"Ex-GOP Flack" Doing News on Milwaukee Radio

Can you say "DOUBLE STANDARD"?

Actually, this is so ridiculous that it's funny.

Daniel Bice is bent out of shape because former communications director for the Republican Party of Wisconsin Chris Lato is part of the news team at talk radio station WTMJ-AM (620).

Bice writes:

It's been a standing joke that WTMJ-AM (620) became WGOP when its talk-show lineup went all conservative, all the time.

But is anyone laughing since the Milwaukee news-talk station has signed up an ex-Wisconsin Republican Party official for its news team?

A couple of months ago, Chris Lato, former communications director for the state GOP, joined the station as a reporter. WTMJ, like the Journal Sentinel, is owned by Journal Communications.

"I know how to be objective - I know how to tell both sides of the story and be fair about it," Lato said recently. "That's what I'm doing here. I appreciate their faith in me, and it's something, at least for me, that's easy to do."

Lato's position at the station has received more notice than it would otherwise because he's been in the news, not only reporting it but also as part of the ongoing U.S. attorney flap.

...So how did an ex-Republican staffer who figures into this national story end up reporting news for Milwaukee's premier radio station?

According to station officials, Lato simply applied for the job. Jon Byman, the news director at WTMJ, said Lato's previous work for the party was no secret.

"We talked about it," Byman said Wednesday. "The majority of Chris' background, his experience is news. We hire people with diverse backgrounds all the time. The real concern is for someone to fairly and accurately cover the news."

Previously, Lato had worked at WISN-AM (1130) and the Wisconsin Radio Network before becoming a GOP mouthpiece. Since leaving the party in mid-2005, he has worked for Republican candidates Dave Magnum and Jean Hundertmark, both of whom lost last year.

In other words, the guy has been both a newsman and a newsmaker.

Lato likens his situation to that of Josh Westcott, a staffer for Democratic state Sen. Judy Robson, who was also hosting a morning news program in Madison. Westcott quit the news program shortly after Spivak & Bice called attention to the fact that he was doing double duty.

But unlike Westcott, Lato said, he is not working for a party or politician while also drawing a paycheck from the radio station.

..."Everybody's got political feelings in their background," [Byman] said. "And we ask everybody to check those at the door."

True enough.

Except Lato's not just like everybody else. He was paid for several years to make sure his political opinions were heard far and wide.

Given that, can listeners expect Lato to be even-handed when he's reporting on Gov. Jim Doyle, a guy he once dubbed a hypocrite who placed teachers unions ahead of children? Or what about U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, someone Lato once asserted was out of step with Wisconsin residents?

Lato's response: Tune in and listen for yourself.

Does Bice think that he's blowing Lato's cover or something?

What's the big deal that "the guy has been both a newsman and a newsmaker"?

That's not unusual at all.

Bice is disturbed because "Lato's not just like everybody else. He was paid for several years to make sure his political opinions were heard far and wide."

Hey! Bice! Have you heard of a guy named Tim Russert?

Before joining NBC News, Russert served as counselor in New York Governor Mario Cuomo's office in Albany in 1983 to 1984 and was chief of staff to Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan from 1977 to 1982.

Clearly, the host of NBC's Meet the Press could be considered an ex-Dem flack.

Furthermore, Russert was most definitely part of the news during the Scooter Libby trial. That didn't keep Russert from reporting on the story. Russert was simultaneously a newsman and a newsmaker.

Did that upset Bice?

And what about Chris Matthews, blowhard host of MSNBC's Hardball?

Matthews has worked for four Democratic politicians. He was a presidential speechwriter for four years during the administration of Jimmy Carter. He served as a top aide to long-time Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O'Neill for six years. He worked in the U.S. Senate for five years on the staffs of Senators Frank Moss and Edmund Muskie before losing to Pennsylvania Congressman Joshua Eilberg in a U.S. House of Representatives Democratic primary in 1974.

Matthews is a dyed-in-the-wool Dem hack, yet he's supposed to be an objective journalist. He took part in the first GOP 2008 presidential primary debate.

Do Matthews' previous employers trouble Bice?

Matthews' partisan political past is quite extensive. He was a speechwriter for Jimmy Carter!

Nonetheless, he's considered a newsman and he's paid to make his political opinions heard far and wide. Granted, nobody watches MSNBC but he's still paid to tow the liberal line. It's no secret.

Let's not forget George Stephanopoulos. How could Bice overlook him?

Stephanopoulos was ... a leading member of the 1992 Clinton campaign. At the outset of Clinton's presidency, Stephanopoulos served as the de facto press secretary, briefing the press even though Dee Dee Myers was officially the White House Press Secretary. Later, he was moved to Senior Advisor on Policy and Strategy, when Dee Dee Myers began personally conducting the briefings.

Does Bice care that Stephanopoulos became a newsman after being a high profile newsmaker and Clintonista?

And Stephanopoulos isn't just a reporter. He's the host of ABC's This Week.

Why is it that his political career isn't an issue but Lato's is?

It's positively goofy for Bice to suggest that Lato and WTMJ are in some sort of unholy alliance, a vast conservative conspiracy.

People do make career changes. Plenty of people have held political positions and later moved into journalism.

If libs can make the leap, why can't a conservative?

If Lato's objectivity is in doubt, then Bice should consider Russert, Matthews, and Stephanopoulos to have the same credibility problem.

Really, really lame.