"POLITICS AND OTHER MISTAKES"
This is Radio Clash
By Al Diamon
Portland state Sen. Ethan Strimling has caught some flack for his decision to continue working as a talk-show host on WGAN radio, even though he's exploring a bid for the Democratic nomination for Congress in the First District. Republicans complain publicly that he's using his weekend program and his frequent appearances as a guest host on the Portland station's weekday morning show to discuss issues in the race. Democrats apparently lack the courage-related organs needed to make the same comments on the record, but supporters of some of Strimling's potential primary opponents haven't been timid about launching a behind-the-scenes smear campaign.
From a legal perspective, Strimling appears to be correct. (Those keeping score will note that this is the first time in this column's history that the words "Strimling" and "correct" have appeared in the same sentence.) Under Federal Communications Commission and Federal Election Commission rules, he's not considered a candidate - even though he walks like a candidate, talks like a candidate and raises money like a candidate. The feds say until Strimling exceeds fundraising guidelines, buys advertising promoting his candidacy or starts referring to himself as a candidate, he isn't.
That's important, because broadcast stations are required to provide equal time to opponents of actual candidates, but nothing to those running against un-candidates or whatever Strimling is.
Ethically, the situation is murkier. While Strimling is campaigning and raising money - including a $100-per-head fundraiser with a "Sopranos" actor - he's also, in effect, getting free advertising on WGAN. Does that create a moral dilemma for a station that promotes itself as an outlet for quality journalism?
Nope, according to WGAN program director Jeff Wade. "Look at the legal definition the FCC sets," Wade said. "He doesn't meet the standard. He's not a candidate. There really isn't an ethical issue at this point. It's not even a discussion, yet."
Aw, come on, Jeff, everybody in the news biz knows Strimling has been preparing to run for Congress for years. Doesn't common sense trump the letter of the law?
"We don't know he's going to be in it," Wade said, which, if true, would make WGAN the only media outlet in southern Maine that doesn't know. "We can't really comment on something that hasn't happened."
Nor is Wade worried that Strimling's continued presence on the air could create the impression the station is biased in its campaign coverage.
"We have a long history of covering elections," he said. "We'll treat Ethan like any other candidate."
Until then, he said, WGAN will treat him "like any other talk show host."
(In the interest of full disclosure, I hosted a talk show on WGAN in the early 1990s. I got fired, but not because I was running for anything.)
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The conservative Web site "As Maine Goes" (www.asmainegoes.com), the state's primary online source of political rumor and gossip, has some competition. Paul Mattson of Harrison, a frequent contributor to AMG, has started a new - and similar - site for right-wingers called "MaineFirst" (www.freepowerboards.com/mainefirst). But just as this venture began, Mattson discovered he'd been banned from AMG until further notice.
According to Scott Fish, AMG's founder and editor, the debut of "MaineFirst" and the banning were unconnected, but he refused to explain why Mattson can no longer post on Fish's site. "It's not something that needs airing in public," he said. "Paul became pretty high-maintenance. He's not banned forever. The next move is his." Fish mentioned another AMG contributor who started his own site and wasn't sent into exile. He said he even offered him technical assistance.
Mattson averaged more than six posts a day on AMG - over 15,000 of them during the last seven years. He admitted he sometimes posted excerpts from copyrighted material that were longer than the 75 words allowed by law, a violation sure to draw Fish's wrath. But he said others were guilty of the same transgression and hadn't been kicked out. Mattson said he tried three times to contact Fish to find out the nature of his sin, but received no reply. In an e-mail, he wrote, "I find it amazing Scott would be offended [by] competition and other opinions not under his control."
As for "MaineFirst," he said in a phone interview that it differs from AMG in that, "'As Maine Goes' had a lot of tabloid news. I'm not interested in that."
While on the subject of political websites, it's worth noting that AMG has been around since 1998, and in that time, Maine has yet to produce an enduring liberal equivalent. Several attempts at left-wing alternatives have come and gone, with the operators most often citing the heavy workload and stress of mediating between warring factions as reasons for quitting. But the real cause may have been that, unlike AMG, they were kind of boring.
Bore me if you must by e-mailing aldiamon@herniahill.net.
