Jeff Gannon

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James Dale Guckert worked under the pseudonym Jeff Gannon as a White House reporter between 2003 and 2005, representing Talon News. After Guckert came under public scrutiny, in particular for his lack of a significant journalistic background and involvement with various homosexual escort service websites using the professional name Bulldog, he resigned from Talon News on February 8, 2005. Continuing to use the name Gannon, he has since created his own official homepage and worked for a time as a columnist for the Washington Blade newspaper, where he came out as a homosexual.[1]

Guckert routinely obtained daily passes to White House briefings. He attended four Bush press conferences and appeared regularly at White House press briefings. Although he did not qualify for a Congressional press pass, Guckert was given daily passes to White House press briefings "after supplying his real name, date of birth and Social Security number".[2]

Guckert first gained national attention during a presidential press conference on January 26, 2005, in which he asked United States President George W. Bush a question that some in the press corps considered "so friendly it might have been planted".[3]

Contents

[edit] Background

James Guckert was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity when he attended West Chester University of Pennsylvania in West Chester, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1980.[4]

[edit] Media career

[edit] White House press credentials

Guckert first attended a White House press conference on February 28, 2003, and there asked a question of then White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. At this time Guckert had never had an article published, was not associated with any kind of news organization (Talon News had not been created yet), and ads for his services as a homosexual escort were still present on several Web sites.[citation needed]

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan later claimed that there was no breakdown in security and no one intervened on Guckert's behalf to ensure his access, despite the fact that Gannon/Guckert had been able to get a press pass for the White House using an assumed name.[citation needed] Guckert's response was that the alias Jeff Gannon was a professional name used for convenience, claiming that his "real last name is hard to spell and pronounce," and that the Secret Service was aware of his identity.[2]

Journalists have pointed out that it can take weeks to get the kind of clearance Guckert received.[citation needed] Indeed, the Augusta Free Press reported that its acquisition of a single one-day pass was a two-week process.[5] Furthermore, it was said that, highly unusually, Gannon was issued one-day press passes for nearly two years, avoiding the extensive background checks required for permanent passes, and sidestepping Guckert's inability to gain the necessary Congressional press pass.[citation needed] Guckert applied for a Congressional press pass in April 2004 but was denied one by The Standing Committee of Correspondents, a group of congressional reporters who oversee press credential distribution on Capitol Hill, on the grounds that Talon did not qualify as a legitimate and independent news service.[6] On his resume Guckert claimed to be a "graduate of the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism." However, upon examination this was found to be a two day seminar for "conservatives who want a career in journalism."[7]

[edit] Talon News

Talon News is a virtual organization (with no physical office or newsroom) owned by the Web site GOPUSA. "Talon News apparently consists of little more than (Robert) Eberle, (Jeff) Gannon, and a few volunteers, and is virtually indistinguishable from GOPUSA.com," says the Media Matters for America web site.[8] Robert Eberle is the president and CEO of both GOPUSA and Talon News. This has led to charges that Talon News was created specifically to give Gannon a news organization that he could ostensibly represent, to justify his continuing to work at the White House. By the middle of February 2005, the Talon News website had shut down for an indefinite amount of time, according to the message on that site; on September 1, 2006, the site indicated the domain is for sale.

[edit] Controversy

The controversy over Gannon's background started after President George W. Bush's January 26, 2005 press conference, at which Gannon asked the president the following question:

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
"Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy. (Senate Minority Leader) Harry Reid was talking about soup lines. And (Senator) Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet in the same breath they say that Social Security is rock solid and there's no crisis there. How are you going to work – you've said you are going to reach out to these people – how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?"[9]

Guckert's question was ridiculed on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (which dubbed him "Chip Rightwingenstein of the Bush Agenda Gazette") and by a number of liberal bloggers, who considered it an excessively deferential question for a reporter to ask at a presidential press conference. Some also noted that Guckert's reference to Sen. Harry Reid "talking about soup lines" was false, a canard that had apparently originated from a characterization Rush Limbaugh had made on his syndicated radio program. Limbaugh himself noted much the same.

After the January 26, 2005 press conference, scrutiny into his personal and professional background by news organizations and blogs began. On February 8, 2005, Guckert resigned from Talon News and temporarily shut down his website www.jeffgannon.com. According to the Washington Post, "Jeff Gannon, ... whose naked pictures have appeared on a number of gay escort sites, says that he has 'regrets' about his past but that White House officials knew nothing about his salacious activities."[2] Guckert said he was being stalked and his family was being harassed. He has revived his website since that time.

Guckert had registered several Internet domain names, including Hotmilitarystud.com and Militaryescorts4m.com[10] and posted naked pictures of himself.

"Bloggers revealed that Jeff Gannon... had previously worked as a $200-an-hour gay prostitute who advertised himself on a series of websites with names such as hotmilitary stud.com."[11]

When these ads became public, Gannon refused to specifically address them, but admitted that he had made mistakes in his past. [2]

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These findings had some critics questioning Guckert's sexual orientation. Some denounced this speculation as irrelevant, but others said that it revealed hypocrisy on the part of Guckert, his employers, the White House and/or the Republican Party. Critics noted, for instance, that Guckert made statements in articles that could be perceived as anti-gay or homophobic. During the 2004 election, he wrote that John Kerry "might someday be known as 'the first gay president'" and that Kerry had supported "the pro-gay agenda".[2]

In April of 2006, Guckert/Gannon appeared on the television program Lie Detector, produced by Mark Phillips Philms & Telephision for the PAX Network (now i TV) submitting to and passed a polygraph to assert he was not a White House operative.

[edit] Connection to Plame investigation

Guckert has been questioned by the Justice Department in relation to the department's criminal investigation into the Valerie Plame affair, in which Plame's identity as an undercover CIA operative was allegedly illegally leaked to a number of journalists and commentators by one or more senior administration officials. On October 28, 2003, Talon News published an interview Guckert had conducted with Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, Plame's husband, whom the CIA had sent to Niger in 2003 to investigate claims that Iraq was attempting to procure yellowcake uranium. In the interview, Guckert asked Wilson about an "internal government memo prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel" that said Plame had suggested Wilson for the job. In a February 2005 interview, Guckert told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that the FBI had spoken to him in an effort to learn who had leaked the classified memo and to whom, but that he had not been asked to appear before the grand jury investigating the case.

Previously, Guckert had come under fire when he extensively covered the South Dakota Senate race between Tom Daschle and John Thune. Supporters of Daschle claimed he acted as a de facto member of the Thune campaign while ostensibly a journalist.

[edit] Washington Blade

In July 2005, Gannon began writing for the DC-area gay publication Washington Blade. His articles included criticism of gay blogger John Aravosis, who had helped uncover Gannon's pornographic ads. Blade editor Chris Crain attracted his own criticism from many in the gay community for this decision, due to Gannon's past history of anti-gay reporting as well as Gannon's refusal to disclose his sexual orientation. He has said, “My personal life is a private matter, despite that fact that I have become a public person.” Crain defended his decision in a September 2005 editorial[12] and claimed the "steady stream of feedback/vitriol" had declined "a little" with each new Gannon article.

[edit] House Judiciary Committee

The House Judiciary Committee voted against House resolution 136, on March 16, 2005. The 21 Committee Republicans present voted against the resolution. The 10 Committee Democrats voted for the resolution. The resolution directed the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security to transmit documents in the possession of officials to the House of Representatives. These documents related to the security investigations and background checks involved in granting access to the White House of James D. Guckert (also known as Jeff Gannon). The documents were to be transmitted no later than 14 days after the date of the adoption of the resolution.

The resolution requested information including:

  • all records setting forth or discussing policies, procedures, or guidelines discussing security clearances and background checks relating to granting access into the White House briefing room
  • all records indicating how the policies, procedures, or guidelines were communicated to Mr. Guckert
  • all records indicating the officer or office responsible for requesting that the Secret Service carry out a security investigation or background check with respect to an individual seeking access to the President or to the White House briefing room
  • all records setting forth the standards for security investigations or background checks with respect to "day pass" credentials
  • all records indicating or discussing whether and to what extent an individual who is cleared for a day pass for a given date is required to receive further security clearance for a day pass for a later date, all records setting forth or discussing which officer or officers, if any, have the authority to exempt an individual seeking access to the President or to the White House briefing room from the standards for security investigations or background checks that otherwise apply
  • all records of communication between the Secret Service and Mr. Guckert

Democratic Representatives John Conyers of Michigan and Louise Slaughter of New York had submitted similar requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), on February 15, 2005. A letter dated March 7, 2005, from the Secret Service stated, "Please be advised that our Office of Protective Operations has looked into this matter and has determined that there was no deviation from Secret Service standards and procedures as your letter suggests," wrote Secret Service Deputy Assistant Director Conrad A. Everett. The letter did not detail what the standards were. During the Committee meeting Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said Gannon had engaged in a possible "penetration of the White House."

The Louise Slaughter request was answered by the Department of Homeland Security with Secret Service records of Mr. Guckert's check in and out times at the White House. [13]

Guckert, who wants to be addressed as Jeff Gannon, wrote in his blog, "I hope this vote will put these issues to rest and allow me to return to my work as a journalist."

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] News/comment

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "Gannon comes out: Former escort, conservative reporter grilled on White House visits", The Raw Story, May 5, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
  2. ^ a b c d e Howard Kurtz, "Jeff Gannon Admits Past 'Mistakes,' Berates Critics", The Washington Post, February 19, 2005.
  3. ^ "Congresswoman Asks for Probe After 'Gannon' Quits WH Reporting Post", Editor and Publisher, 2005-02-09.
  4. ^ Minutes—Second Quarterly Meeting (.pdf). Tau Kappa Epsilon Alumni Association of West Chester University (2004-05-01). Retrieved on 2006-09-28.
  5. ^ Views on the News, Our View. Editorial. Augusta Free Press (2005-02-11). Retrieved on 2006-10-07.
  6. ^ http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000787908
  7. ^ http://www.leadershipinstitute.org/schools/schoolinfo.cfm?sgid=39
  8. ^ "What is Talon News, and why does it have press credentials?" by Jamison Foser for MediaMatters, January 28, 2005. "Talon News... appears to be more a political organization than a media outlet."
  9. ^ >Savage, Charlie; Alan Wirzbicki (2005-02-02). White House-friendly reporter under scrutiny. Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2006-10-07.
  10. ^ Howard Kurtz, "Online Nude Photos Are Latest Chapter In Jeff Gannon Saga", Washington Post, February 16, 2005.
  11. ^ Andrew Buncombe, "White House's Loyal Reporter Once Worked as Gay Hooker", The Independent, February 20, 2005.
  12. ^ Crain, Chris (2005-09-23). Gunning for Gannon is unhealthy sport. Editorial. Washington Blade. Retrieved on 2006-10-07.
  13. ^ Secret Service White House Access Records for James Guckert. RawStory (April 2005). Retrieved on 2006-10-07.
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