Secretary of State Scott Gessler recently made an appearance on Colorado's flagship Tea-Party radio show, KLZ's Grassroots Radio Colorado.
I was jealous because Gessler's office won't talk to me, and it's possible that even my audience of three people is bigger than KLZ's.
But it made me feel a little bit better when I found out that Gessler's also boycotting the Colorado Independent and AM760's David Sirota show, as I'll explain below.
Still, it raises the question of whether it matters much that a conservative elected official, not just Gessler but any of them, boycotts progressive media outlets.
If I were Gessler, I'd look at the actual work of the journalist or media person who's requesting the interview. If their work shows them to be unfair, inaccurate, and generally unconcerned about civil discourse, then I wouldn't talk to him or her.
For my part, I normally try to be fair, but I'm even more careful if I actually talk to someone. I like to think most writers are this way.
I asked progressive columnist and talk-show host David Sirota for his thoughts on this broad topic. According to John Turk, producer of the David Sirota Show on AM 760, Gessler spokesman Rich Coolidge told him last week, just after Gessler appeared on Grassroots Radio Colorado, that Gessler had "no interest" in coming on Sirota's show to talk about possible voter fraud.
Sirota emailed me:
My view is that the best elected officials are those who make themselves available to the widest possible audience of their constituents. In Colorado, though, that's the exception (Ed Perlmutter is one for instance), not the norm. Here, most politicians see themselves -- and carry themselves -- as if they are part of an elite country club. They typically only make themselves available to their friends in the media who they know won't ask them a single substantive or hard-hitting question -- those who will simply propagandize for their agenda and kiss their ass in a very public way. I'm not surprised by that. I'm a journalist, and genuine journalism is a threat to those in power who are either ashamed of their behavior or who shouldn't have to answer to anyone. Most of the politicians in the state know that regardless of party, I don't pull punches and will ask them tough questions, and so many of them avoid my show. I see that as a badge of honor.
The Colorado Independent's John Tomasic has also gotten the cold shoulder from Gessler. Tomasic offered these thoughts in an email:
Gessler is not a representative from some very conservative district.
He is a state officeholder. The topics he deals with every day as secretary of state are enormously important for all the citizens of Colorado. He oversees voting, campaign finance rules -- really basic stuff that is of equal interest to citizens all across the political spectrum. For that reason alone, he is a person of interest for everyone reporting about politics in this state: newspaper people, broadcast people, bloggers, etc., and he has a crack staff of communication experts at his disposal. Use them, I say! Let's hear more every day from spokespeople Rich and Andrew at the secretary of state's office. Turn those guys loose! "Free Rich!" "Free Andrew!".
I'm ready to join the "Free Rich" campaign, and I'm thinking about offering myself up for the dunk tank at the first "Free Rich" fundraiser.
Part of the trick of journalism is to find ways to get information when you can't get it mouth-to-mouth. Tomasic, for example, has a "cordial" and "fruitful" relationship with Gessler's office when he requests documents under the Colorado Open Records Act. Getting blacklisted for interviews, even in an apparently partisan manner from the Secretary of State, is how it goes.
And obviously both parties avoid reporters. Governor John Hickenlooper won't go on KHOW's Caplis and Silverman show, the hosts allege on air. Though he's on KOA's Mike Rosen's Show monthly.
Representative Scott Tipton isn't talking to the Tea Party-leaning radio program, the Cari and Rob Show. But Tipton's Democratic challenger Sal Pace will go on the show.
KHOW's Peter Boyles likes to say no elected official will go on his show anymore, though I heard Representative Chris Holbert and Senator Ted Harvey on Boyles' show February 15 to discuss their gun bills.
Mitt Romney skipped over all the major Denver media last month, eliciting an admirable Howard-Beale-like outcry from Fox 31 political reporter Eli Stokols.
It's always been this way, you'd say. But the changes in the media make the situation worse for real people (who stopped reading this blog post before the first paragraph, even though I put "rabid" in the title to lure them in).
With the major media in decline, and more small outlets lining up along ideological lines, many people are less likely to hear from elected officials they disagree with.
Progressives, for example, who consume news from progressive news outlets, won't be hearing from Scott Gessler directly any time soon, it appears.
That's not good, and you have to think it will get worse, because, politically, Gessler can write off the left, talk to his conservative base, and try to reach moderates through other means, which may or may not include the Denver Post in the long run.
Under this scenario, how does the partisan divide do anything but get wider?
To be fair, and this is my attempt at ending on a hopeful note, I should tell you that even after Gessler's office rejected my own interview requests, Gessler was willing to speak with me when I approached him after a speech he gave at Colorado Christian University. I told him I was a liberal blogger, and he still spoke with me.
In the semi-public setting, maybe he felt a responsibility, as an elected official, not to turn away from me?
But, like Westword, I didn't ask him the right follow-up question. Who knows if I'll get another chance?