In politics, Web rumors call for fast action
Brown was forced to address issue
By Robert J. McCarthy NEWS POLITICAL REPORTER
Updated: 06/21/08 6:58 AM
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- Gov. David A. Paterson denied rumors of a Cabinet post for Brown.
To hear Mayor Byron W. Brown’s aides tell it, the widespread rumor that prompted him Thursday to deny he was leaving office or that he would be arrested was the work of Nixonesque dirty tricksters.
But some of his fiercest opponents say they had no role in planting rumors that reached a peak on the eve of the mayor’s big fundraiser in Buffalo on Friday night for Gov. David A. Paterson.
And just about all political observers agree that rumors fueled by the Internet now take on a life of their own — even forcing the mayor of Buffalo to issue his own Nixonesque statement that essentially said he was “not a crook.”
“The mayor made it a story because some bunch of bozos online had printed it,” said Denny Wilkins, an associate professor in the Russell
J. Jandoli School of Journalism and Mass Communication at St. Bonaventure University. “Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”
Paterson arrived at the Buffalo Chop House restaurant, where the fundraiser was held, escorted by Brown. About an hour later, the governor spoke briefly outside the restaurant.
“The evening has been fantastic. It’s great to receive the amount of support I have,” Paterson said.
The governor denied rumors that he was thinking of offering Brown a post in his Cabinet, insisting he had no intention of luring away “one of Western New York’s great public servants.
No one has been able to determine the source of wild stories that had Brown under FBI investigation or assuming some other political job. But rumors reached a crescendo late Thursday afternoon after a local Web site printed them, and Brown said he felt compelled to say nobody was investigating him nor was he going anywhere.
Local FBI officials emphasized there was no probe under way of Brown or his administration, an unusual step in that the agency rarely confirms or denies any investigation.
But Brown’s statement branded the widespread reports “politically motivated,” and Deputy Mayor Steven M. Casey said Friday it was all designed to upset the Brown fundraiser for Paterson that had already raked in more than $200,000.
“We believe it was politically motivated — petty politics,” he added. “It was an unfortunate distraction that nobody needs.”
It’s no secret that Brown has political enemies. He is often at war with Erie County Democratic Chairman Leonard R. Lenihan and Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, who blames the mayor for his upcoming primary challenge from former Council Member atLarge Barbra A. Kavanaugh.
And though nobody has specifically blamed either Hoyt or Lenihan, the assemblyman says it’s ridiculous to insinuate that political foes tried to disrupt the Friday affair.
“Who would want the incumbent Democratic governor’s fundraiser to be a failure?” Hoyt said. “If anybody did that, it must be a Republican.”
Hoyt said he planned to attend the affair, as did Lenihan.
Wilkins, the St. Bonaventure professor, said he often encountered political rumors in his former career as a Massachusetts newspaperman but realized printing them would make them a story. But now, handling rumors has become a tricky assignment for legitimate media in the Internet age, especially in sports.
Wilkins noted that Internet rumors led Sen. Barack Obama to establish his own Web site to debunk rumors about his wife and other aspects of his Democratic campaign for president. He believes the same thinking forced Brown to issue his Thursday denial.
“If he had not put out the statement when he did,” he said, “you would have seen it fester in that sub rosa world online.”
Casey, meanwhile, said the Paterson fundraiser marked an extremely successful effort, one of the first in the state since the new governor took office March 17. Donations of up to $5,000 were accepted by Brown and his team in what they presented as a growing political alliance between the Capitol and City Hall.
News Staff Reporter Harold McNeil contributed to this report. rmccarthy@buffnews.com
