MN-SEN: Klobuchar Fires Aide Amid Controversy

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2006/sep/21/mn_sen_klobuchar_fires_aide_amid_controversy

Bad news for Dems in Minnesota. The state GOP today is beating the heck out of Senate candidate Amy Klobuchar, who announced yesterday that she'd fired her communications director, Tara McGuinness, a few days ago after learning that the young aide got hold of an unreleased ad cut by GOP opponent Mark Kennedy. The Kennedy campaign is milking the story for all it's worth, saying that they are shutting down the campaign web site to ensure that it will remain secure -- though the Kennedy camp has left its campain donation page open. But did Klobuchar do anything wrong?

Here's how the whole thing happened. The ad was given to Klobuchar's aide by a blogger named Noah Kunin. And how did Kunin get the ad? This is where the tale gets strange.

It appears Kunin was poking around on the site of media consultant Scott Howell, who does ads for Kennedy. Kunin was actually searching for ads done by another candidate Howell works for, GOP Senator George Allen of Virginia. Here's Kunin's official explanation of what happened next:

While searching for political ads, I clicked on a link titled ‘netview,’ which then brought me to another webpage. No other information was requested. I therefore typed in the name ‘Allen.’ Nothing more, nothing less. This redirected me to a webpage containing three pieces of information. Kennedy for Senate, a date, and a hyperlink. Upon clicking the hyperlink, I was directed to the aforementioned political advertisement. At no point in this process did I circumvent or misrepresent myself. The website containing this ad can be accessed by anyone online. It is possible to directly go to this website. It is in no way secured.

On Saturday Kunin sent a link to McGuinness, who then showed the ad to an unknown number of Klobuchar staffers. At some point over the weekend Klobuchar and campaign manager Ben Goldfarb learned of the ad. They claim they never saw it.

[MissMarple]

If you didn't do anything wrong...don't act like you did.

Buck up...move on...keep your head up, for goodness sake. Never apologize for what you didn't do, if someone on your team makes a mistake...deal with it, but keep moving... aggressively.

Honor...Integrity...Focus. Just do it...damn it.

[MissMarple]

1. Well, a double post, and I really meant what I said.

Buck up...move on...keep your head up, for goodness sake. Never apologize for what you didn't do, if someone on your team makes a mistake...deal with it, but keep moving... aggressively.

Honor...Integrity...Focus. Just do it...damn it.

[Nite Owl]

2. And she was fired for this?

Maybe I'm missing something but if it wasn't hacked, it was open to anyone why is finding it wrong? She got fired for their stupidity.

[Lexingtonian]

3. tempest in a teapot

:eyes:

[Historic NY]

4. Dumb move to fire and dumb to even let on you had it.........

what would Republicans do? You can bet they would milk it for all its worth. Didn't we learn anything from the 04 elections with simlar crap going on....admit nothing, deny everthing, demand proof. We must play hardball.

[snowbear]

5. Looks like all the news shows Klobuchar with huge lead, even despite...

..the GOP woosies crying foul.

So sorry GOP.. you lose. That case will be tossed like a hot potato.

http://www.startribune.com/587/story/693534.html

[Ignacio Upton]

6. This is bullshit

She didn't do anything wrong, because the ad was available for people to see! Unfortunately, the problem is the way in which the incident was handled. I hope that this doesn't have an effect on Klobucher.

[sandnsea]

7. That's unfortunate for Ms McGuinness

If the ad was on an open page and not protected, then I can't see it being any different than someone dropping a brochure on the way back from the print shop. Sounds like Klobuchar isn't very tech savvy. This was a really bad decision on her part and is going to be hard to back away from if it blows up at all.