June 20, 2006

Political Payola

Did "Kos" and his partner Jerome Armstrong shill for candidates who were secretly paying Armstrong thousands of dollars? It sure looks that way. And while it's not illegal, it's incredibly dishonest.

And stupid - because whatever they gained monetarily pales to the credibility that they sold. From now on, readers of Kos and Armstrong will have to wonder if the candidate or cause they're touting is being touted because Kos and Armstrong really believe in it, or because they're getting paid.

FYI, BillHobbs.com is not funded wholly or in part by any candidate, party or political organization. It's funded by, well, mainly me, along with a few dollars donated none too often by readers via the PayPal or Amazon tip jars. And revenue from blog ads, though I'm running zero ads right now. What's up with that? It's an election year and no Tennessee candidates appear to be running blog ads? What? There are no underfunded candidates out there running for governor or the state senate who wouldn't welcome a great ROI on their advertising bucks by buying a few low-cost blog ads?

All kidding aside, the ethical, open, honest way for a candidate to reward a friendly blogger is to run an ad on their blog, if they take advertising - though it won't guarantee favorable coverage on the blog. It's also a good way to reach the blog audience, of course, and at a very low cost. Regular readers of this site know I am supporting state Sen. Jim Bryson's bid for governor. He's welcome to advertise here. But so is Mark Albertini, who is running against Bryson for the GOP nomination. And so is Gov. Phil Bredesen, the incumbent Democrat. It won't get Bredesen favorable coverage, but it would get his message in front of an audience that he won't reach at Democratic Party events around the state.

I wouldn't take a dime from any of those candidates - or any candidate in any race - in secret or openly, for "consulting" work that amounts to nothing more than shilling for them on my blog. But that looks to be what Kos and Armstrong may have done, with Armstrong raking in thousands of dollars as his partner Kos urged the DailyKos.com fanatics to give money to those very same candidates.

Update: More on the Kos-ola story at Kausfiles.