By: Joe Strupp Could underdog presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich be avoiding publicity from his hometown newspaper?
The Plain Dealer of Cleveland, in a recent item on its political blog, claims the former Cleveland mayor and current Democratic congressman has been giving the paper the cold shoulder.
"Heretofore a champion of a free press, congressman (and former Plain Dealer copy boy) Dennis Kucinich has cut off nearly all communication to Plain Dealer political reporters," Stephen Koff wrote Friday on the paper's political blog. "Kucinich has not returned calls for several weeks to the newspaper's Washington bureau, which covers his actions in Congress and his presidential campaign. As noted in Monday's newspaper, he uttered a string of non-sequiturs -- albeit pleasant ones -- when a Plain Dealer reporter attempted to interview him outside the House of Representatives chamber."
The item adds, "his presidential campaign staff for weeks has not returned Plain Dealer calls and e-mail" and targets Kucinich spokeswoman Natalie Laber with leading the non-responses. "Laber ... also has not returned phone calls and e-mail during this timeframe," Koff wrote. "That includes multiple inquiries from reporters asking about Kucinich's votes in the House, his positions on congressional issues and matters unrelated to his presidential campaign."
Laber could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.
Koff also accused Laber of excluding Plain Dealer reporters from a list of media contacts who receive Kucinich news releases, news alerts, hearing schedules and notices of public appearances via e-mail. "She won't return our calls and e-mail. But we know she sends them to others, as we have obtained bootleg copies. (Under normal circumstances, we might request them under the Freedom of Information Act, but Congress, perhaps anticipating the day that Kucinich would wish to shut out the press, exempted itself from the public records law)," he writes.
The paper reports that "Laber has complained before about Plain Dealer coverage of the congressman's effort to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. Kucinich's presidential campaign staff has complained about news and feature items on the Cleveland.com Web site.
"Yet Kucinich also has complained about news organizations trying to shut him out of coverage."
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