Tweet
Associated Press
February 17, 2005
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Howard Dean, the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee, requested a media blackout of a debate with top Pentagon adviser Richard Perle, then quickly changed his mind Wednesday after news agencies complained.
"DNC Chair Howard Dean has declared a news blackout of his appearance and requested the media not quote, record, and/or paraphrase his remarks," event coordinator Gabrielle Williams wrote in an e-mail sent to news agencies Wednesday morning. "We apologize for the late notice, but we were just informed of this request."
Less than two hours later, Williams called to say: "We were told just a few minutes ago that it is now open" for media coverage. The decision to open Thursday's debate came roughly 30 minutes after an inquiry by The Associated Press.
Dean spokeswoman Laura Gross said Dean had decided the event would be closed before he was elected DNC chairman Saturday, but changed his mind because of his new job.
"Some speeches are open, some speeches are closed. He decided months ago that this speech would be closed. We're in transition. Now he's the DNC chair -- and so we needed to have this changed," Gross said.
Perle, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's top policy adviser, is a key architect of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and Dean is among the war's most prominent opponents.
Perle said that he was surprised to learn that the press had been barred from covering the debate.
"It seems quite extraordinary that the chairman of the Democratic National Committee would not want the public coverage of this debate," said Perle, a resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
Don Walker, president of the Harry Walker Agency, which represents Dean on the lecture circuit, said that many of the talks it is associated with are closed to the press -- and it's up to the individual speaker to decide whether he or she wants them to be open. "We default to a closed press policy," he said.
Meanwhile Wednesday, Dean called on the head of New York's Republican Party to apologize or resign over remarks linking the Democrats to a civil rights lawyer convicted of aiding terrorists.
Dean called Stephen Minarik's comments offensive and said, "The American people deserve better than this type of political character assassination."
On Monday, Minarik said that Dean's election shows that "the Democrats simply have refused to learn the lessons of the past two election cycles, and now they can be accurately called the party of Barbara Boxer, Lynne Stewart and Howard Dean."
Stewart is a New York City lawyer convicted last week of helping terrorists by smuggling messages from one of her imprisoned clients, a radical Egyptian sheik, to his terrorist disciples on the outside. Boxer is a Democratic senator from California.
Among Minarik's critics is Republican New York Gov. George Pataki, who said Tuesday that his remark was not "within the realm of appropriate political discourse."
Minarik issued a statement Wednesday saying "it is not the Republican Party's problem that these far-left activists have made their home in the Democratic party."
February 17, 2005
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Howard Dean, the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee, requested a media blackout of a debate with top Pentagon adviser Richard Perle, then quickly changed his mind Wednesday after news agencies complained.
"DNC Chair Howard Dean has declared a news blackout of his appearance and requested the media not quote, record, and/or paraphrase his remarks," event coordinator Gabrielle Williams wrote in an e-mail sent to news agencies Wednesday morning. "We apologize for the late notice, but we were just informed of this request."
Less than two hours later, Williams called to say: "We were told just a few minutes ago that it is now open" for media coverage. The decision to open Thursday's debate came roughly 30 minutes after an inquiry by The Associated Press.
Dean spokeswoman Laura Gross said Dean had decided the event would be closed before he was elected DNC chairman Saturday, but changed his mind because of his new job.
"Some speeches are open, some speeches are closed. He decided months ago that this speech would be closed. We're in transition. Now he's the DNC chair -- and so we needed to have this changed," Gross said.
Perle, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's top policy adviser, is a key architect of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and Dean is among the war's most prominent opponents.
Perle said that he was surprised to learn that the press had been barred from covering the debate.
"It seems quite extraordinary that the chairman of the Democratic National Committee would not want the public coverage of this debate," said Perle, a resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
Don Walker, president of the Harry Walker Agency, which represents Dean on the lecture circuit, said that many of the talks it is associated with are closed to the press -- and it's up to the individual speaker to decide whether he or she wants them to be open. "We default to a closed press policy," he said.
Meanwhile Wednesday, Dean called on the head of New York's Republican Party to apologize or resign over remarks linking the Democrats to a civil rights lawyer convicted of aiding terrorists.
Dean called Stephen Minarik's comments offensive and said, "The American people deserve better than this type of political character assassination."
On Monday, Minarik said that Dean's election shows that "the Democrats simply have refused to learn the lessons of the past two election cycles, and now they can be accurately called the party of Barbara Boxer, Lynne Stewart and Howard Dean."
Stewart is a New York City lawyer convicted last week of helping terrorists by smuggling messages from one of her imprisoned clients, a radical Egyptian sheik, to his terrorist disciples on the outside. Boxer is a Democratic senator from California.
Among Minarik's critics is Republican New York Gov. George Pataki, who said Tuesday that his remark was not "within the realm of appropriate political discourse."
Minarik issued a statement Wednesday saying "it is not the Republican Party's problem that these far-left activists have made their home in the Democratic party."
Comment