Emails show Justice working with Media Matters on stories that target critics
Published September 18, 2012
FoxNews.com

(AP)

Newly published emails show the top spokeswoman at the U.S. Justice Department regularly collaborating with the liberal advocacy group Media Matters on stories that slam the administration's critics.

The emails, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and published by The Daily Caller, often show department public affairs chief Tracy Schmaler communicating with Media Matters bloggers. Sometimes, the emails were in response to inquiries. Other times, Schmaler was pitching ideas, according to the Caller.

In a January 2012 email chain, Schmaler sent a Media Matters writer lines from House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa's comments at a recent hearing. She reportedly underlined passages where the California Republican tries to explain the difference between Operation Fast and Furious and other anti-gunrunning operations under former President George W. Bush.

Hours later, an article appeared on Media Matters' site titled "Rep. Issa Ties Himself in Fast and Furious Knots."

Daily Caller editor Tucker Carlson, also a Fox News contributor, said the emails show "moment-to-moment coordination" between the department and Media Matters.

"We received a massive amount of these communiques that indicate direct coordination between the Obama Justice Department ... and Media Matters to subvert news stories," he said Tuesday. "This proves coordination."

Emails from late 2010 also reportedly showed Schmaler sending Media Matters information to help challenge claims that the department dealt lightly with New Black Panther members who allegedly intimidated voters in Philadelphia in 2008.

Another March 12 email showed Schmaler pointing out "false" statements made by Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips in a Fox News interview. Phillips called Operation Fast and Furious a "political operation" -- pushing a claim that the administration let guns walk across the Mexico border to build a case for gun control.

The Media Matters writer then wrote a blog slamming Phillips' "right-wing conspiracy theory," and also sent the text to Schmaler.

The Daily Caller reported that throughout the exchanges, Media Matters staffers were often sending to Schmaler the full text of what they wrote about the department's critics.



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/18/emails-show-justice-working-with-media-matters-to-target-critics/#ixzz26qDPWGwG

SMH nothing like working the media to your benefit.

Mitch McConnell bashes Justice Dept. for Media Matters coordination
Published: 12:11 AM 09/27/2012
By Matthew Boyle


A spokesman for Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell attacked the Department of Justice for using its Office of Public Affairs to collude with left-wing advocacy organization Media Matters for America on Wednesday.

“The leader has said that the best way to address these types of actions is to change the administration,” McConnell spokesman Don Stewart told The Daily Caller. “And the bottom line is this: If the Justice Department had spent as much time getting to the bottom of Fast & Furious as it has on this, it wouldn’t have taken so long to start getting some real answers.”

McConnell has been an outspoken critic of political groups like Media Matters operating under tax-exempt statuses.

Last week, TheDC published a series of emails, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, that show Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs Director Tracy Schmaler and Media Matters staffers working together on posts that attack reporters covering DOJ scandals, as well as other administration critics.

House oversight committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa said the email evidence laying out the targets resemble former President Richard Nixon’s “enemies list.”

“Not since Richard Nixon have we seen a president who puts together an enemies list and has a whole team pursuing it,” Issa said in a Fox News appearance. “That’s what’s happened in this administration. It’s sad. It’s not the America I want to see going forward. I sincerely hope that after the election, regardless, the American people will have made a statement that they won’t tolerate this.”

South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, a member of Issa’s committee, promised hearings on the coordination in the near future, too, and many other congressmen have called for congressional investigations into the matter — and specifically why Media Matters is granted the tax-exempt status it currently has.

Tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code allows donors to claim income-tax deductions for their contributions, and also exempts Media Matters itself from paying federal taxes on its income. The status is typically reserved for organizations that don’t engage in excessive partisan politicking.

Several of the targets of Schmaler’s communications with Media Matters have called for her to resign or be fired, including now-former DOJ official Chris Coates — who at the time Schmaler seemingly worked against him was a current DOJ employee. Others have demanded that she be investigated for potential violations of the Whistleblower Protection Act.

Media Matters has not commented on these reports. The DOJ and Schmaler have also declined to comment.



Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/27/mitch-mcconnell-bashes-justice-dept-for-media-matters-coordination/#ixzz27hsePTRy