BUSH LEAGUE

Anonymous blog posts and similar hijinks are hardly rare for partisans... even high-ranking consultants. Still, it can be humiliating to get caught in the act.
That’s the lesson Democratic political consultant Phil Bailey learned when he made anonymous posts on the LaurinLine, a blog popular among politicos. At the time, Bailey served as director of the Senate Democratic Caucus. (He would later run the campaign of Democratic Comptroller General candidate Drew Theodore.) Bailey not only fired anonymous brickbats against Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Frank Willis -- who was running in a primary against Bailey’s preferred candidate, Sen. Tommy Moore -- but he also made disparaging comments about the late Governor Carroll Campbell.
The blog’s administrator, USC law student Laurin Mannning, had taken notice when someone using the alias “That guy” wrote: “You mean Willis hasn’t dropped out yet? I heard Moore is finally starting to raise money like crazy. Can’t wait until campaign finance filing time. We’ll see how much money Willis blew on this video and all those consultants.”
Manning deleted the criticism of Campbell after determining the comments were in poor taste.
Manning tracked the IP address to the state Democratic Party. Democratic officials said Bailey did not work for the party but worked for the caucus, which rents office space from the party.
In a Dec. 15, 2005 story headlined “Democratic official thought he was making anonymous blog postings,” The State newspaper reported that Bailey’s phone and email privileges were revoked.
Bailey and political consultant Lachlan McIntosh, who led the campaign of Lt. Governor candidate Robert Barber, were suspected by many observers of making anonymous blog comments to spread negative information about Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom and incumbent Lt. Governor Andre Bauer during the 2006 general elections. No solid evidence ever surfaced that the two were the once responsible for the anonymous aspersions, however.
Letters-to-the-editor are a part of any political campaign, and it’s no secret that the occasional ghost-written letter is sent. Some campaigns even orchestrate letter-writing campaigns consisting of letters written entirely by campaign pros. But rarely do they advertise it like the campaign of GOP Lt. Governor candidate Mike Campbell. In an email to supporters, Campbell’s campaign implored, “Whether you'd like to write a letter on Mike's behalf or even if you'd prefer us to write it for you, let us know.”As Greenville News political reporter Dan Hoover noted in his blog, the Campbell campaign said the email was merely worded poorly. Adam Piper, Campbell’s campaign manager, said the email should have said “we’d give them ideas of what to put in the letter” rather than write it for them.
But, quoth Hoover, “that doesn’t quite square with letting ‘us write it for you.’”
The spreading of negative information about opponents is a staple of political campaigns, and it's a common occurrence for candidates and their managers to try to smear anonymously.
But it can bring embarrassment to their candidates if they're not careful. Take Stephanie Cutter, who in 2004 served as communications director for Sen. John Kerry's presidential bid.
Cutter was outed by NY Times reporter Adam Nagourney after she distributed an anti-Howard Dean email to reporters and insisted it be reported "on background" rather than attributed to Kerry's campaign.
"After the capture of Saddam Hussein, Kerry campaign press secretary Stephanie Cutter listed past Dean statements in arguing that his opposition to the war in Iraq was 'politically driven,' reported the NY Times. "Nagourney, ignoring the not-for-attribution request, wrote that this reflected campaign aides' concern that they not be viewed as politically exploiting a foreign policy victory."
It’s a matter of principle, Nagourney told the Washington Post. “I will not let someone attack someone else anonymously, which is what the Kerry campaign is trying to do." Cutter denied the “background” attack was innapprporiate, adding, “This campaign has no problem going on the record about the facts in this race.
Still, the Kerry camp later sent another "background" e-mail entitled "An Illustrated Guide to Howard Dean's Foreign Policy." Nagourney didn't get one, according to the Post.
GOP operative Jill Hazelbaker had worked communications shops in various Republican races, usually keeping a fairly low profile -- until 2006. That’s when, as communications director for Republican Thomas Kean’s race for U.S. Senate, Kean’s opponent accused Hazelbaker of making anonymous blog posts regarding the race. Sen. Robert Menendez complained that she posed as a liberal Democrat who had become disenchanted with Menendez. The blog’s administrator, which strongly supported Menendez, got suspicious and traced the IP address of the anonymous commenter. The IP address was the same as one used by Hazelbaker.
Hazelbaker now works as Sen. John McCain’s New Hampshire communications director.
Political consultant Patrick Hynes was reportedly hired by John McCain’s PAC, Straight Talk America, in May of 2006. But Hynes, who moonlights as a prominent blogger, did not announce he had been retained by McCain until July 26, according to National Review Online blogger Jim Geraghty. In the period between May and July 26, Hynes reportedly posted several blog entries favorable to McCain and unfavorable to Mitt Romney without disclosing his financial ties. Ironically, Hynes’ criticisim of the Romney campaign was that bloggers posted favorable Romney entries without disclosing their financial ties to the Romney campaign!
According to Geraghty, Hynes sent him the following email: “You are right, Jim. I ought to have disclosed my relationship with Straight Talk America earlier. The reason I didn't do so is because I was not being paid 'to blog'. I have been a political consultant for fifteen years. That's what I was doing for Straight Talk America: providing political consulting.”