From The Nashua Advocate, 2/21/05:
http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/gop-spokeswoman-may-have-lied-in.html
GOP Spokeswoman May Have Lied in Denying Any Knowledge of Bobby
Eberle, Owner of Talon News
Sherry Sylvester, Spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Texas,
Denied Knowing Jeff Gannon's Boss
By ADVOCATE STAFF
The Advocate was amazed when it found out, via a Houston Chronicle
article, that the spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Texas,
Sherry Sylvester, had denied any knowledge whatsoever of Bobby Eberle,
owner of Talon News and ostensible employer of "reporter" Jeff Gannon.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Sylvester, when asked about
Eberle, said, "I'm not going to comment because I don't know him, and
nobody here does."
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3045613
At the time, we at The Advocate considered that statement to be an
impossibility, given Eberle's bio, which includes the following
nuggets of interest: http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/bobby/bio.shtml
Bobby's political experience began through his involvement with the
Republican Party of Texas and the Young Republicans organization.
Bobby's activities within the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) include
serving as a delegate to the 2000 Republican National Convention in
Philadelphia.
Bobby also served as a delegate to the RPT State Convention in 1996,
1998, 2000, and 2002.
Bobby served on the RPT Education and Training Committee from
1998-2000. In 1999, Bobby was recognized with a unanimously approved
resolution of commendation by the Republican Party of Texas for
service and dedication to the Republican cause.
Bobby served as President of the Houston Young Republicans, the
Director of Club Development of the Texas Young Republican Federation,
and as a three-term State Chairman of the Texas Young Republican
Federation.
Investigation by The Advocate may have finally put the squeeze on Ms.
Sylvester's bizarre claim, as she and Bobby Eberle appear to have
published, in 2003, news articles in the same issue of The Austin
Review--Eberle on page 6, and Sylvester on page 13.
http://www.austinreview.com/TAR-2003-12-(2).pdf
Moreover, Sylvester, it turns out, is the Director of Texas Media
Watch http://www.texasmediawatch.com/ --making her oddly aloof for a
woman who's supposed to have her ear to the ground with regard to
media in Texas, as GOPUSA.com is certainly not an unknown entity
there.
As it says in the mission statement of Ms. Sylvester's organization
(of which, the Austin Chronicle has speculated, "she appears to be the
only employee"),
http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-04-02/pols_capitol.html
Texas Media Watch will regularly report on news stories that
demonstrate a bias in favor or against a policy, ideology or public
figure. We will also identify a number of journalistic practices that
routinely tilt the balance of news coverage.
Our immediate objective at Texas Media Watch is to provide a set of
standards for Texans to use in weighing the balance of a news report.
Our larger goal is to enhance the credibility of Texas media and
enliven the public debate.
But she doesn't know Bobby Eberle, owner of a Texas-based conservative
news outlet, "Talon News"?
Really?
They're not, The Advocate understands, at all obscure.
Eberle himself boasts hundreds of thousands of "subscribers" for
GOPUSA.com and its attendant "news" outfit.
Perhaps that's why the Denton County [TX] Republicans list both
Eberle's GOPUSA and Sylvester's Texas Media Watch among their website
links. http://www.dentongop.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Links
Or consider this: the Williamson County [TX] Republicans list
GOPUSA.com as their top "political link."
http://www.williamsoncountygop.org/
The Chair of the Williamson County G.O.P. is Bill Fairbrother, one of
the founders of GOPUSA.com; his listed e-mail address remains a
GOPUSA.com e-mail address.
Indeed, GOPUSA.com lists Fairbrother as its Texas Editor.
http://www.gopusa.com/texas/editor.shtml
How in the world does the spokeswoman for the Republican Party of
Texas not know that one of her Republican County Chairmen works with
(or for) Bobby Eberle at GOPUSA.com?
[Recall, also, that Sylvester said nobody at the Republican Party of
Texas headquarters knew Eberle].
Want more?
How about the fact that the top "Texas media resource" listed on
GOPUSA.com's website is The Lone Star Report
http://www.gopusa.com/texas/media.shtml, the weekly publication of the
Lone Star Foundation--which Foundation, according to the Austin
Chronicle
http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-04-02/pols_capitol.html,
is the sole source of funding for Sylvester's Texas Media Watch?
And according to the archives of the San Antonio Express-News--for
which Sylvester was (to hear The Austin Chronicle tell it) "a politics
reporter"--Sylvester was writing for the Express-News at least in
January of 2003, and perhaps later.
Bobby Eberle's GOPUSA.com has been in consistent operation since at
least January of 2000, according to an internet archive search, and
Talon News was "founded" on March 29th, 2003.
[Her own website touts her as "Sherry Sylvester: Political Writer"].
http://sherrysylvester.com/links.htm
What kind of Texas-based "politics reporter"/"political writer" would
Sylvester be to not know Bobby Eberle, whose outfit has been carrying
politics-related Express-News stories on its website for years?
[Perhaps some of Sylvester's, too? GOPUSA.com was running political
articles from the San Antonio Express-News at least as far back as
June 23, 2003;
http://web.archive.org/web/20030626142801/www.gopusa.com/texas/ a
search of the Express-News archives shows Sylvester was definitely a
"political reporter" with the paper between, at least, December 2002
and January 2004].
Incestuous enough for you?
And we've only given this issue a cursory glance.
The Houston Chronicle needs to figure out if they were lied to; and if
so, why.
____________________________________________________________
Harry
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