Stunning: VP Biden’s Staff Keeps Reporter in Closet to Prevent Him from Speaking to Guests at Democrat FL Fundraiser Party
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on March 27, 2011
VP Biden's staff kept Scott Powers, a reporter with the Orlando Sentinel, in a storage closet for hours during a Democrat fundraiser in Alan Ginsburg's Florida mansion
Imagine the blood-curdling screeching we’d hear from Media Matters, MSNBC, and other state-run media if this denying of journalist access, of shoving of an invited reporter into a storage closet had been during a REPUBLICAN fundraiser by a REPUBLICAN vice president’s staff. The indignant, outraged howlings in the press would be deafening — as they should be.
However, we’re waiting for Huffington Post, or even the Orlando Sentinel, to make even the faintest mention of this horrific trampling of the First Amendment and possible kidnapping by Team Obama. It happened on Wednesday, HuffPo… plenty o’ time to be fair and balanced.
But, no… crickets chirping.
“Most transparent administration” ever… if compared to Cuba’s, Venezuela’s, China’s, or Libya’s.
From Daily Mail, Vice President’s staff lock journalist in a closet for hours during a fundraiser to stop him talking to guests:
The White House website proudly says ‘President Obama is committed to creating the most open and accessible administration in American history.’
But try telling Vice President Joe Biden’s staff that, after they held a local reporter in a closet for hours after he was invited to cover a Florida political fundraiser because they did not want him talking with the guests.
As the unaware $500-a-head invitees dined on caprese crostini with oven-dried mozzarella and basil, rosemary flatbread with grapes honey and gorgonzola cheese, grilled chicken Caesar and garden vegetable wraps, veteran reporter Scott Powers was locked away.
The Orlando Sentinel reporter was ushered into the closet inside wealthy property developer Alan Ginsburg’s Winter Falls mansion, after being told that Joe Biden and Senator Bill Nelson had not yet arrived.
They were due to speak to the audience to raise money for the 2012 elections.
He was told he could only come out when the politicians were ready to give their speeches.
Powers told The Drudge Report: ‘When I’d stick my head out, they’d say, “Not yet. We’ll let you know when you can come out.”’
The party was being held for Democrat senator Bill Nelson. Powers emailed from inside the closet: ‘sounds like a nice party’.
After 90 minutes he was allowed out to hear Biden and Nelson speak for 35 minutes, before being taken back to the closet for the remainder of the event.
From Fox Nation, Biden Locks Reporter in Closet:
Staffers with Vice President Joe Biden confined an Orlando Sentinel reporter in a closet this week to keep him from mingling with high-powered guests gathered for a Democratic fundraiser.
Reporter Scott Powers was the designated “pool reporter” for the vice president’s Wednesday visit to the massive Winter Park, Fla., home of developer and philanthropist Alan Ginsburg. The veep hadn’t arrived yet but most of the 150 guests (minimum $500 donation) had.
From Wake Up America, Biden Staff Keeps Reporter in Closet While They Party:
What makes this especially amusing is this story comes after Obama spokesman Jay Carney was reported to have said the United States is firm in its belief that journalists should be protected and allowed to do their work.
Then again Carney was referring to an Oklahoma journalist in Libya.
Do as I say not as I do moment here I guess.
Consider this your ridiculous item for the week.
From Drudge Report, REPORTER CONFINED IN CLOSET DURING VEEP’S FUNDRAISER:
Staffers with Vice President Joe Biden confined an Orlando Sentinel reporter in a closet this week to keep him from mingling with high-powered guests gathered for a Democratic fundraiser.
Reporter Scott Powers was the designated “pool reporter” for the vice president’s Wednesday visit to the massive Winter Park, Fla., home of developer and philanthropist Alan Ginsburg. The veep hadn’t arrived yet but most of the 150 guests (minimum $500 donation) had. They were busy noshing on caprese crostini with oven-dried mozzarella and basil, rosemary flatbread with grapes honey and gorgonzola cheese and bacon deviled eggs, before a lunch of grilled chicken Caesar and garden vegetable wraps.
Not so for Powers. A “low-level staffer” put Powers in a storage closet and then stood guard outside the door, Powers told the DRUDGE REPORT. “When I’d stick my head out, they’d say, ‘Not yet. We’ll let you know when you can come out.’”
And no crustini for Powers, either. He made do with a bottle of water to sip as he sat at a tiny makeshift desk, right next to a bag marked “consignment.” Powers was closeted at about 11:30 a.m., held for about an hour and 15 minutes, came out for 35 minutes of remarks by Biden and Sen. Bill Nelson, Florida Democrat, and then returned to his jail for the remainder of the event.
Powers’ phone didn’t work in the closet, but his Blackberry did, so he fired a picture of his impromptu prison to his editors, who posted a short blog item on the lack of freedom of the press under the veep’s control.
From Digital Journal, Reporter forcibly locked in closet at Biden fundraiser:
The detention highlights the bigger question of transparency in the Obama administration. The White House recently rejected a transparency award that would have been issued to President Obama by a coalition of open-government groups, the Miami Herald reported. However, President Obama has long held that transparency is a key objective of his administration.
Tell that to Mr. Powers and to the Biden team.
But though Powers has documented the forced detention, including photographs of the contents in the closet where he was imprisoned, the Orlando Sentinel editors have effectively dropped the story.
One of the fundraiser attendees emailed the Orlando Sentinel: “I was in attendance at the fundraiser and enjoyed a nice lunch. If I had known there was a reporter stuffed in the closet, I would have been compelled to stand up and demand answers. I would also like to know if this is actually legal to treat people like caged animals. I’m disgusted by these actions.”
From Doug Powers @ Michelle Malkin, Transparency: Reporter at Biden Fundraiser Kept in Closet:
For over two years now, Sheriff Joe Biden has been taking the lead when it comes to transparency and journalist access to all functions of the administration.
It wasn’t even two weeks ago that White House spokesman Jay Carney said journalists should be protected and allowed to do their work. But in fairness to Carney, he was referring to Libya, not Florida, where an Orlando Sentinel reporter named Scott Powers (no relation) was invited to cover a 2012 fundraiser featuring Biden but ended up spending the bulk of the evening in a closet to keep him from talking with the guests…
[...]
Holding just one person in a closet is nothing for Biden. Earlier in the week he kept the entire Toronto Blue Jays team team stuck on a bus during his photo op with the Yankees.
For the record, an apology has finally been made to Powers. By a Biden aide.
Awww, that makes this freedom of the press infringement all better during this never-ending “Era of Hopenchange.”
Insightful commentary from Moe Lane:
This… is problematical, particularly since Biden’s been beating the transparency drum lately; well, more accurately the words on the paper in front of him are telling Biden to beat the transparency drum, and that’s just what Joe Biden is going to do, yes indeed. Fortunately for Biden, Nelson, & Ginsburg, neither Powers nor the Orlando Sentinel seem inclined to see whether all of this qualifies as ‘kidnapping’ under Florida law.
I know that people will find this story funny on first read, and superficially it is. But there’s a problem here, and it exists on a somewhat deeper level than the assault on the dignity of a member of the Fourth Estate. You see, who told Biden’s staff that they had the right to sequester a reporter in another man’s home? It certainly wasn’t Alan Ginsburg who signed off on it: as the article linked to above reports, Ginsburg fell all over himself to apologize to Powers once the former heard what had happened to the latter. As well he should have: Alan Ginsburg’s intent with this fundraiser was to maintain good relations with a sitting US Senator and generally build links, not get swept up into a dispute that threatens to sour his existing relationship with a local paper, at absolute best. Ginsburg is thanking God right now that the Orlando Sentinel isn’t threatening a lawsuit; and I’m not a lawyer, but it looks like there would have been at least a civil case there. In other words, Ginsburg mostly dodged the bullet that Biden fired.
But that is an unimportant detail for VP Biden’s staff, who – like the rest of this administration, honestly – is generally slapdash and heedless about the effects of their actions on others. Time and again we’ve seen an institutional arrogance from these people: one that may have been… well, not justifiable.
Remind me again, leftists, why you believed Joe Biden would make a better vice president than Sarah Palin, or why you despise Dick Cheney more than Crazy Joe.
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