MUTH’S TRUTHS

This is more of a little training lesson for GOP candidates and activists than a current events item. And it has to do with working with reporters and the media. First, read this brief passage from a story titled, “Purse Strings to Get Tighter” by David McGrath Schwartz in this morning’s Las Vegas Sun:

“Nevada has drained its savings account, the rainy day fund, intended to be a short-term answer to hard economic times. ‘So far all they’ve done is kick the can down the road hoping things will turn around before they have to make the tough decisions,’ said Chuck Muth, a conservative activist.

“Muth predicts that, even with the two rounds of cuts made, the budget numbers will look bleak by the end of next month, forcing Gibbons and legislators to make tougher calls. Like others, Muth would not be surprised to see a third round of budget cuts this year.

“…Muth thinks the governor and legislators settled on the cuts because they were the easiest to make. ‘This has the fewest number of people screaming,’ Muth said. ‘All they are doing is putting off the inevitable.’”

The story also includes quotes from state Sen. Bob Beers and Budget Czar Andrew Clinger. But here’s the point…

The Las Vegas Sun is considered to be a “liberal” paper - and indeed their editorial page is decidedly so. However, conservatives and Republicans (not necessarily the same thing) should know that Mr. Schwartz called me last night to give me a heads up that the story was going to run today and just wanted to make sure he had quoted me accurately and hadn’t misrepresented my position.

That’s called…professionalism.

Frankly, I don’t know if Mr. Schwartz’s personal philosophy is conservative or liberal or somewhere in between. And that’s a good thing when it comes to a reporter. What I DO know, however, is that he wrote an objective story on a current public policy issue which quoted me and my position accurately. As activists and political figures, you just can’t ask for any more than that.

The point is that too many conservatives avoid the “mainstream media” the way vampires avoid garlic. Many would rather sit through a root canal than talk to a reporter. And after all, it’s a lot easier to whine about “liberal media bias” than it is to actually do the hard work of establishing a professional, working relationship with the press.

Many years ago I attended a Republican candidate training seminar in which Newt Gingrich said, “Of course the mainstream media is liberal. Get over it.”

That’s pretty good advice for Nevada’s Republican leaders and elected officials to take to heart. Because the press is going to write its stories every day - day in and day out - whether you talk to them or not. If you blow them off the way the Gibbons administration often does, you have no chance to tell your side of the story whatsoever. And that’s, well, just plain dumb.

Posted on April 25th, 2008 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada