Crane: You shouldn't have to ask for call

Debbie Crane said the Carolina Journal shouldn't have to ask to get its calls returned.

Gov. Mike Easley acknowledged last week that his press staff doesn't return calls from the newspaper because the governor's staff considers it an advocacy group. Crane, a fired spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said advocacy group or not, the journal and every other member of the public has a right to public information.

Crane had previously said public information officers for other state agencies were also told not to deal with the Journal, which is owned by the John Locke Foundation.

"The name of those offices for the most part was public information offices or public affairs offices," Crane told N&O reporters today. "That means it doesn't matter who is doing the calling they deserve a call back and they deserve their information."

Crane spoke to N&O staff members today about public records and the best ways to get them from state government.

Easley told Carolina Journal editor Richard Wagner last week that he would have the newspaper removed from the do-not-call-list if the press association would write a letter vouching for the paper. Crane said that should be unnecessary. She allowed that the governor's public information office focuses on the news media, but other offices in state government are supposed to respond to the public.

Full disclosure: Crane signed an affidavit in support of a lawsuit against the governor by news organizations, including The N&O.

Update: The governor's office has directed state public information officers to treat the Carolina Journal the same as other news media, said Dan Gerlach, a senior aide to Easley.

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Re: Crane: You shouldn't have to ask for call

Submitted by FFC1304 on April 17, 2008 - 7:05am.

HeeHeeHeeheehee...LOL...LMAO!!! Thank God for a lawsuit with some TEETH in it! Sleazely is like a worm in hot ashes now! LOL...this may be the answer to WHO's NEXT? !!!!

Talk about TWERPS, its too nice for Sleazely!

STRIVE to be SMARTER than a democrackkk!

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Wrong, Twoshades

Submitted by Isaac136 on April 16, 2008 - 6:39pm.

It's not disproportionate to report on the fact that the governor's office has attempted to bypass the public meetings and open records law, or that the governor's office has instructed that calls from a certain person not be returned, or that when confronted with the facts about this practice, the governor's office 1. pretended it didn't happen then 2. pretended that if it happened, it was someone else's fault and 3. it really didn't happen but we're not going to do it anymore, and it was all Franklin's idea anyway.

Oh geez, he kept MAKING the story go on.

The governor's office could have killed this story early, early on by coming free and clear. Instead, Easley tells us that we misunderstood the notes taken by the PIOS (the notes that said, "delete emails to and from the gov's office,") and that the only way to really know what was meant by those notes was to ask the people who wrote them, after which he proceeds to direct the PIOS not to answer any questions about this matter.

I'm a citizen of this state who actually gives a rat's ass about how the governor's office operates. It reflects on all state government, and it PERMEATES all state government. And that's something that everyone who lives and works here ought to care about.

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I guess they're going to have to return my calls too.

Submitted by James_Protzman on April 16, 2008 - 3:19pm.

n/t

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Re: Crane: You shouldn't have to ask for call

Submitted by twoshadesofblue on April 16, 2008 - 2:49pm.

When you're allocating scarce resources (time and personnel), press offices usually respond to the organizations that reach the widest audiences first. They should respond to public information requests, but there are other offices with that responsibility. The press office isn't particularly obligated to comment to everyone who asks -- especially to advocacy organizations who have shoddy journalists or have misquoted them in the past. Students newspapers take a backseat to the N&O; Carolina Journal takes a back seat to the Greensboro News & Record.

And, for whatever it's worth, I think the story is interesting and worth covering. But all the "full disclosure" in the world doesn't negate the fact that N&O is pushing the story disproportionately in relation to its newsworthiness. I mean, every time I check there's another post or story on the same basic story...

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You tell 'em, Debbie!

Submitted by Isaac136 on April 16, 2008 - 1:46pm.

It is true that Don Carrington, who writes for the Carolina Journal, is kind of a twerp. But lots of people are twerps. They still deserve to get their calls returned. In my work for state government, we returned every dang call (with the exception of those that consisted chiefly of expletives).

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