The RightWisconsin office has been having a less-than-private giggle at the expense of other media covering state politics. Did you know that state Senate Republicans once opposed more borrowing for transportation, but are now in favor of it?
The Wisconsin State Journal reported it yesterday. So did the Associated Press. So did the Wisconsin branch of Gannett.
And, purely by coincidence we’re sure, so did George Mitchell at RightWisconsin – a full day before everyone else. Yet, and we’re sure this is just an oversight, not one of the other publications said, “as first reported at RightWisconsin.”
And we’re sure that it’s just a coincidence that all four articles reference remarks made four years ago by state Senators Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, and Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green. Amazing, actually.
We even laughed when we read the State Journal’s report, which was the lead story in their morning email blast to readers, because Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke, R-Kaukauna, referred to the senate’s position change as a “complete 180.” Coincidentally, it was the same description Mitchell used, only Mitchell used it for both chambers.
“Indeed, legislative records and news accounts show that the two chambers have more or less done a 180 on transportation debt in less than two years,” Mitchell wrote.
Ironically, Mitchell’s op-ed was more even-handed because he noted both chambers switched positions, something that was absent in the other three news articles.
To be fair, Mark Sommerhauser at the Wisconsin State Journal said he didn’t see our article.
Thanks–hadn’t seen this until now. I got my idea from a source. FTR, your publication & mine aren’t the only ones noting this reversal.
— Mark Sommerhauser (@msommerhauser) July 19, 2017
And we’re not going to hold our breaths expecting anyone to insert into the story, “as reported by RightWisconsin” – especially at Gannett. Their editor George Stanley will be selling frozen yogurt before that happens.
We’re just going to laugh and suggest to whomever it was on the state Assembly side of the transportation budget fight talking to the media yesterday about the Senate flip-flop (without mentioning their own) that they mention frequently and loudly that they read it in RightWisconsin first.
