Tarryl Telling Tall Tales?
A couple of months ago, Dan Ochsner of KNSI AM had his floor pass to the Minnesota Senate revoked. I wrote about it in this post as part of a bigger discussion involving the House DFL's attempt to censor reporters. I noted in that post that the SPJ was rightin stepping into that fight, which the DFL backed away from almost immediately after their proposed rules change was exposed to the media.
To their credit, people like Esme Murphy, Mary Lahammer and others in the MSM jumped on this as a First Amendment issue.
At the time that Ox's permanent press pass was revoked, Ox said that he immediately talked with his state senator, Tarryl Clark. Later, Tarryl told him on his program that he could get a day pass to report from the Senate floor. This afternoon, I got an email from Dan updating that information. Here's the text of Dan's email, which I'm printing with Ox's permission:
Remember earlier this year when Taryl Clark revoked my Senate Press Credentials and promised me on the air that I could just get a "Day Pass" anytime I wanted to get on the Senate floor anyway? Well, I went to the Sgt @ Arms office at the Capitol yesterday to get my "Day Pass" to cover the floor session. The ladies in the office (and I have a witness) told me there is no such thing as a "Day Pass" to get on the Senate floor. Never has been. Nobody had ever heard of such a thing and wondered why Senator Clark would have told me that.
So, as I sat way up high in the gallery observing a spirited floor debate, I looked down at the press table on the Senate floor. It was empty.
...And the saga continues.....So, as I sat way up high in the gallery observing a spirited floor debate, I looked down at the press table on the Senate floor. It was empty.
Dan Ox Ochsner
Let's review these important things first:
Dan filed to renew his pass with pleny of time to spare.
While appearing on Final Word, Dan told King that renewing credentials is a paperwork-only task because reporters keep the same laminated badge from year to year.
In preparation for Ox's interview, King saved a cached copy of the 2006 press booklet. King noted that that booklet "contains KNSI entries for Ox and for former news director Cory Kampschroer." The 2009 booklet contains an entry for KNSI in the directory but their reporters' names aren't listed.
In other words, some intervening act happened to revoke Ox's press credentials for the Senate. It's also worth noting that Dan's House credentials remain intact. I know this because I listened to his first show from the Capitol the first week of this session. In fact, I wrote about it here.
The St. Cloud Times Editorial Board talked about Ox's problems in one of the biggest editorials of the year. I wrote about it here. Here's the hottest part of the Times' editorial:
On the Senate side, local conservative radio personality Dan "The Ox" Ochsner had the DFL-led Senate deny him annual media credentials this session despite having held them several other sessions.
Capitol folks have tried to justify these actions on themes such as "not enough room," "we're updating our rules" and "they don't regularly cover the Capitol."
Sorry, but they are missing the point. Legislators are conducting the public's business, not the media's business. The only rules needed are those that embrace openness, no matter who is asking for it.
Those "Capitol folks" justifications are without merit. They sound more like rationalizations than they sound like well thought through policies. How else can this be explained :
So, as I sat way up high in the gallery observing a spirited floor debate, I looked down at the press table on the Senate floor. It was empty.
That's before talking about Dan's interview of Tarryl shortly after the credentials flap. Ox intended to talk with Tarryl about the budget during the interview but he started by asking her about the credentials issue. Tarryl's response was that she didn't think "that your listeners want to talk about that." Dan's reply was immediate and brief. "I'm sure they want to talk about it." That brief akward moment ended when Ox's co-host Mike Landy changed the subject.
I talked with Ox this afternoon about this additional information. During our discussion, I mentioned a conversation Leo and I had with Tarryl at a January, 2007 townhall meeting. After the meeting, Tarryl approached us and started a conversation. When it was my turn to talk, I asked her if the DFL legislature planned on using zero based budgeting. Tarryl said that that wasn't likely to happen that session so I asked if she'd promise that the legislature would conduct oversight hearings to identify wasteful spending. Tarryl said that that would happen.
At that point, I said that since the DFL legislature was going to identify wasteful spending and since we still had a $2,200,000,000 surplus, that it wasn't "necessary for the first six DFL bills submitted for consideration by the Senate to include tax increases." Tarryl made a specific point of telling us that those bills were submitted by individual members on their own and that they weren't sanctioned by the DFL leadership. Six weeks later, those bills were getting committee hearings and up or down votes.
I suggested to Dan that it isn't a stretch to think that Tarryl says whatever needs to when she's posed with difficult questions. She certainly didn't tell the truth to Leo and I at the townhall meeting. It appears as though she didn't tell Dan the truth about his ability to get a day pass for covering the Senate from the Senate floor.
What credible explanation can be given for why Tarryl told Dan that he could get a day pass even though day passes don't exist and that they've never existed? I've thought about this tonight but I can't think of a credible explanation for Tarryl making such a statement.
It'd be different if this was the first year of the Senate not offering day passes. Based on what the people working in the sergeant at arms office told Dan, that isn't credible.
Based on the information Dan's been given by the sergeant at arms office and based on Tarryl's explanation on the tax bills, it's it's difficult trusting Tarryl.
To my liberal friends, I'll just say that there's no joy in reporting this and leave it at that.
Comments welcome at LFR.
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