GOP Press Release On Congressman Markey Scandal

The original press release may be found here.

Press Release

Intimidation Has No Place in Government, Republicans Tell Waxman, Markey

‘Witnesses have every right to expect that in exchange for their honesty with us, they will not be subjected to sanction, retribution and vengeance simply because the facts and opinions they offer do not square with those of the committee’s members’

June 12, 2009

WASHINGTON – Intimidation and abuse of witnesses who disagree with ruling Democrats must not be permitted in the Energy and Commerce Committee, 20 of the panel’s Republicans told Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey, D-Mass., Friday. At issue is the curious case of an energy company executive who, within hours of challenging the cost analysis of Waxman-Markey global warming legislation, found himself the target of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission inquiry requested that day by Chairman Markey.

“Our committee has a responsibility to the American people to ensure that when we exercise our constitutional powers, we do it fairly and in a manner that engenders public confidence and leads to the truth. When citizens appear voluntarily before this committee to testify, we expect them to tell the truth,” the Republican lawmakers wrote. “Our witnesses, in turn, have every right to expect that in exchange for their honesty with us, they will not be subjected to sanction, retribution and vengeance simply because the facts and opinions they offer do not square with those of the committee’s members. Exercising the power of the majority requires a special responsibility to protect witnesses.”

“No company in America or its employees should be harassed. We are confident that you agree with us on the basic protection all witnesses before our committee have a right to expect.  Respectfully, we ask for a meeting with both of you and at your earliest convenience to address this issue,” they added.

A copy of the Republicans’ letter to Waxman and Markey can be found here.
A copy of Markey’s original letter to FERC can be found here, and his second letter here.
A copy of FERC’s response can be found here.

Update! Articles pertaining to the scandal may be found at these links:
Congressman Intimidates Congressional Witnesses
Congressional Witness Intimidation: David Sokol Video Interview
Is The Media Covering Up A Political Scandal?
Why The Media Blackout Of Congressional Scandal?
GOP Press Release On Congressman Markey Scandal (this article)
Congressional Scandal Videos: Sokol Testimony, Markey Apology

Why The Media Blackout Of Congressional Scandal?

News media keeping public in the dark about witness intimidation

As mentioned in my 17 June article, the media has been conspicuously not covering the congressional witness intimidation undertaken by Congressman Ed Markey.

To recap, I composed a brief email:

Why is the media silent about Congressman Markey's witness intimidation?

GOP members of Congress have accused Congressman Ed Markey of witness intimidation during the Waxman-Markey H.R. 2454 hearings.

Markey has admitted that, during testimony by dissenting witness David Sokol, Markey sent a letter to the FERC which would launch an investigation of Sokol, Warren Buffet and their company, MidAmerican Energy Holdings.

These are very serious charges, yet the media is completely silent on this matter.

Why?

That email was sent to these news organizations:

ABC News
Associated Press
BBC News
Bloomberg
CBS News
CNN Headline News
Fox News
NBC/MSNBC news
New York Times
NPR Morning Edition
Reuters
United Press International
Washington Post

The same day I threw in emails to the Wall Street Journal and two reporters who ran stories on the disgrace in the Salt Lake Tribune and the Omaha World-Herald.

I received a “read” receipt from the Omaha World-Herald reporter:

Your message

To: Morton, Joseph
Subject: Re: Sokol: Markey seeks to intimidate
Sent: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:17:24 -0500

was read on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:49:57 -0500

Other than that read receipt, and the read receipt from the Associated Press along with the auto-replies mentioned in the 17 June article, I have received no correspondence or acknowledgements on this matter.

Save for an 18 June article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review there as been absolutely no coverage on this scandal in any news media I have been able to find since 13 June.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review had this to say:

Republican allegations that U.S. Rep. Ed Markey violated House ethics rules by intimidating a key witness -- who testified against the lawmaker's cap-and-trade scheme -- demands an investigation.

But even at that, the damage already is done…

Whatever the outcome, this ugly episode could chill future expert testimony to the truth: that cap and trade feeds the government's tax lust, exponentially drives up energy costs and does virtually nothing to reduce carbon emissions. A Heritage Foundation analysis finds it would increase electricity rates by 90 percent.

Candid congressional testimony that's followed up with a witch hunt only reinforces the fraud that is cap and trade.

Hear, hear.

So. It’s been 12 days since the scandal began, and 4 days since my emails to the major news media which merely served to confirm that they were, indeed, aware of the matter.

Not a peep from any major news organization: They all know about it and they are all remaining silent—apparently, lest you know as well.

I’ve said all I have to say about this in the previous articles, so I’m going to throw in a few quotes from Robert A. Heinlein which seem appropriate to the issue:

• Don't ask me why it was top secret, or even restricted; our government has gotten the habit of classifying anything as secret which the all-wise statesmen and bureaucrats decide we are not big enough girls and boys to know, a Mother-Knows-Best-Dear policy. I've read that there used to be a time when a taxpayer could demand the facts on anything and get them. I don't know; it sounds Utopian.
• A committee is the only known form of life with a hundred bellies and no brain.
• In a mature society, "civil servant" is semantically equal to "civil master."
• Love your country, but never trust its government.

I feel certain Heinlein wouldn’t object to my expanding that last quote:

Love your country, but never trust its government—or it’s media.

Update! Articles pertaining to the scandal may be found at these links:
Congressman Intimidates Congressional Witnesses
Congressional Witness Intimidation: David Sokol Video Interview
Is The Media Covering Up A Political Scandal?
Why The Media Blackout Of Congressional Scandal? (this article)
GOP Press Release On Congressman Markey Scandal
Congressional Scandal Videos: Sokol Testimony, Markey Apology

Is The Media Covering Up A Political Scandal?

As noted in my 16 June article, Congressman Ed Markey has been accused of witness intimidation during the dissenting testimony of MidAmerica Energy CEO David Sokol.

Save for a video report by CNBC’s Larry Kudlow, the vast majority of the major media has remained irresponsibly silent on the issue.

Too busy? Too slow? Too dumb? Covering up the disgrace?

Well, the media managed to discover that the city of Omsk, Siberia is using a cutout of Brad Pitt to slow speeding motorists.

Perhaps they are so busy gathering facts about a two-dimensional actor, ( no pun intended, seriously), they hadn’t time to find out about congressional corruption.

So, to help out the poor, overworked journalists,

I emailed them.

The following is the text of the email:

Why is the media silent about Congressman Markey's witness intimidation?
GOP members of Congress have accused Congressman Ed Markey of witness intimidation during the Waxman-Markey H.R. 2454 hearings.
Markey has admitted that, during testimony by dissenting witness David Sokol, Markey sent a letter to the FERC which would launch an investigation of Sokol, Warren Buffet and their company, MidAmerican Energy Holdings.
These are very serious charges, yet the media is completely silent on this matter.
Why?

Brief, informative, to the point, and accusatory, I’m sure you’ll agree: Surely enough to elicit action if they aren’t too busy to cover so trivial an issue as intimidation of congressional witnesses.

I searched the websites of each of the news organizations in the list below. None, not one of them had posted a story on this matter as of shortly before this writing, so I sent the above email to each:

ABC News
Associated Press
BBC News
Bloomberg
CBS News
CNN Headline News
Fox News
NBC/MSNBC news
New York Times
NPR Morning Edition
Reuters
United Press International
Washington Post

Now, Dear Reader, now we know they have been informed of the issue. It will be very interesting indeed to see if any of them act on the information.

So far, I have received the following emails in reply:

A “read” confirmation from the Associated Press:

Your message
To: INFO
Subject: Why is the media silent about Congressman Markey's witness intimidation?
Sent: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:53:58 –0400
was read on Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:04:01 -0400
Final-Recipient: RFC822; INFO@ap.org

[Emphasis mine]

A curious auto-reply from Reuters’ “customer service team,” (it wasn’t sent to the customer service team):

Thank you for contacting Reuters. We have received your query, and a member of our customer service team is currently reviewing it. Your feedback is invaluable to us as we continue to improve the website and develop the best user experience. We hope you continue to enjoy Reuters.com/reuters.co.uk.

[Emphasis mine]

Discussion Thread

Customer
17 06 2009 03:13 PM

GOP members of Congress have accused Congressman Ed Markey of witness intimidation during the Waxman-Markey H.R. 2454 hearings.
Markey has admitted that, during testimony by dissenting witness David Sokol, Markey sent a letter to the FERC which would launch an investigation of Sokol, Warren Buffet and their company, MidAmerican Energy Holdings.
These are very serious charges, yet the media is completely silent on this matter.
Why?

An auto-reply from NPR Morning Edition:

Dear Listener,

Thank you for contacting NPR's Morning Edition.
We are grateful for your comments to NPR News. Your message has been received and it will be read by the Morning Edition staff.NPR is always delighted to hear from listeners. Should you require additional assistance or have a question, please respond to this e-mail and we will do our best to assist you.
Thank you for listening to Morning Edition, and for your continued support of public broadcasting. For the latest news and information, visit NPR.org.
Sincerely,
Morning Edition
[Emphasis mine]

[Edit plea for donation}
Message Information:

Message #:
5607-9217982

Date Created:
6/17/2009 11:47 AM EDT

Subject:
Why is the media silent about Congressman Markey's witness intimidation?

Body:
GOP members of Congress have accused Congressman Ed Markey of witness intimidation during the Waxman-Markey H.R. 2454 hearings.
Markey has admitted that, during testimony by dissenting witness David Sokol, Markey sent a letter to the FERC which would launch an investigation of Sokol, Warren Buffet and their company, MidAmerican Energy Holdings.
These are very serious charges, yet the media is completely silent on this matter.
Why?

A syrupy auto-reply from ABC News:

Dear , (sic)

Thanks for sending us the feedback. We read every piece of information we get from our users, and will forward your contribution to the right people here at ABC News. Please stay in touch.
Sincerely,The ABCNEWS.com team

[Emphasis mine]

An auto-reply from CNN:

Thank you for contacting CNN. This email is to notify you that your news tip has been received and will be reviewed in a timely manner. You will be contacted if the news tip is valid and we need further information and verification.

We appreciate your news tip and thank you for choosing CNN as your breaking news source.
Sincerely,
CNN Viewer Communications Management

[Emphasis mine]

Let’s all keep tabs on them to see if these news organizations get off their keesters and do their jobs.

Update! Articles pertaining to the scandal may be found at these links:
Congressman Intimidates Congressional Witnesses
Congressional Witness Intimidation: David Sokol Video Interview
Is The Media Covering Up A Political Scandal? (this article)
Why The Media Blackout Of Congressional Scandal?
GOP Press Release On Congressman Markey Scandal
Congressional Scandal Videos: Sokol Testimony, Markey Apology