You’d think that reporting the news would be a simple thing. Something happens; you learn all you can about it; you report it.

Well, as anyone who’s done time in the sausage factory can tell you, it’s not that simple. For that matter, anyone who’s ever been involved in a news story and then read the coverage afterward sometimes comes away with the conviction that the reporter must have been at the same event in an alternate universe. This isn’t (usually) because of malice of incompetence; it’s just that “the news” is more of a Rashomon thing than a simple matter of black and white.

Two examples from today’s political coverage: First, what’s the lead item from campaign finance reports — the Governor’s race or Lenore Broughton? And second, the handling (or ignoring) of Randy Brock’s attendance record as Auditor.

Shumlin v. Broughton. The most obvious way to cover Monday’s campaign finance reports is to focus on the race for Governor. And yes, there was a big story: Shumlin has a million dollars in the bank, and a 10:1 cash advantage over Brock. But it’s not exactly new news that Shumlin has a big financial edge. Rather, the most significant story for the present and future of Vermont politics was Lenore Broughton’s seemingly endless outpouring of cash into the coffers of Super PAC Vermonters First. It’s unprecedented in Vermont politics for one person — who has been completely secretive about her plans and motivations — to single-handedly spend enough money to buy an election. And if Wendy Wilton or Vince Illuzzi wins in November, that’s exactly what Lenore Broughton will have done.

Most of Vermont’s media outlets covered it as you’d expect: the Governor’s race was the topline, and Broughton came second — or was completely left out.  

The Freeploid, Vermont’s Most Colorful Newspaper, seemingly did the latter. It ran stories on Shumlin/Brock and Bernie Sanders’ monstrous pile, plus an informational sidebar listing other statewide candidates. But as far as I can tell from its website, not a peep about Broughton. Criminal.

WCAX’s website shows a brief item about Shumlin/Brock and nothing else. WPTZ, whose Stuart Ledbetter was actually on hand yesterday at the Secretary of State’s office, has an item that leads with Shumlin/Brock and features Broughton as the second item.

VTDigger’s main story began with Shumlin/Brock and then cycled through the rest of the statewide races before getting to a sizable item on Broughton. To its credit, Digger also broke out the Broughton story as a separate item, easily accessible from its homepage.

Only Peter Hirschfeld of the Vermont Press Bureau put Broughton first. He did a thorough examination of Broughton’s impact on the 2012 campaign, including quotes from several principals. (Article is paywalled, but here’s a link for those who subscribe.) And he got some compelling comments from Broughton beneficiary Wendy Wilton:

“What’s interesting to me is I don’t think they would be doing what they’re doing unless they felt very strongly about the candidates they’re supporting,” Wilton said. “I think they’re really looking at the candidates and where they see someone they think is worthy of support and capable of winning … they’re putting a lot of money into it.”

Nice little backhanded slap at Randy Brock there, Wendy. Hirschfeld also noted that Wilton and Broughton have some history, having jointly served on the board of a school-choice advocacy group. Which led to this fun little echo of Paul Heintz’ Tayt Brooks trap:

Asked when she last saw Broughton, Wilton said she couldn’t recall. “It was a long time ago. I’d have to think about it,” Wilton said. “I don’t recall.”



Pressed, Wilton said she hadn’t seen Broughton in over a year.

Sounds suspiciously like the Tayter’s initial reply to Heintz. Too bad Broughton herself is unavailable to confirm Wilton’s account. Or to confirm or deny anything else whatsoever, for that matter. But kudos to Hirschfeld for getting to the heart of yesterday’s news, and reporting it thoroughly.

Where’s Randy? Last week, when Brock tried to make a big stink about Governor Shumlin’s attendance record, I noted that some questions were floating around concerning Brock’s own attendance record during his time as State Auditor.

Funny thing. Turns out the Freeploid (then simply the Freeps, still a full-sized newspaper) covered this story way back in 2008, when Brock was running for re-election. The story can still be found in the Freeploid’s extortionately-priced Archives, but it was dug up and circulated around by the state Democratic Party.

The gist: Martha Abbott, then Progressive candidate for Auditor, reviewed Brock’s official calendar and found that he could only be documented as working in his office on official business 31% of the time. He was not at work 20% of the time, and there was no indication what he was up to 38% of the time. Brock complained that this was a misreading of his calendar, which would only reflect his official interactions with others, not the full range of his work.

He acknowledged that he sometimes worked from home (without giving a figure) but insisted that he was always available by phone or e-mail. Which is kinda different than actually being at your desk, it must be said. And he said that he hoped voters would focus on his accomplishments, not the minutiae of his calendar.

He could, of course, say the same about Governor Shumlin, if he wasn’t being opportunistically hypocritical.

VTDigger picked up on the story, and got Brock to add some fresh comments. He noted that the 20% time away from the office “could include weekends,” which is a nuance he did not allow to  Shumlin. And,

Brock added that he didn’t spend much time at his second home in Florida as state auditor, aside from an “occasional long weekend.”

Again, he doesn’t want Shumlin taking weekends — let alone a “long weekend,” horrors! — but he’ll give himself some leeway.

Funny thing about this story. The Freeploid, which covered it back in 2008, did not cover it today. Nor did they, as far as I can tell from searching their website, cover it after I dropped my little hint last week. Even thought they’d already done so four years ago. The topper: that 2008 story was written by Nancy Remsen, who’s still part of the ‘Loid’s political team.

Now, I don’t expect Remsen to recall every story she wrote four years ago. But I would expect the Freeploid’s editors (do they still have any?) to do a quick Archive search and maybe give it a quick update. Since it was Brock himself who tried to make attendance into an issue, you know.