By: Joe Strupp Vicki Iseman, the Washington, D.C., lobbyist who had sued The New York Times for $27 million over an article last year that she claimed wrongly depicted her as having an affair with Sen. John McCain, has reached a settlement with the newspaper.
The settlement, which does not include any payment, retraction or apology from the Gray Lady, includes an agreement for the Times to post an online Op-Ed from Iseman's attorneys. Executive Editor Bill Keller will counter with his own Web essay.
Washington Bureau Chief Dean Baquet told staffers in a memo Thursday that the settlement essentially vindicates the Times' reporting, noting to them that "We paid no money. We did not apologize. We did not retract one word of the story, which was a compelling chapter in the tale of Senator John McCain and his political rise."
He adds: "The story stands as a powerful examination of a presidential candidate who cast himself as an ethics reformer and scourge of special interests, yet seemed blind at times over the course of his career to appearances of conflicts of interest."
The Times also plans to run in Friday's edition a note to readers saying that the paper did not state or imply that there was an improper relationship between Iseman and McCain.
The suit, filed in December in Federal District Court in Richmond, Va., claimed that a front-page article on Feb. 21, 2008, ?falsely communicated? that Iseman and McCain ?had an illicit ?romantic? and unethical relationship in breach of the public trust in 1999,? the Times has reported. At that time, Iseman was representing clients before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, then chaired by McCain.
?Ms. Iseman did not engage in any behavior toward him that was anything other than professional and appropriate,? the lawsuit stated, according to the Times.
The article was published when McCain was running for the Republican Presidential Nomination, which he eventually won, before losing to Barack Obama in the general election.
"The article did not directly say that Ms. Iseman and Mr. McCain had had a romantic relationship," the Times reported last year. "But it did say several aides of his had been 'convinced' that he had grown too close to Ms. Iseman and that he might be damaged if the relationship became known."
The article also included denials from Iseman and McCain about having had a romantic relationship.
The defendants in the suit were The Times Company; Baquet; Keller; reporters Jim Rutenberg, Stephen Labaton and David D. Kirkpatrick; and Marilyn W. Thompson, a former reporter for the paper.
Baquet's staff memo follows:
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To the staff,
Vicki Iseman has dropped her lawsuit against The Times, just weeks after it was filed. We paid no money. We did not apologize. We did not retract one word of the story, which was a compelling chapter in the tale of Senator John McCain and his political rise.
The story stands as a powerful examination of a presidential candidate who cast himself as an ethics reformer and scourge of special interests, yet seemed blind at times over the course of his career to appearances of conflicts of interest.
The article was the result of deep reporting, dozens of interviews and an abundance of caution. I am as proud now of the work of the reporters -- David Kirkpatrick, Jim Rutenberg, Stephen Labaton, and Marilyn Thompson -- as I was the day it ran.
In Friday's paper we are publishing a note to readers that repeats what we had already said in countless interviews, that the article did not state or intend to conclude that Ms. Iseman had engaged in a romantic relationship with Mr. McCain.
We let Ms. Iseman's lawyers have their say in a commentary on the Web, with a response from Bill Keller. Why? Because that's what we do. We let people we write about have their say.
-- Dean Baquet
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