[promoted by BooMan. This is the prototype of what Frog-Marching will become. Professional reporting done after a collaborative, online, open-source investigation.]
By Susan Gardner and Todd Johnston
ePluribus Media
January 26, 2005 …
“Yes, sir?” says the President of the United States.
“Jeff Gannon,” four rows from the commander in chief, two years from his first White House press briefing and less than three years from his office job at an auto body repair shop, is one half-minute from blowing it.
Gannon, AKA James Dale Guckert, is about to ask the question that will strip the mask off who and what he is, crash fictitious “news outlet” Talon News and that will kick start demands in Congress for investigations into national security, White House access and definitions of media that are implied by his very presence in that room.
But Wait!
Before he asks that question … Did we just say … an auto body repair shop?
Yes, it’s true. Guckert’s path to the president reads like a modern-day fairy tale on steroids. In less than twelve months, Guckert was catapulted from the position of office manager of family-owned and operated Karmak, Inc., in West Chester, Pennsylvania, to the White House briefing room, with a quick – but thus far unverified beyond Guckert’s claim – two-day seminar at the Leadership Institute’s Broadcast Journalism School.
Meteoric doesn’t begin to describe such a rise.
Nothing in his professional resume would lead one to predict he’d be rubbing elbows with the cream of the American press corps, with unprecedented exceptions made for press pass qualifications, so that he could – on what must be the longest “day pass” ever – help the president out in a pinch or give predictable oral op/eds disguised as questions at hundreds of press briefings.
Nothing would predict that an avidly partisan website, GOPUSA, run by a couple of well-connected Texas Republicans, would go to the lengths of creating an entire “news” agency – Talon News – simply to justify Guckert’s non-qualified presence at briefings.
Let’s take a look at that resume.
Landscaping. A public teacher’s certificate. Office jobs. Two decades of kicking around the liquor distribution business in Pennsylvania and Delaware, and then … leaving a friend’s auto body shop in January 2002, to resurface in November of the same year as “Jeff Gannon,” the “Conservative Guy,” in a short, unpromising commentary on an obscure web site. And less than three months later, he would sit in the White House, Row D, center orchestra. Nice seat.
Some of the stretches of Guckert’s life are still quite sketchy – the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, for one; and the pivotal period of giving notice at Karmak in December 2001 and popping up during the ensuing year as a publicly fictional “conservative guy,” for another. And where his now well-known moonlighting career as a pornography webmaster and advertised escort on the internet intersects with his official resume leads to more suggestive questions than concrete answers.
Part of the oddity of Guckert’s life is not only that his official resume in no way prepared him for the White House, but that he created not just one, but two, diametrically opposed personas in the past few years – “Jeff Gannon,” the conservative guy who fell in line with the “Gods, guns and gays” Rovian talking points and spread them like a virus throughout cyberspace, and “Bulldog” (or “Jeff” or “Lou”), gay escort and pornography webmaster.
A detailed timeline of what is known at this point of Guckert’s varied careers is appended to this piece. The lion’s share of this is based on public records and interviews with former employers. A much smaller portion is based on two anonymous sources – one who knew him during college and immediately thereafter, and one who encountered Guckert when he served as alumni advisor to his old college fraternity.
Let the narrative of the two lives begin, so far as our triple verification process will take us.
The Lives of James D. Guckert and Jeff Gannon
A 1975 graduate of Conneaut Lake High School in Pennsylvania, Guckert attended West Chester University, graduating in 1980 and obtaining an Instructional Level I teaching certificate for Social Studies from the state of Pennsylvania. Whether he actually used his certificate to teach is unclear; a later employer recalls Guckert referring to teaching in the Wilmington, Delaware, area, possibly at high school level, but we have not yet been able to verify this.
During college, he was a member and officer of Tau Kappa Epsilon, MA #248, a Mu Alpha TKE. His fraternity affiliation was important enough to him that two decades later, he played a role in revitalizing West Chester University’s TKE chapter, and his continued connection with the group is well-documented in its alumni association records.
According to one anonymous source, Guckert did indeed fulfill student teaching requirements during his time at West Chester, and in the summer after graduation, he went to work for Herb Plankinton, a landscape architect from a prominent and well-connected family in the Mendenhall, Pennsylvania, area. (Plankinton died in 1992.) It was during this period that Randy McFarland, future owner of Karmak, says that he met Guckert, when the two worked as landscape laborers for Plankinton and struck up the friendship that lasted until Guckert left Karmak for Washington, D.C., in 2002.
McFarland recalls that throughout the mid- to late 1980’s, Guckert and he worked on various landscaping jobs together in Delaware.
In addition to these outdoor odd jobs, Guckert began to work for various liquor distributors in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Because the distribution industry is rife with subsidiaries, split-offs and reformations, it’s not entirely clear where one entity leaves off and another begins, and we hope to clarify with further research. What know for certain that Guckert listed himself in a 1984 TKE directory as operations manager for NKS Distributors in New Castle, Delaware, and that Brenda Hall of Century Wine & Spirits (formerly NKS … see the confusion?) confirmed that he worked there “long ago.” It appears from various public records that he worked for NKS or one of its subsidiaries at least through 1987 and quite possibly beyond.
Whoever his official employer at the time, Guckert began having trouble paying his taxes. For the four years from 1991 to 1994, he failed to pay personal income tax in the state of Delaware, for a total of nearly $9,500 in unpaid taxes. With fines and penalties making his total owed bill a whopping $20,742.40, Delaware filed a lien against him in October 1996.
Documented bad luck continued to dog Guckert. In June of 1997, he was in a car accident that resulted two years later in the filing of a personal injury lawsuit that named him as a defendant along with liquor distributor Diamond State Distributors. While we await the slow process of getting the archived documentation from Delaware, we can verify the basic outlines of the lawsuit through a courthouse source who read the docket information to us over the phone: two plaintiffs, one of whom settled early. and another who, after failed mediation resulted in official lawsuit filing, settled during trial.
And yes, it’s still unclear whether Diamond State is part of another company (NKS denies any relationship) or one in which possibly Guckert was a “partner.”
What is certain is that he was hired as office manager in late 1997 by yet another liquor distributor, Viva Vino of Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Founder Levino Razzi said that Guckert explained he was unemployed because a business in which he was a partner had been sold. Razzi commented that he was never sure whether Guckert was really part owner of the business in question; he wasn’t even certain that it had really been sold, rather than just shutting down.
Razzi’s uncertainty about Guckert’s situation prior to his arrival at Viva Vino is an example of a recurring theme with those who knew Guckert. As with many of Guckert’s explanations – evidenced by his biography on conservativeguy.com – information seems specific until you start looking hard for verifiable details, and often only after people try to remember specifics about the man do they realize how vague he was about the details of his life.
Whatever the real story of how Guckert came to be unemployed, Razzi was never anything but pleased with the decision to hire him; he characterizes Guckert as an exemplary employee. When contacted last week, Razzi seemed genuinely shocked by the revelations surfacing about Guckert’s internet double life, finding it completely at odds with the man he thought he knew. He even remarked that Guckert more than once brought a woman to the occasional office party. He was always polite, efficient, well-spoken and he never hit on anyone in the office, according to Razzi.
During his two-year tenure at Viva Vino, Guckert reconnected with TKE, his fraternity at West Chester. The Mu Alpha chapter lost its charter in 1989, but in 1996 it gained status as a colony, becoming a fully chartered chapter in 1998, at which point former TKE Mu Alpha members stepped in. Alumni meeting newsletters and official minutes show Guckert taking leading roles in revitalizing the group, helping the chapter set up a website and even – at the same time the tax lien hung over his head – donating hundreds of dollars to the group while serving as alumni advisor to current undergraduates. At one point, Guckert served as mentor to the TKE equivalent of a chaplain, a position he’d also held as an undergrad.
A former TKE member who wishes to remain anonymous was a student at the time and knew Guckert during this advisory period, which ended only with Guckert’s departure for the nation’s capital. His recollections of Guckert follow:
The alumni advisor is someone who was an undergrad member of the fraternity, has graduated, and basically acts as an intermediary between various alumni groups that exist (group that owns the fraternity house, group that organizes alumni outings/events, etc.), as well as giving guidance as to the direction that the undergraduate members of the fraternity are moving. He would typically advise on risk management issues, especially since West Chester University is a dry campus and fraternities are not permitted to serve alcohol at our parties. JD would also intercede with the university should the fraternity get in any kind of real trouble, and the same held true for the town of West Chester.
He would typically be around for Sunday meetings, as well as “pop in” the frat house a few times per week to check up on us and just kind of “hang out.” Generally he was a good guy to have around in those days, but once he left for DC he never really came back except for homecoming every fall, and last year [2004] he didn’t make it up at all.
He rarely talked about what he studied in school, though he did say it was education once or twice before, maybe Phys Ed if memory serves. I don’t think that he ever mentioned actually using his degree either. He only ever said that he served in the Marines, and the “semper fi” bumper sticker and license plate frame was a tip-off as well. I guess we always assumed that it was after college that he enlisted, but again, he rarely talked about that aspect of his life either.
He also said that he would need security clearances for the DC job. The only job he ever mentioned to any of us was as a “contract negotiator” with a defense subcontractor. He never said what the name of that company was, although at this point I don’t even believe that it was true.
As I have been sitting here for the past month or so watching the story unfold, I have begun to realize that much of JD’s life has been hidden from the people he claimed to be closest to. In talking with other alumni who are familiar with him, all of this as come to a big shock to them as well. No one ever expected any of this, especially the “internet life” that he apparently led. I think I started to see something wasn’t quite right when I saw him, on several occasions, in the White House Press Room asking questions under what I knew to be a fake name. The real shocker came with the Joe Wilson question where he committed (in my opinion) outright treason by revealing Valerie Plame. I’m not sure what, if anything, you can make of the info I have, but I hope something does come of it. Personally, I am just glad that an outlet other than CNN, FOX, et al is around to bring this story to the surface.
Interesting, yes, that bolded portion of our source’s email correspondence? While we continue to pursue this lead, keep in mind that Guckert has a pretty well-documented history of vague and exaggerated (and often only implied) claims in several arenas, from journalism credentials to … well, personal attributes.
Back on the job front, Guckert gave notice at Viva Vino in March 1999, and Razzi said it came with the explanation that he was tired of office work and wanted a change – odd in light of the fact that Guckert promptly became Karmak’s office manager, but diplomatically understandable given that Randy and Amy McFarland, longtime friends, asked for help getting their new auto body repair venture off the ground. (Razzi says he and his former employee continued something of an informal business arrangement “for about a year or so,” as Guckert continued to service accounts that had been “his” at Viva Vino.)
And so began Guckert’s final official career position before showing up as “Jeff Gannon” at the White House.
When the McFarlands decided to launch Karmak in April 1999, they felt themselves fortunate to be able to bring in an old and trusted friend to manage the office. They say he more than fulfilled their expectations of him, overseeing the accounting and scheduling aspects of the fledgling business. During the two-and-a-half years that he worked with the couple, they report, Guckert’s personal life and politics were never discussed. They say they Guckert didn’t tell them of his future employment or plans when he gave notice in December 2001, and say that they have had no contact with him since he left Karmak for Washington, D.C., in January 2002.
Bedrock Corporation
Guckert’s Bedrock Corporation, founded in April 1997, is something of a mysterious entity on several levels. It fits into Guckert’s life arc in the period right before the Diamond State Distributor car accident and about half a year before he arrived at Vina Vivo. (Much of this becomes clearer on the appended timeline.)
Bedrock appears in several locations on the internet and in several different manifestations: as a court reporting service, a factoring agent, a secretarial agency and a resume-writing service. Yet we’ve been unable to obtain evidence – any evidence at all – that Bedrock ever actually provided these services. Calls made to practicing court reporters in the Wilmington area turn up no one familiar with Guckert or Bedrock, and no one can verify any sort of factoring activity undertaken by it. (For those unfamiliar with factoring, a layman’s explanation: a factoring agent purchases a company’s accounts receivables at discount in order to collect at full price, pocketing the difference as profit.)
The corporation appears to have remained dormant until August 1999, when Guckert began paying a web designer through Bedrock to create internet escort sites, as documented at Americablog last month. Ironically, the corporation also is the official domain registrant for Guckert’s primary right-wing political web sites. So the conservativeguy.com (created October 2000) and jeffgannon.com (created June 2002) slept in the same web bed as hotmilitarystuds.com.
Additionally, there’s the tangential mystery of Bedrock’s official registered agent/incorporator, one “Regina Cephas,” who, according to an article in the Augusta Chronicle, was sued by the Salt Lake Olympics Committee for cybersquatting on Olympic domain names and – hold on to your hats here – turned out to be a fictitious individual in her own right, another pseudonym in this tangle.
There’s so much left to be explored, it makes our collective ePluribus Media head hurt. This is but one example.
Back to 2002
So in December 2001, Guckert shows up for work at Karmak one day with the announcement that he’s moving to Washington, D.C., to pursue his interest in politics. No job is mentioned that awaits him, according to the McFarlands. No plans are discussed.
He moves and creates so little trace of himself – at least as J.D. Guckert; there’s more than enough of “Jeff Gannon” all over the internet – that even now, three years later, no residential address turns up for him in D.C.
Hmmm.
Logic would dictate that some crucial encounter or intersection of interests converged in the latter half of 2001 that spurred Guckert’s career-changing (and name-changing) move, but at this point, we may only speculate. So we move on to the little that we do know about the crucial year of 2002, before he emerged from his chrysalis to become a White House correspondent for GOPUSA.
Keeping in mind that from 1999 up until a month ago, Guckert was actively advertising himself as a gay escort, it’s possible that a portion of his life in 2002 was spent … well … escorting – especially given the fact that not one other visible trace of employment during this period can be located.
But what about his “Jeff Gannon” life? What was happening there?
In January, he registered theconservativeguy.com and in March he established an attached Paypal account. In June, jeffgannon.com was registered, and a month later, at a rally promoting the Pledge of Allegiance, he claimed on conservativeguy.com to have been filmed reciting the pledge (exciting stuff, that). Then nothing until November, when things began to pick up.
November 12 was a busy day. “Jeff Gannon” published the earliest commentary we have yet to find, a flat, short, not exactly promising piece at the Conservative Monitor, and he also received a customer testimonial describing his $200/rate and penis size. Then eight days later, another “Jeff Gannon” piece appeared, this one on opinionseditorials.com. A “Conservative Guy” article was run on the intellectualconservative.com website on Dec. 18, 2002, and then five days later, Jeff Gannon aired his first webcast on theconservativeguy.com.
Merry Christmas.
Two weeks later, in January 2003, Jeff Gannon showed up at his first State Department press conference, and a month later – wearing a GOPUSA identification tag around his neck – he can be spotted sitting in the briefing room at the White House, live and in color thanks to [CSPAN 31:53 on CSPAN RealVideo archive]. On March 29, 2003, Talon News registers its domain name and on April 1, it goes live.
… January 26, 2005
Fast forward through hundreds of day passes and scores of partisan “Gannon” queries to the fateful day of the infamous question. You know, the one where he strafes the Democratic leadership and President Bush succumbs to a snicker. First, a long preamble, jumbled in with a made-up stolen quote from Rush Limbaugh, and then the final, jarring phrase that brought a firestorm of scrutiny down upon him, his “news” agency and White House vetting standards:
“Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy. Harry Reid was talking about soup lines, and Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet, in the same breath, they say that Social Security is rock solid and there’s no crisis there. How are you going to work — you said you’re going to reach out to these people — how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?”
Mr. “Gannon,” take a deep breath. You’re about to get “googled.”
Where Do We Go from Here?
We dig some more. We try and come up with the “close encounter” from 2001 that led to change of residency and name. We try and find his D.C. address. We try and find out if/when he attended the Leadership Institute. We interview anyone and everyone who knew him at any point in the past thirty years.
One of the challenges of investigating a key player in an issue such as this, is that it is easy to lose sight of the individual at the heart of it. The thrill of the chase – of turning up information that was clearly meant to be hidden, of teasing out the detail that begins to make sense of a surfeit of leads – can dull empathy for the real, breathing human being on the receiving end. As remedy, we’d also like to focus in the future on who Guckert is as a person, on Guckert as a friend, colleague, relative (and if he’d grant us an interview or answer our questions, how he sees himself).
Admittedly, few of us could withstand this, such targeted scrutiny, and come up clean. To handle such an onslaught with grace or dignity would be a trial to anyone.
But there’s no disregarding that he’s also a symbol, a symbol that represents some things gone seriously awry in this country in the past few years. He also is a process, as a person who was plucked from relative obscurity to sit in the White House, to blur the ever more smudged line between partisan propraganda and true fact-gathering and reporting. Getting the carefully crafted message out has become more important than making sure the message is true or complete.
We are a country that’s been stretched to the breaking point with lies. With omission of facts. With government-funded fake news reports. With paid pundits. With people who are not who or what they say they are. With motives that are rarely straightforward and with end runs around legal processes, whether they be Florida judicial decisions or the Geneva Conventions.
James Dale Guckert is part of something much bigger than perhaps even he imagined. Getting to the bottom of who he really is, how he got preferential treatment and why in particular he was chosen is vital, we believe, to begin the shearing of the wool that’s been pulled over the eyes of our democracy.
The Absolutely Essential J.D. Guckert Timeline
June 1975: Graduates from Conneaut Lake High School.
1975-June 1980: Attends West Chester College (now West Chester University) and joins TKE fraternity. He is given #248 on the chapter member scroll.
August 1, 1980: Is awarded Instruction I teaching certficate in social studies by PA (PA Department of Education).
1980-mid-1980’s: Works for landscape architect Herb Plankinton, meets Randy McFarland, future owner of Karmak.
1984: Lists “N.K.S. Distributors” as his employer in the TKE alumni directory.
1986-1987: Plays for a bar’s team in the City of Brotherly Love Softball League (Philadelphia Gay News)
1991-1994: Earns income, fails to pay Delaware state income taxes.
October 18, 1996: Tax judgment filed for failure to pay Delaware state income tax over a multi-year period.
April 10, 1997:Bedrock Corp. incorporates in Delaware.
June 26, 1997: Car accident occurs that will result in lawsuit two years later, with Guckert and Diamond State Distributors listed as defendants. (Case No. 99C-06-215).
Late 1997: Viva Vino Imports hires Guckert as office manager.
March 1999: Gives notice at Viva Vino, continues working with old accounts there for a year or so.
April 1999: Starts working for Karmak as office manager.
August 31, 1999: First invoice for porn site. Name used is “Jeff.” (Warning: link not work safe.)
September 27, 1999: GOPUSA.com registered (whois)
November 10, 1999: Guckert listed as “new” on a Philadelpha escort service, using the pseudonym “Lou”.
February 23, 2000: Guckert’s underwear photo uploaded to personal page at AOL.
March 30, 2000: Last of invoices for porn site design. (Warning: link not work-safe.)
May 11, 2000: Guckert’s militaryescortsm4m.com domain registered (whois).
August 9, 2001: BEDROCKcorp@aol.com PayPal account created. Two verified buyers since then. (PayPal).
August 25, 2001: Date on customer review with nude photo. (Warning: Link not work-safe.)
October 31, 2001: usmcpt.com first recorded as live. One photo is named “jeff.jpg” (Warning: link not work safe.)
December 2001: Guckert gives notice at Karmak, says he’s moving to Washington, D.C., to pursue political interests.
January 2002: Quitting Karmak, Mr. Guckert goes to Washington.
January 25, 2002: theconservativeguy.com domain registered (whois).
March 11, 2002: Paypal account for conservativeguy.com created (Paypal).
May 11, 2002: studfiles.com profile last modified.
May 11, 2002: workingboys.net profile last modified. (WARNING: link not work-safe.)
June 17, 2002: jeffgannon.com domain registered (whois).
July 16, 2002: Posts page about attending Pledge of Allegiance rally.
July 19, 2002: jdg17@aol.com paypal account registered (paypal).
November 12, 2002: Customer testimonial posted describing $200/hour rate and penis size.
November 12, 2002: Opinion piece by “Jeff Gannon” published in the Conservative Monitor.
November 20, 2002: “Jeff Gannon” article posted to opinioneditorials.com.
December 18, 2002: Article published under moniker “The Conservative Guy.”
December 18, 2002: First posts to Boot To the Skull as “Jeff Gannon” but uses “theconservativeguy” as a file name. Note that this link will give you a page from the wrong date half the time.)
December 23, 2002: Guckert makes first webcast.
January 13, 2003: Guckert attends State Dept. briefing.
Jan 15, 2003: Byline “Jeff Gannon” first appears on gopusa.com web site (site since scrubbed).
February 2003: Guckert on CSPAN in White House.
February 2003-January 2005: Lots of documented over-the-top biased questions; hundreds of crappy “Talon News” articles posted.
January 26, 2005: The Question. The beginning of the end.
Investigators: Todd Johnston, Tex Macrae, blogslut and Aguas De Marco
Researchers/Contributors: chewy, mkt, rayne today, kfred, intranets, sawcielackey, susie dow, highacidity, thebes, INMINYMA, biblio, mordalar, madhat, steve expat, bonobo, georgia10, shepdog, 4fx, notamandate, wanderindiana, standingup, doorguy, NYBri, silence [29]
Magnificent Timeline Guru: silence
[NOTE: This is one of the last diaries coming out of the Propagannon project that will publish under user name SusanG. One more diary will go up soon as a SusanG diary, but after that, the Propagannon project will switch officially to posting under the DKos user name, ePluribus Media. This will serve to begin separating our mammoth investigative process – which now encompasses so much more than Gannon – from the persona of Gannon/Guckert himself (and the persona of SusanG as well). SusanG will post diaries from time to time on topics not related to the investigative work at ePluribus Media. All ePluribus Media projects will have bylines and credits to investigators and researchers who worked on the topic of the story.]
I’m not just trying to post this all over the internet(s). BooMan asked me to post it here.
Frankly, I’m so sick of Guckert I could puke.
I bet you are. But, when Keith Olbermann announced that Guckert would appear on some panel about blogging (!) at the National Press Club, I nearly fell off my chair. It seemed that Keith was equally shocked.
How about front page for this?
Yeah, we all are sick of this story, but did you see this
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000856306
“””The National Press Club Welcomes… Jeff Gannon?
By Joe Strupp
Published: March 28, 2005 updated 3:50 PM ET
NEW YORK Jeff Gannon is back. At the National Press Club?
Yes, the same day that the prestigious Washington, D.C., journalism organization plans to present a lunch talk by former Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee, it will also allow the former White House reporter/sex site operator to be on a panel discussing bloggers and online journalism.
Gannon, whose real name is James Guckert, resigned his job with the conservative Talon News last month after it was revealed he had used a pseudonym, had little journalism background, and had ties to male escort Web sites.
Still, Press Club leaders will include Gannon on the panel April 8 that includes Wonkette.com editor Ana Marie Cox, National Journal’s John Stanton, and others.
Gannon told E&P today that he always considered himself a legitimate journalist, and “perhaps their invitation is recognition of that.””””
My outrage meter with the mainstream media and its theater is busted.
I just can’t get worked up about it. Sigh.
I just want to stop paying attention to anything the “national press” anything does or says and just start making our own news and analysis.
Go for it SusanG!
We have no objections to thorough reporting as it has been done by this magnificent team of investigative bloggers. What you have presented is thorough, documented, and well written.
You write this stuff and post it and we will read it.
Thanks to the entire team for their great work.
I bet Howard Kurtz is eager to begin reporting the truth about Gannon./snark
Excellent work Susan. Ms. Carnacki brought up a good point after reading your diary that this is the type of work that should be in the New York Times or the New Yorker.
Anybody else see any similarities, including the fact that there are many gaps in the record? Apparent lack of significant person achievement, much job- and career-changing, run-ins with the law, seeming reliance on “sponsors,” etc. etc. etc.
And those who owe their positions to others are less able to resist manipulation. (Or is that just my cynical point of view?)
I’m sure you have probably covered these base’s, but how about the US Postal Service for mailing address’? He must have a valid mailing address to set any of the accounts up in DC, or where ever he was.
With PayPal, I believe you must have an active checking account as well. I know from some online sales accounts that I have checked into, for acceptance of credit cards, you must have an active checking account. Also for living quarters, ie. apartment, house, etc, you must be able to provide ID for the lease/rental agreement.
Not sure if this will help, but it’s another avenue of investigation.
My question would be, how could anyone set up an account under a phony name, without valid ID? In todays world, you must have drivers license, SS card, etc, to even open a bank account, and they must be in the person’s name, how do you do that with an assumed ID?
I would venture to say, that through one of his “contacts” (pardon the pun there) someone, in a position of power, and a “contact” sexual, or political for “favors” had to get those documents for him. If that be the case, the info will be completely wiped. Believe me, the government, someone on the inside can, and will do this at will, when needed.
You may never find all the “contacts” since it is so “not moral” for the Repugs, and their in the closet so deep, that a infared heat seeking scope could not find them.
“Good Luck, and should you decide to take this mission, you will be on your own” (this message will self destruct in 15 seconds) LOL…just had to throw that in from the old series of Mission Impossible.
You guys are great! Thanks for listing all who have worked so hard to find this info.
I am sorry your collective heads hurt. Mine does too. But you made it feel better with this wonderfully written piece.
Sic’ em!
I’m screwed!
I’m applying for jobs on the Hill, and in major law firms… even gasp with a few newspapers. So why am I screwed?
It’s only been nine months since I was gasp again an electrician!
Seriously, people, it shows extremely poor taste to judge a man’s future based on his past. He made some mistakes, yes, but that doesn’t mean he’s not qualified to be a journalist—while you may disagree with his slant, his writing is tolerable and he got decent information. Aren’t those the only qualifications you need?
If the guy’s cleaned up his life, you shouldn’t damn him because of his past actions.
You think an electrician becoming a paralegal is like a whore becoming a White House reporter with access to the President? You argument is intellectually dishonest. Gannon’s former gig, unlike yours, is a crime. Gannon’s latter gig, unlike yours, is not an entry-level position. This is enough to show that your analogy is inadequate. You need better talking points.
I was referring more to the shock that he worked at an autobody shop.
That’s an obvious straw. Here’s what the diary says:
“In less than twelve months, Guckert was catapulted from the position of office manager of family-owned and operated Karmak, Inc., in West Chester, Pennsylvania, to the White House briefing room … Meteoric doesn’t begin to describe such a rise.”
As the diary makes clear, the shocking aspect is the meteoric rise, not the mere fact that he worked in an autobody shop. That is, the shock comes from the disparity in prestige between working at an autobody shop and working in the White House, considering the short timeline and the fact that Gannon had virtually no credentials or experience. Because Gannon’s rise was “meteoric,” it is unlike simply applying for and landing your generic entry-level position.
suggests to me that his role play-acting as an ex-Marine for hire, introduced him into an elect DC circle of closeted homosexuals…probably with an origin in the Pentagon, probably military intelligence.
That’s why this story is so potentially explosive.
But the diary does not, as Another Perspective suggests, express shock at the mere fact that Gannon worked at an autobody shop.
that Another was being a tad bit sarcastic in his comment.
I’m sure he will be back in a sec to make clear his comment.
Sure, Another Perspective used sarcasm to criticize the diary’s point, a perfectly fine tactic. So I addressed the substance of his arguments, which are the Republican talking points on this issue. Namely:
Because Another Perspective’s tag links to a blog called “Running for the Right: Strategy-focused political thoughts from a conservative Yalie” (not to mention his handle here), I don’t have any reason to believe Another Perspective was actually lampooning the Republican talking points. His presence here indicates he’s interested in engaging in debate, and I’m down with that.
I like your (3) points.
The entire issue of Guckert involves two major themes.
The right-wing talking points attempt to sidestep those questions entirely.
Right on.
Hope I spelled that right, but with all due respect, this poster who I am communicating with off site, is in reality a moderate on many issues, in my opinion that is, he may disagree. He is away from his computer at the moment.
He is not a rabid repub. but we shall see what he posts. He may be a “contrarian” however, if there is such a thing.
And as I am the one who invited him to this site I feel a little defensive on his behalf, so I hope you do not mind my interjection her.
But engage away.
I’m sure he likes nothing better than engaging in a debate.
I’m not claiming he’s a troll just because I found a couple of his arguments lacking. And whether he styles himself a moderate or a conservative, I hope he sticks around. Preaching to the choir is no fun.
Still, as long as he remains, his arguments are subject to criticism. I’m sure he expects no less. But his arguments are the Republican talking points on this issue, and it was these arguments I was attacking, not him.
I think you and I are pretty much on the same page here.
and I really wasn’t questioning you, just throwing my two cents in. We are on the same page.
As I said, he seems to love a debate, and he will be back to reply, I’m sure.
Acutallly I look forward to more debating with him, I think he is a worhty adversary and I would like to see him post more often here, livens thing up a little.
“But Wait!
Before he asks that question … Did we just say … an auto body repair shop?”
Hmmmmmm. Oh my God, it’s expressing shock at the mere fact that Gannon worked at an autobody shop a few mere years before he had a job as a reporter.
And, oops, all I implied was that if I’m successful in what I hope to do over the next two years, people can look at my record and say “wow, a meteoric rise from an electrician!” And it won’t mean a damn thing.
I think that the internet left has a big problem with the Gannon story, precisely because of what BooMan said: “His rise suggests…” xyz, “That’s why this story is so potentially explosive.”
There’s a lot of smoke here, and I can acknowledge that quite easily. But as yet, no one has established that the man has done anything illegal, or that he hasn’t actually turned his life around.
Yeah, he was a gay escort. Aren’t you guys the same group that would usually tear down the Christian right for equating that kind of thing automatically with prostitution? Or for using it as some kind of justification for saying that he should’t be allowed near the President?
There’s a lot of speculation, and I applaud the efforts of the authors of this diary for really and honestly trying to get to the bottom of everything.
But until you’re at the bottom, stop speculating on what you’re going to find there.
And while I’m at this, let me ask you: if a man was a gay escort, what would he have to do to qualify himself for the White House press corps, in your mind?
I can’t speak for you personally, but my impression is that a lot of the people chasing this story could answer it simply, honestly, and in a way that they’ll never own up to: vote Democrat.
‘gay escort’ is merely a pseudonym for ‘gay prostitute’. Guckert not only posted his rates, but he also included the testimonials of satisfied customers, including IIRC, a colonel or similarly high-ranking on-duty military officer.
One of the distinctions of online investigative journalism is that all the speculation happens in the open. We have to be careful to make clear when we are merely speculating.
Lastly, if it turned out that a WH reporter for the Washington Post was secretly selling his body on the side, it wouldn’t raise the same eyebrows. It is Guckert’s total lack of experience in journalism that creates the lurid grounds for speculation.
In order to get in to question the administration on the WH grounds, you should already have established yourself as a serious journalist. IMO.
“‘gay escort’ is merely a pseudonym for ‘gay prostitute'”
B…. S….
The fact that the man posted rates does not mean he’s charging for sex, and the fact that you hold the gay community in such low esteem disgusts me.
I respect you a lot, and what you hope to accomplish with this site. But I have friends who would be extremely offended by that quote—friends who have worked as gay escorts to make some extra money and who would, under no circumstances, have any sexual contact with a client.
He made no comment on the gay community at large. What are you talking about?
If he meant, as you did, that escort is a euphemism for prostitute, then I retract my statement about the gay community specifically, and direct you to my response to your claim about that particular euphemism.
But the fact that he kept the modifier “gay” in front of both terms implied specification that all gay escorts are really just prostitutes.
If my interpretation was off, I apologize.
most escort services of any type are covers for prostitution. Not all.
Gannon advertised his penis size, described himself as an exclusive ‘top’, said he would not kiss, set his daily and weekend rates, and provided testimonials from satisfied clients.
What more do you really want?
I want evidence that would hold up in a court of law, stronger than the circumstantial variety that you’ve got so far.
All of the evidence would hold up in a court of law. Whether there would be reasonable doubt is a separate question.
I’m really struggling to understand you here.
Are you saying that Guckert only pretended to be a prostitute? That would be even more strange.
Maybe you need to acquaint yourself with the facts of the case. Everything I gave as evidence was provided by Guckert himself, and he hasn’t denied any of it.
I think he may have been a prostitute.
But I think nothing you’ve found proves it. And so, since I give people the benefit of the doubt, I’m going to operate on the assumption that he was an escort who may have also been a prostitute.
And as I just posted in another post, I don’t think it matters—unless you’re trying to bring down the man on a personal level instead of figuring out what went on on the white house side. It’s a smear job, and it makes me mad.
It also confuses me. Isn’t your party the one that wants to legalize prostitution? I just don’t understand why any of this guy’s past says he wasn’t qualified to be a reporter. I want to know what does qualify one to be a reporter.
“We both felt more relaxed as the clothes came off. Man oh man does this guy know how to take charge and take care of a horny bottom. While earlier reviews may have suggested he might be rough, that was not the case. He was caring, assertive and with stamina that could have gone on all night. While I was expecting a large cock. This was 8 or maybe a 9 and very thick. His technique made this the first time I have ever not been hurt when stretched to the limit when going to first base. First, my legs over his shoulders, then on my back, flipped over and on to doggie style. It was all good. This guy was easily in the top 5% of any escort I’ve found.”
“He is all-man, athletic and self-assured. Great body, he helped me work out twice, one time on base. The sex was great, he’s a hard core top, verbal and strong, never romantic, but not mean. But there was so much more.”
http://www.male4malescorts.com/reviews/bulldogdc.html
You write: “Oh my God, it’s expressing shock at the mere fact that Gannon worked at an autobody shop a few mere years before he had a job as a reporter.”
Plainly wrong. Again, the shock exists because of the juxtaposition between auto body shop worker and White House correspondent, given the short time period and his lack of qualifications. And this transition took “less than twelve months,” not “a few mere years.” You’ve said you’re applying to work at a few newspapers. If you find Gannon’s “success” so unremarkable, try repeating his feat. Be sure to let me know when the President calls on you.
You write: “But as yet, no one has established that the man has done anything illegal, or that he hasn’t actually turned his life around.”
Plainly wrong. “Bulldog” was soliciting prostitution, which is illegal. He was soliciting prostitution while he was in the White House. See, e.g., http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/03/national-press-club-is-msms-latest.html
You write: “Aren’t you guys the same group that would usually tear down the Christian right for equating [being a gay escort] automatically with prostitution?”
Um, no. I don’t know any Democrats who think distinguishing between an escort and a prostitute is important. “Escort” is a euphemism for “prostitute.” Everyone knows this.
You write: “if a man was a gay escort, what would he have to do to qualify himself for the White House press corps, in your mind? … a lot of the people chasing this story could answer it simply … vote Democrat.”
That’s unfair and silly. No, I think most Democrats expect White House press corps members to have academic qualifications, relevant work experience, or both. The press corps members should be actual journalists. Whether Democrats would support a former whore with appropriate academic qualifications and/or relevant work experience is an open question. But a whore with no qualifications? No dice.
First off, “everyone knows that escort is a euphemism for prostitute.” No, as I said in another post on this thread, I know people who’ve worked as escorts and would never dream of sleeping with a client.
You find me a page, instead of just featuring naked pictures, that proves he was soliciting for prostitution, and I’ll believe you. You find me a former client who’ll admit to it, and I’ll believe you.
Until you do, you are violating his right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. You are persecuting a man whose only provable (so far) crime was achieving quickly and disagreeing with your take on things.
Honestly. The assumptions this witch hunt has made all along about this guy are despicable. Again, where there’s smoke there’s probably fire. But all you guys have so far is more smoke, and you’re still ready to hang the guy.
Have you ever read Ameriblogs blog on this, he is the one who broke the story about the escort service.
with the exception of the link that RatIV just posted in this thread, which to my mind established that the guy was a “body guard, personal trainer, or escort” not a prostitute.
http://www.americablog.org/ this is link to blog, it may be in archive by now, haven’t checked in awhile, but he has all of the info, all the details. I watched the story as it was breaking, he hinted on DK the night before and we were all waiting to see what the big story was.
The prostitution angle aside, Gannon had no qualifications for the position. And granting an unvetted person regular access to the White House is a security risk. Nevertheless, the White House violated its own policy by giving Gannon a de facto hard pass. This can only be explained if Gannon had a benefactor in the White House.
You write: “You are persecuting a man whose only provable (so far) crime was achieving quickly and disagreeing with your take on things.”
If this is how you perceive the scandal, you’re being wilfully blind.
And it can also be explained if somebody really screwed up. It can be explained if he bought somebody off. It can be explained if some intern who distributes the passes was one of his clients.
There are ALL KINDS of explanations for what happened. And that’s not what bothers me.
What bothers me is the tone of every single hit piece that you guys have dragged up on this guy. You’re not writing about discovering who the benefactor is (though, to the credit of the authors of this post, it was suggested that that’s the next step) you’re investigating his past, and attacking him.
That doesn’t imply to me that it’s about who might have been out of line as much as it is about this guy, and how pissed off you all are that he asked that question. Yeah, you want to figure out how he got there, but that’s an aside. More than that, it’s about dragging the guy through the mud because he asked that question.
You probably all already saw this, but just in case:
TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2005
National Press Club officer questions E&P’s Gannon story
Romenesko Letters
“Is Editor and Publisher suggesting that every time the National Press Club gets a newsworthy figure to appear on one of our panels, we consider that person a journalist?” asks NPR vice president Jonathan D. Salant. “Is E&P suggesting that we should not invite controversial figures to appear at the Club and be questioned by reporters? How else should we read Joe Strupp’s story?”
Posted at 11:31:04 AM
E-mail this item | QuickLink this item: A80327
I have a question? did you watch the unfolding of the Gannon story as it happened on DK and ameriblog etc.
I think you have this all wrong though it may appear to be the way you are assessing.
We just came off a long and frustrating presidential campaign, that was filled with all kinds of problems from voter fraud to Swift Boat veterans for untruth.
Our candidate (and candidates) was pounded relentlessly in the media all during that period, with the most emphasis paid to Swift Boat stories, flip, flopping, he said this, and he said that reg.Kerry, etc. Purple band aids were even handed out at the Rep. Campaign. You know the story.
This pounding and smearing continued after the election and then we had to deal with a fraudulent election, yes a fraudulent election, see Black Box voting for details.
Everywhere we turned Republicans were gloating, said you lost, your done, get over it you lost, and continued smearing our representative and us.
We could not even feel truly safe from attack even in the white house press conference, and we noticed when this guy got to ask his loaded question.
We took notice and sought to find out about this guy and why he was able to even ask such a question with such a biased premise. “Divorced from reality,” was the last straw in a long series of unfair misrepresentations of the Dem side.
Because we feel that Bush and Co. are the ones divorced from reality and cannot for one second understand how everyone does not see that. Yet here someone in the press conference with the President is asking this most unprofessional question, that is once again casting Dems in a bad light and this is the Presidents Press Conference.
I don’t think anyone following this story ever expected that the story would turn out this way, but it did. WE did not go looking for a sex connection, it was already there.
We found this pretty suspicious that someone with such a checkered past, and no history of journalism, no established newspaper or outlet behind him, could in these times of greatest security surrounding the President and every move he makes, even be within 10 miles of the Pres.
We mobilized in the effort to turn the stone over on the story and find the bugs beneath, many of us did endless hours of research to find the truth. We organized and formed a group just to deal with this issue. Thousands and thousands of hours of research went into this. and a new blog was born.
So this story is not about Jeff Gannon and sex, this story is about what the hell is going on in the White House that could even allow this man to have access to the President. Especially in light of the fact that Dems. could not even get into Bush town Hall meetings, during campaign.
We think we are fighting to save this country (and the world)and the american people from the gross ineptitude of this whole administration. We cannot understand why Republicans do not see these things as problems and continue to support a President who clearly in his public representation has no clue. Sure he can read prepared speeches, but can he speak without a written speech, we have found over and over that he cannot.
So I ask you, how you can support such a man.
This is for Another Perspective, a poster on this site who was having a dialogue above, but it was getting much to wide, so I started my letter down here in new posts, and I am awaiting his reply.
There was plenty to which I intended to respond as I was reading that litany, but you made it quite simple in the end.
Quite simply: because I’ve met the man, I’ve had a discussion with him about his stand on some issues, and he expressed it just fine for me. He’s not dumb, he just doesn’t know how to handle himself in front of a camera for some reason.
Now, on the Gannon thing, yeah, I did follow a lot of it as it was unfolding. And again, I think you’ve shown a lot of smoke, but no fire aside from personal attacks on the guy. I still want to know what qualifies someone for a job in journalism.
I want to know how you think the media was attacking Kerry by reporting on the Swift Boat Veterans, but not once asking him why he would not sign a form 180, and allowing him to say “my military records have been released,” when to this very day they still have not been.
I want to know what you think of that in comparison with a 60 minutes report that released FALSIFIED DOCUMENTS and then had its anchor say “well, that’s ok because we were getting at the truth anyway.” Whatever you think of the Swifties, they didn’t falsify evidence, or reproduce the falsified evidence created by others.
You were upset by the fact that someone in the White House Press Room asked a biased question–that’s fine. So where was the outrage when the same thing happened again a few weeks later? What am I talking about? Read this.
You see, the Kossacks (and apparently a lot of people on this site) don’t care about the principle of it, as you made clear with the direction of your questions for me. You care about bringing down the President, and anyone who isn’t working for that is an enemy.
I want to know, why aren’t you bothered that Kerry had his discharge status changed by Carter, after he was elected to the Senate? And that he promised to sign that form, and still hasn’t done so, despite the fact that every single Swiftie who served in Vietnam has done so?
Because, whether you want to face it or not, you’re partisans. You won’t criticize your guy, because Bush is the prime enemy. I understand that—a unified line is a strong thing. But don’t try to pretend this is about principle.
When you find some evidence of a White House patron, then we’ll talk. Until then, this is a guy who had a shady past, and made a concerted effort to clean it up. He was very successful, and went far quickly. And your only objection is that he’s on the opposite side of the aisle.
One more thing, and then I have to run to class: what would have happened if a liberal had asked a tough question of the President (something like Elizabeth’s in the link above), the Right had investigated and found out that he was gay and used to be an escort, and the White House had banned him from the Press Room?
Quite simply: the ACLU would be all over it, and Kossacks would use it as evidence of a bias against homosexuals. But when the kossacks do it, it’s principled, right?
You have raised a lot of questions that I’m sure others here will want to weigh in on.
I just can’t tackle all of them myself.
But I think we need this dialogue to help both sides, to come to some kind of understanding regarding these issues. I am hoping the deate will ensue.