Monday, October 25, 2010

News-Leader reporter on Billy Long story: We checked with the strippers

In case anyone missed it Sunday, Springfield News-Leader reporter Cory de Vera responded to my criticism of her newspaper's investigation into allegations that Republican Seventh District Congressional candidate Billy Long consorted with strippers at the Metropolitan Grill and made racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks.

Following are her remarks in their entirety:

1. Yes, we did check with a local strip club that allegedly supplied strippers at one event. I didn't have actual names of strippers to seek out, however.


2. We do have several document requests pending. Many people wanted to tell me many things about the Metro Grill, and while that's all very interesting, the issue for this story was: Did someone see Billy Long there when this allegedly happened? Did Billy Long play a role in some way? Or does he just eat at a place where some times some things have gotten out of hand?

3. Yes, I spoke with several regular customers of the Metropolitan Grill, including some who identified themselves as members of the Metro Mafia. I was going to write a side on what the Metro Mafia was, but time and space did not allow for that in Sunday's story.

4. I was working on a campaign finance story and on some issue stories when the Eckersley commercial was released. That made a story about these allegations a higher priority.

5. For the record, I miss Chad (Livengood) and Tony (Messenger), too. They were both great reporters.

Cory de Vera

12 comments:

Timeshare Jake said...

Cory De Vera needs to be moved to the classifieds. Robert Bush's letter said the strippers were Oklahoma City's finest and she goes looking for strippers in Springfield establishments.

Anonymous said...

So she talked to some of the members accused of being there with him and they deny it? That is digging deep!

Anonymous said...

"Why this is just the most disgusting thing I ever heard of."

"What's that?"

"The amount of revenue we will loose here at SNL if Billy Long quits advertising with us through Murney and Associates and Billy Long Auctions."

Anonymous said...

Oh, That Jennifer Case. I knew I had heard of her before.

KSGF Caller Describes Jennifer Case as a Liberal Democrat Who Worked to Keep Her Ex-Husband From Voting
A caller into the KSGF radio show had a few interesting things to say about Jennifer Case. He said one of the reasons her first marriage failed was due to political differences. The caller called Case a hard core liberal Democrat who went out of her way to discourage her ex-husband not to vote for George W. Bush in 2004.

KOLR will air their interview with Jennifer Case on tonight's news. It should be interesting now she will be playing defense with these accusations.

Timeshare Jake said...

It appears someone is cutting and pasting things from my blog and placing them in your comment section. KSGF comment...

Anonymous said...

Liberals,whose motto seems to always be if one lie makes it to the turner report, then then it ought to find favor with Bungalow Bill.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous-
Because someone disuaded their husband from voting for George Bush in 04 that ruins their credibility. There seems to be a huge gap between saying W was not a good candidate and putting her name on the line to tell the truth.

I've always wondered what Corey did. I wonder if she tried to intimidate the strippers, the members of the metro mafia or the workers (both those who signed confidentiality agreements and those that did not). They didn't mention that did they?

The MisLeader strikes again.
cottonmather1960@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Randy why don't you follow up on this with the members of the metro Mafia. You also ought to go and read what James Clary wrote about jennifer in the comments section og Eli's Blog. I'd like to see you do some of the reporting you say the mis-Leader isn't doing.

Randy said...

I would love to be able to do just that, but this is not my full-time job. I generally work 60 to 70 hours a week as a teacher. In addition to that, I am coordinating a Nov. 20 benefit fundraiser for East Middle School, organizing the school's Veterans Day Assembly, writing a weekly column for the Newton County News and KY3 and I am close to completing the first draft of my fifth book. And that does not even include performing with Natural Disaster, which has weekly practices and has three performances scheduled between this Saturday and the first Saturday in December. I am not complaining; I do these things because I like doing them. The point of my post on the News-Leader's performance is that these are full-time journalists who do what I used to do for a living. When I was being paid to be a reporter ane editor, I made the phone calls and I followed the document trail wherever it led.

The News-Leader's story Sunday was weak at best.

Most of the investigative work I do on The Turner Report is based on examining documents, many of which are overlooked or not emphasized by other media sources. A story such as the one surrounding Billy Long and the Metropolitan Grill deserves a thorough investigation. The News-Leader turned it into a politics as usual story, which leaves both Billy Long and Scott Eckersley under a cloud.

The candidates, and more importantly the readers, deserve better.

Anonymous said...

so, sturring the pott is really what this site is all about.randy sez: do what i say, i have other things to do!

Randy said...

That is nonsense and you know it. I never wrote anything about the Metropolitan Grill story until it was featured in a campaign ad, precisely because I was not going to print something simply to stir the pot, or as you so memorably put it, stur the pot. Since that time, my coverage has been strictly about the ads themselves and a critique of the Springfield News-Leader's coverage of the story. Had I been seekign merely to stir the pot, I would have begun writing about this at the time when it first broke in The Fuse Joplin.

I am also amused at the short term memory problems of some of the people who comment on this and other posts. If you check, during the Republican primary season, I was the first person who decry the negative advertising against Billy Long.

Anonymous said...

Randall,

The most erronous statement in all of these postings is your statement that you generally spend 60-70 hours per week teaching.

Those of us who are around you know that is fabricated bull crap.

Career Ladder funding is long-gone. You do not need to continue to pad your time card.