WaPo seemed intent on going beyond the Atlantic's dinners which seem to be journalists asking policymakers questions. And to be sure, there has long been a tradition in D.C. of having dinners and cocktail mixers among the power elite. But the WaPo's "salon" concept took this several steps farther, bordering on the illegal: big money was to be raked in for offering influence peddlers the opportunity to mix with those fashioning policy.
In conclusion, let me say that:
It appears, on its face, that the WaPo's "salon" dinners may have violated the Federal Lobbying Disclosure Act. That act provides for "paper tiger" penalties of "civil fines of up to $50,000 for knowingly failing to comply with the LDA".
The FLDA act clearly needs to be revamped and revised with much stiffer civil penalties and also the addition of criminal sanctions.
The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia should initiate an investigation into whether FLDA was violated. If so, prosecutions should occur. The US Attorney should also look into whether any other laws have been violated.
The question arises of whether anyone from Congress or the Obama administration was invited to the WaPo salons and also whether they accepted. Clearly the WaPo could not have sent fliers out about the July 21st salon offering access to powerful members of Congress and the Obama administration if no one was coming to dinner.
It is obvious that the Washington, D.C. is a cesspool of corruption, involving not only politicians but influence peddlers, lobbyists, and even the mainstream media which our Founding Fathers saw as a watchdog. There should be more and stiffer laws enacted on lobbyists and lobbying and those laws should include criminal penalties.
For the complete article:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/7/3/749746/-Did-the-Washington-P...
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Permalink Reply by E & E on
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OMG! WTF? How dare they? I'm disgusted ! I'm shocked and appalled! No, wait! I'm appalled and shocked! This is a blatant partisan political ploy to manipulate the mainstream media! Oh, the humanity! An obvious stratagem... a maneuver... a gambit... a ruse... a contrivance! Such obvious subterfuge to manipulate public opinion! We must not allow this type of one- sided... blatantly prejudiced... biased...sectarian occurrence to go unchecked ! It's a travesty! It's fanatical! It's screams of elitism! Break out the torches! Break out the pitchforks! This must not go unrestrained! This must not be sanctioned! It must be immediately " nipped in the bud" !!
Just who? I say...I say! Just who do these damn democrats think they are?
Republicans?
Earl, shakin his head at the hypocrisy
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Permalink Reply by sesport on
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LOL, guys, keep me updated as to what the US Attorney decides to do. I'm thinking of having a HS Salon. If I can get, say, 20 folks to attend at $25K a pop, I'll be a half-millionaire. BTW, catering by ... hmmmm ... Shane's! Finger food! Now, who to get as the "bait" dinner guest? Gotta go think about that one.
best & have fun with this - :0)
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