This Passes for News?
Jeff Alworth
The Oregonian, which has mostly given up coverage of local politics, today devotes 300 words to the rantings of Lars Larson:
A Portland talk radio host filed a complaint Monday with the Oregon State Bar, asking it to investigate whether Gov. Ted Kulongoski knew about former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt's abuse of a teenage girl but did not report it.
Lars Larson, who offers opinion daily on KXL-AM, submitted a letter to the bar following recent news that has resurrected questions of who knew about the abuse, when they knew it and what they did about it.
The ostensible thread to the story, I guess, is a Sunday piece by Steve Duin on the Giusto-Kulongoski connection. Adding Lars to the picture has resulted in a blog post and now actual columns in the print version. Whatever you think of Duin's piece (I didn't think much*), this latest bit of coverage is pretty remarkable, given that, as the O reports:
"...anyone may submit a complaint, and that the bar looks into every complaint it receives. If an initial review indicates there's enough to warrant a more thorough investigation, the complaint will be referred to the bar's disciplinary council for further action."
Here's a question: how often does the O report out on complaints filed to the state bar? Here's another: if I start filing complaints against my political opponents (they can even be baseless--anyone can file!), can I expect Harry Esteve to give me 300 words in the Metro section?
_________________
Duin's column ends "When you decide, as
they say, I'll report." Evoking Fox tends to alienate this reader, though I will give him credit--the level of innuendo was what you'd expect in a Murdoch-owned piece, so the evocation was apt.
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Oct 16, '07
This isn't just in the Oregonian, but also on local TV news now as well.
Lars suffers from small penis syndrome. He has to use his microphone to attack those that threaten his overly large ego in an effort to appear more "manly" to his audience.
Fact: He was a second rate newscaster and he is a second rate conservative radio host.
10:54 a.m.
Oct 16, '07
No one should expect the Oregon State Bar to waste much time on this.
Even if Fred Leonhardt's recollection is right (and I believe he is honest and sincere in what he is saying), he basically said Giusti was spreading the rumor and asserting it was true, while Kulongoski simply heard the rumor and, so far as we know, never passed it on.
It should also be pointed out that Leonhardt told Kulongoski in 1994 that the rumor was about to become public, which of course it didn't.
No one is required to report unsubstantiated rumors. Whether Kulongoski ever heard the rumors at all, or whether he forgot them or dismissed them when they didn't become public as he'd been told they would, is simply conjecture.
It's time to move off this.
Oct 16, '07
Lars must be bored with his life, wife, or job too much to be actually going through with this garbage. I think his time would be better spent cleaning his well known concealed gun. He tells us he is a native Oregonian (which is true) but his actions make him the ultimate embarrasment to all Oregonians.
Also a fact: He was also a second rate competitor in high school debate (or so I have been told)and he has been trying to make up for it ever since with his ubiquitous drivel of propaganda over the local and national airwaves.
Oct 16, '07
Larson’s a putz, and perhaps the vilest bellyacher on local radio, but he does progressives an invaluable service by constantly shoving the Republican party further into right-wing irrelevancy – pushing it right over the cliff, in fact.
His show’s not even entertaining (in a train-wreck kind of way) anymore, and I’ve heard that his rating have been steadily dropping lately. Here’s to hope.
That the Oregonian would give this goof ball this much serious attention is bewildering.
Oct 16, '07
Lars is a fathead. If only his IQ could rival his hat size.
11:20 a.m.
Oct 16, '07
As Channel 8 reported it last night, Larson's complaint is based on the testimony of someone who is also key to the investigation of Giusto by a state agency. It's not clear to me that the Duin column set Lars in motion -- at the time the revelations about Goldschmidt came out there was a lot of talk about who might have known and in effect protected N.G.
While I think most U.S. media's standards of judgment about relative newsworthiness are corrupt, within that frame this does seem to be news of a sort, in the context of the Giusto investigation leading to calls for his resignation, and given Larson's high profile. Sorry Jeff, you're just not comparable ;-> for which we may all count our blessings.
But I suppose we might pose your question substituting Thom Hartmann (sp?) for you, and maybe something about R reps & the lobbyist travel scandal as the basis for bar complaints ... would that make the O?
Oct 16, '07
Maybe someone should ask Lars why he dumped his last wife when she was being stalked.
Oct 16, '07
It's too bad journalists (I know it's a stretch) aren't licensed and held accountable for all the tainted pablum they feed their listeners. Lars would have been "dismiked" long ago.
Oct 16, '07
Fact, it's KKKXL.
Oct 16, '07
Eric:
Also a fact: He was also a second rate competitor in high school debate (or so I have been told)and he has been trying to make up for it ever since with his ubiquitous drivel of propaganda over the local and national airwaves.
***Yeah, he was never great at debate (although he did make semifinals at tournaments fairly regluarly). His chief event at which he excelled (and claimed first place at tournaments) was "Radio Commentary". He had a golden voice.
12:09 p.m.
Oct 16, '07
Chris, are you saying you doubt that I am a media giant? Say it ain't so! But your point as apt--Thom's a better comparison.
Oct 16, '07
Though I've never ever listened to his show, it's amazing to me how often I hear of what that disgusting chipmunk Larson says. I suppose crap like that is not completely escapable. Not being really anywhere close to those circles, it took a little thinking after the Goldschmidt scandal broke, to figure out just who likely knew what he was doing over the 10 years of so he was having a good time with that kid.
The realization that occurred to me was probably lots of people knew. At least some of them didn't say anything because as Jack Roberts commenting above says, it was known to them only as rumor. That relates to the key question for me as far as Kulongoski is concerned. Did he know more than unsubstantiated rumor, and did he cover for Goldschmidt to further his own career? If he did, then he should answer to that issue. Giusto, like Goldschmidt, is a rat, so whatever they can do to get rid of him, the sooner the better.
Oct 16, '07
Wow, Jeff, your dislike of Lars has tainted your judgement. Messenger aside, what about this story isn't newsworthy? The local sheriff is about to go down over this, and the same witness implicates the sitting governor. Whether it rises to the level that the Oregon bar would actually do something remains to be seen, but it is absolutely newsworthy.
Speaking of newsworthy, why no mention on this site about Wu's little front-page debacle? Had Smith done the exact same thing B.O. would have been screaming from the rooftops.
Oct 16, '07
I'm amazed.
When Ron Saxton was running for Gov last year, the photo of the substandard housing provided to employees turned into a big "story" here at BO. Everyone suggested that these photos proved Saxtons poor judgement and lack of compassion. A full investigation should be conducted.
Fast forward to the Duin article and everyone here says "its just not important, bla bla bla bla. Circumstances and statements of key individuals mean nothing. bla bla bla bla ".
Your consistent compassion for the vulnerable is revealing.
This story has legs, and you all know it.
2:28 p.m.
Oct 16, '07
It's true that I have my issues with Lars, but the only negative even hinted at here was the use of the word "rant"--which even Lars partisans would admit is what he gets paid to do. Lars is a beer guy, so I don't hold everything against him. Commenters on this thread are a different matter.
The article I'm criticizing isn't Duin's, but the Oregonian's use of Lars' lame complaint as the hook for so-called news.
Oct 16, '07
Eric J. said: "He tells us he is a native Oregonian (which is true) but his actions make him the ultimate embarrasment to all Oregonians."
Lars was born in Taiwan; how does that make him a 'native' Oregonian? I don't think he has ever made the claim to being 'native.'
Oct 16, '07
I know I would suffer, but someone needs to organize a boycot of Duck games on KXL...send a message to the UofO and their advertisers. I have heard some distressing things from Larson and Savage when I've failed to switch back to the real world after a Saturday game on that station. Go Ducks!...Go to Hell, fear and hate mongers!
Oct 16, '07
Known Lars and the KKKXL girls for 20 years now.
I wouldn't believe them if they said it was cold and cloudy outside in January.
No one does. Not anymore.
Oct 16, '07
2. The article I'm criticizing isn't Duin's, but the Oregonian's use of Lars' lame complaint as the hook for so-called news.
I'm still confused as to how this isn't news. It's not like this is a baseless complaint. We have a witness that a state agency thinks is credible. Whether one believes Leonhardt or not, he has made claims that implicate the Governor for, at the very least, ignoring a story about child rape, and someone has asked the state bar to look into the Governor's conduct. Even if the story turns out to not be true, I think this is the definition of news.
Here's a question: how often does the O report out on complaints filed to the state bar?
I would challenge you to find even one example of a state bar ethics complaint against ANY governor in the US that wasn't reported on. (Okay, I realize that's impossible because if it wasn't reported, you couldn't find it. So instead, imagine if an ethics complaint was filed against Senator Smith, and the Oregonian ignored it. How outraged would you be?)
Oct 16, '07
Yes, it may be news, barely, but it is "he said, she said" news, told at a swanky holiday party, with some serious drinking going on and I have been to those hazy holiday media/politico parties, back in the day.
And all I remember is that Mary was always a gracious hostess.
Oct 16, '07
Here is what has always bothered me about this story. 1) Many Oregonians don't live in Portland and even those who do live there aren't necessarily part of the "smart set" which goes to certain well known holiday parties. 2) Since when is it proof of wrong doing that someone says "Anyone who was at that holiday party should have heard the rumor....."
Here is how dictionary.com defines rumor:
Are the people who believe this is news really people who always believe every rumor they hear unless it is proven false?
And about the seriousness of complaints to the State Bar. Anyone remember the complaints against Al French, the Swifty from Clackamas County who used not only a work computer but hearsay (finally admitted he never served with John Kerry, just used stories from people who did)?
He was a local prosecutor taken off a famous murder case, suspended from his job, not only a work investigation but a Bar investigation.
Whatever happened to that Bar investigation?
If the people who think this is news really believe that allegation is always proof unless proven otherwise, that is one thing.
But it seems to me that there are people rumormongering because either they like scandal or their lives are too pale and they want some excitement.
Oct 17, '07
All of this is really too little too late. The Oregonian must be hurting to go for their paper's latest front page "look", with its somewhat National Enquirer attention grabbing headline practice. And then, to sustain circulation, they draw upon the maggot eating Larson to introduce a speculative allegation against the governor. Pathetic really.
People that long ago knew the rumor was something they should do something about, and likely had the details to reveal its substance in truth, did nothing. Instead they let it ride, to benefit themselves, and look...now, what is it 20-30 years later? They're still finding use for it as a convenient means to harass a political opponent. Pretty good mileage there.
11:14 a.m.
Oct 17, '07
On the responsibilities of those who knew the rumors, were they all Democrats? Seems unlikely.
Indeed, one wonders about Lars himself ... When did he start working in local TV news?
Oct 17, '07
Miles:
Speaking of newsworthy, why no mention on this site about Wu's little front-page debacle?
Bob T:
Yeah, speaking of rapists......
Bob Tiernan
Oct 17, '07
Maybe you should tune in to Lars right, now, they are talking about the subject and a Channel 8 follow up on it.
Oct 17, '07
Not-so-Swifty Al French, a serial adulterer, was suspended from his lucrative job in the ClackCo D.A.'s office for having time-consuming, emotionally-draining, sexual affairs, with many workers, on taxpayer time, and prosecutions were reportedly hindered by his lack of a work ethic.
Want an update on Little Al? WE ALL DO!
Try this guy, who wrote the story: Stephen Beaven: 503-294-7663 or [email protected]
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