The Tampa Tribune's newsroom apparently doesn't want its readers to know exactly how much money Volkswagen dealer Jason Kuhn directed into the campaign coffers of Tampa City Council candidate Julie Brown.
Today's Metro section (finally) featured a story about how Kuhn, his employees, his family and their friends gave Brown a big wad of cash in December 2006. But the Trib's story, by Josh Poltilove, left out one critical fact: Just how much.
That's funny, because it's been printed in the St. Petersburg Times, on Jan. 23. (The Times, in fact, broke the story.) And it's even funnier because the Tribune's own editorial department published the total on Sunday in its editorial endorsement of Brown's opponent, incumbent Tampa City Councilman John Dingfelder. It gave credit to its competitor in citing the figure: $20,000.
The Trib story today waffled:
Brown said she doesn't know exactly how much her campaign received
from Kuhn employees and their relatives, but estimates it was several
thousand dollars.
The Tribune could have cited its own editorial, or given credit where credit was due to the Times, or, hell, even quoted Blurbex's review. Or it could have checked online with the Supervisor of Elections website, where Brown's campaign finance reports show $8,500 with clear links to Kuhn and his dealership, plus another $3,500 that is likely Kuhn money listed to individuals who said their occupations were in sales. While it may be tough to find the entire $20,000 claimed by the Times article, the Tribune could have used some figure with authority simply by reviewing the public records.
That's sloppy and/or deceptive, and anyone plunking down a quarter for the Tampa daily deserves better.
Oh, and neither paper has mentioned other bundling in that same financial report, including $4,000 from companies owned by Tampa McDonald's franchisee Blake Casper and $5,000 from Brown's Fort Myers friend Robert Pekol and his various corporations.
This article appears in Feb 14-20, 2007.