Rehberg lies to the public; Lee Newspapers shrugs

March 7, 2007 in Denny Rehberg, Media

by Jay Stevens

Just yesterday I mulled over Dennis Rehberg’s reluctance to hand over his daily schedule, despite a spokesperson claiming that it was always available on request.

Well, today in a must-read post, Don Pogreba followed up on his attempts to contact Rehberg’s office and wrote a scathing indictment of not only Rehberg’s office for deliberately misleading Montanans, but for the nonchalance – or even cover-up – of this fact by Lee newspaper reporter, Noelle Straub.

After a couple of weeks of fruitless inquires after Rehberg’s schedule, Don contacted Straub, who initially reported that Rehberg’s schedule was available to any and all, and told her about his efforts. Straub’s response?

Just between us, Rehberg’s office seems to be putting together a distribution system so people can sign up to receive his schedule on a regular basis. We’ll all be watching to see how it works.
Thanks, Noelle

Don correctly notes that Straub’s email (“just between us,” and a few hundred select readers) admits that she never fact-checked the original story and has no interest in correcting it, even now. After all, the story is as much about Rehberg’s lie as it is about Straub’s willingness to propagate it.

It gets worse. Not only does Straub ignore the story – and it is a story when an elected representative deliberately misleads the public – but she’s since written a puff piece on Rehberg, ignoring the tangled and compromising money deals he made on his recent trade trip to Italy.

Read the post.

Some folks think bloggers are crazy for being so concerned…but…you know? Who else would be looking into this sh*t? Personally I’d love to live in a world where bloggers weren’t necessary.