You made the right call.

Everybody has their own litmus test for stories. I can understand both sides on this one. On one hand it shows a culture of racism in the TN GOP and on the other hand, perhaps it was just a mistake brought on by lack of judgment. Either way it reeks

"I try to be very contentious" -- too funny. Love you, ACK.

Nothing personal Kleinheider, but my opinion of you has improved significantly because of this post. Nicely done.

I don't think I could have said it better myself. You continue to impress, Adam. Keep up the good work.

She would have to have thought it was cute or funny to forward it ya know...

Sherri Goforth is using our taxpayer dollars to send out an ugly, racist smear email and you don't think that is a story? I am shocked by that. She has no business using State property to send out this kind of crap and especially to the other Republican staffers in Nashville, who also didn't see anything wrong with it; otherwise, the reprimand would have happened nearly three weeks ago.

No matter one's role, when one works in a public capacity, for a public official; one must know whether he/she is an intern, a secretary, or chief of staff, that they are bound to a duty of appropriate behavior.

[...] AC Kleinheider says Ms. Goforth isn’t really a player in the game.  I understand what he’s saying, [...]

Sandy, seriously? If the other Republican staffers didn't seen anything wrong with it, then why was it leaked?!?! Your implication that they all must be racist is offensive.

I like it when you do this.

Racist!

I kid. I understand.

So basically she's the victim of a smear job, you're the victim of having a compassionate heart for conservatives, and the blood thirty mainstream media and opposing political parties are the real attackers here???

How about this... You screwed up. You had this story weeks ago, did your "investigation," and made a rose-colored glasses decision not to persue and not to advise your supervisors of the situation. Now you have journalistic egg on your face and look like a very bias blogger, not a balanced provider of local/state blogging news.

Here's what it means to "own it."

You own that you screwed up and apology for letting your political bias cloud your judgement.

Goforth owns it by admitting this was a horrible screw up in both common sense and character, apologize for the incident, and suffer the consequences.

Finally, the TNGOP owns it for potentially creating the document (as reported by some media outlets) or at the very least for inspiring it.

That's owning it. Making yourself and Goforth into victims is NOT owning it.

Still convinced that nominating "moderate Haslam" easily changes the face of this TNGOP?

Self-serving crap.

Heh, I just saw that episode of The Wire this weekend.

Maybe this can be your next case study in how not to handle a blog crisis like Herron.

Since as you state your primary job is as an aggregator, it shouldn't matter whether you thought there was a story there or not. The fact that it became one on the blogosphere yesterday would necessitate you doing your job and covering it once it did take off.

Ultimately it became a national news story with coverage on CNN so you missed the boat.

Hey, we all make mistakes.

Making yourself and Goforth into victims is NOT owning it.

All due respect, I'm not a victim. I made a choice. I accept and accepted the consequences of my choice. This is not an apology or a request for pity. I'm explaining what many folks asked me to explain. That's it.

"On one hand it shows a culture of racism in the TN GOP and on the other hand, perhaps it was just a mistake brought on by lack of judgment."

The story depends on what your agenda is. If you're trying to score cheap political points, you go with the GOP "culture of racism" angle.

In reality though, we all know what this is. It's a secretary who forwarded a racist e-mail, nothing more, nothing less. It's something that happens everyday in work places across the country.

Is an employer who doesn't fire an employee for forwarding such nonsense also guilty of racism? That's quite a stretch, but par for the course in the increasingly irrelevant blogosphere. As long as dimwits at CNN and MSNBC will put this crap on the air, there will be bloggers eager to take credit for exposing it. Any bets on whether this lady makes Worst Persons in the World on Countdown tonight???

She is a state employee, not a civilian. Just as the army cook signs on for battle and all the life-threatening danger that involves, she signs on to represent me as a citizen of this state and I found it offensive.

"Sherri Goforth is using our taxpayer dollars to send out an ugly, racist smear email and you don’t think that is a story?"

How many of the regular commenters on this blog are commenting from state computers. Please, don't get all self righteous on use about "wasting taxpayer money" now. Sending the e-mail was wrong, but lets not pretend that if this had been a secretary at the Department of Safety it would even be a story.

And pageviews shot up with this posting. Genius.

Nothing personal, Kleinheider, but I disagree with you on this one.

As others have pointed out, this woman was a state employee on state time on state equipment sending out a racist email. That's news.

Be all of that as it may, a bigger narrative is emerging.

Someone earlier pointed out that this is the second "How not to handle a new media" story in a week. The first being Roy Herron's lies about his voting record. True dat! Diane Black and now Ron Ramsey have grossly mishandled this situation. From a PR standpoint, there really is no option other than firing the woman. Come on, she knew she was forwarding a racist email from a state account. How could she not?

Furthermore, this is the latest piece of evidence that Ron Ramsey's gubernatorial campaign is imploding. He's ditching his legislative duties to raise campaign funds. He's screwing around our ethics laws so he can raise campaign funds. He's crashing press conferences and scaring children by throwing hissy fits. Now he defends not firing a state employee that forwards racist emails on the taxpayer's dime.

Roy Herron's gubernatorial campaign ended last week. Ron Ramsey's is ending this week. Bloggers played a big role in each meltdown.

Sorry, JB. Blame the media won't work. The dimwits are the GOP racists who do indeed have a strong pattern for their racism, whether it be Hobbs' Obama cartoon, the "birds of a feather" ad, Robin Smith's ridiculous e-mail to the Governor, Chip Saltsman's "Barack the Magic Negro," and the tone and tenor of their disdain for anyone not white enough for them or their fundamentalist churches.

Two quick notes, ACK.

1. You said, "I try to be very contentious about noting where I come across the links", etc.

At first I thought you were being remarkably candid, but now I see you fixed that word.

2. You refer to Sherri Goforth as "akin to an infantryman shooting a enemy army cook in the back of the head."

Interesting, but a bit demeaning.

We are a nation at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Sherri and her ilk are actually sniping insults (but not bullets) at our commander-in-chief -- not a mere army cook.

Aside from those couple of comments, I think you have been VERY on-top-of this story about witless racism.

"The fact that it became one on the blogosphere yesterday would necessitate you doing your job and covering it once it did take off."

That's sort of what he did, so what's your beef? His post is about what he did/didn't do in the weeks before that.

Hey, we all make mistakes.

Anyway, I don't fault people for making a reasonable, well-thought-out decision, even if I don't necessarily think it was the correct one. I think both ACK and Trace acted reasonably here, which is all you can ask of folks.

Goforth is probably going to lose her job and is also probably going to have a hard time getting another one for a while, since her parting with the state is and will continue to be a highly public affair. Does she deserve that? I think yes on the first but not so much on the second, although such is one of the downsides of living in this day and age.

Along those lines, pretty much everyone on this comment board and elsewhere in Blog-o-Land who is feeling oh-so-self-righteous about the fact that they would never do such an obviously horrible thing as her should probably be careful, because they're one false move away from suffering a similar fate. I mean, seriously, a lot of you make jackasses of yourselves in public everyday:

Southern Beale claims to be a writer but has yet, in the years I have read her, to have a significant thought or observation she didn't borrow from somewhere else.

Mike Byrd constantly complains about the fact that people turn their noses up at living downtown while demonstrating that the main argument against living there is that you run the risk of having Mike Byrd as your neighbor.

The members of the Memphis Mafia (Left Wing Cracker et al) love to mock the thoughts and decisions of people across the state while completely oblivious to the fact that no reasonable person would take the opinions and judgments of people who choose to live in Memphis very seriously.

Are any of these firing offenses? Certainly not. But they're not very flattering either. You folks should feel blessed that (in most cases) no one knows your real name the way everyone in the country now knows Sherri Goforth's. And watch those emails you send to people. I'm sure you've never sent anything blatantly offensive to anyone, right? Right. Because no one ever uses email for that. Just her.

A singing group dares to comment negatively on the President, and they are run off the air of country radio.

A state employee makes a racist slam on the President, and she suffers only a slap on the wrist.

Wonder why such a difference? Yeah, I wonder.

ACK -

Great post. Reminds me of a particularly well-versed blogger I once read. Hard Right? Yeah, I think that's right.

But seriously, I have to chime in with the others; I love it when you author posts like this. Like Reynolds, I very much appreciate your aggregator function, but what really pleases is when you create your work like this.

And as someone who used to have to make calls like the one you made on Goforth, I can appreciate not running with a story. It's often the more difficult call than running with it. It's a shame that the radical element of our culture - and of media - tends to jump in head first without thinking of whether there is any water in the pool.

Well done.

Cheers,

Rob

Sorry, Roger. I can't agree with you, and I think you are ignoring two very important points.

1. There is no way that Goforth was unaware that she was forwarding a racist email.

2. Goforth knowingly sent that racist email on a state computer on state time.

Seriously, how could she have been unaware of how racist this email is? Can any reasonable person argue this?

As for the second point, this makes all of the difference. If any of the bloggers you criticize forwarded a racist email from their personal computers, they would be assholes. Okay, they would catch a lot of well-deserved heat from other bloggers if the story came out, but that would be it. Why? Because they are private citizens.

Goforth is a state employee. She did this on state time, and she did this on a state computer. That is what makes this a fireable offense.

What a bunch of bullshit.
You link the people you like, and not the ones you don't like. So don't give this whole" I don't care who wrote it" crap.

And being racist on taxpayer money IS news, and she can send all the racist emails she wants, but NOT on my dime.

You tell 'em, Sharon.

When you have .edu or .gov after your email address you should have the common sense to not do anything with your email or internet access that would jeopardize your carrer. If Goforth was looking at lesbian porn all day long I would have just as little sympathy. She is a miscreant that deserves to be fired. She can find work with the TNGOP or the Concerned White Citizens Council. There are enough racists in Metro Nashville that she will be able to find a job that can feed her family in short order. Ramsey and Black--epic fail in your handling of this.

Rod, Natalie Maines and those other two gals don't have to worry about putting food on the table for their family. Ms Goforth probably does. Its always interesting looking at how you guys go after the very same people you claim to care so much about during campaign season. From Joe the plumber to permit holders to now this lady. You cant just say your peace and move on. You go out of your way to ruin them.

Roger Abramson sez:

Mike Byrd constantly complains about the fact that people turn their noses up at living downtown while demonstrating that the main argument against living there is that you run the risk of having Mike Byrd as your neighbor.

Heh. Now that's funny.

I agree with you 98% of the way. The only thing I've got a problem with is the fact that even though she's just a "glorified secretary" she's MY "glorified secretary" insofar as she's on government payroll.

Every.single.thing you said was right on the money. She's not wholly in the game. It was a jerky racist trash email. She forwarded it (presumably) because she thought it was funny.

But the state does pay her. And that's where I've got a problem with it. The same as I'd have if an employee of mine at a company I owned did such a thing.

She is a state employee, dan. You are flat wrong.

Agreed with JaStep. No one is trying to "ruin this lady." She sent the e-mail; yes, other people have done this sort of thing, but she got caught. Now it's time for someone to hold her accountable. It's just not right.

And kudos to Trace--a real journalist--for breaking this story.

[...] blogger A.C. Kleinheider's reluctance to run with the Sherri Goforth racist email story strikes me as reasonable. StumbleUpon| Digg| [...]

[...] email was racist, no doubt about it. Kleinheider sums up my feelings on the play by play pretty [...]

I must say, ACK, that it is stuff like this that sets you apart as the Tennessee blogosphere's premier (and possibly only) JOURNALIST. Well done.

You made the decision not to cover it based on principle. I disagree with your decision, but one's standing on principle always merits respect.

And I was discussing with a friend last night how you've managed to establish yourself as (what I perceive to be) a highly influential blogger WITHOUT finding it necessary to talk incessantly about how blogs are (or ought to be) a force to be reckoned with in state politics. You should serve as an example to the great number of shrill voices blasting forth across our state's digital landscape. Thank you for that.

Roger, since I'm probably the only one in Memphis who knows who you are (well, maybe Pesky and Ross, but that's it), don't worry your pretty pointed little head, you just stay down in Williamson and don't be afraid of us big bad Memphians.

AC, I think you booted this one, but I'm sure not going to break your legs over it. She is a state employee, she's been there 20 years, so she's not really a civilian. This will be draped over Diane Black in her next election, and hopefully, her district hasn't gone so far to the right that they will realized her judgment, as much as goforth's, is not what it should be.

AC: If only there were as many questions to major media outlets like the Knoxville News Sentinel about why they don't run the stories that they don't.

Honestly, it's your choice to run what you want to. You're the guy in charge of the news here. But you have done what most editors do not, and that is to explain and be honest with the readers here about why you didn't run it earlier.

Answering the question of readers is what puts you a step above.

Years ago, back when Troopergate was the big deal and Trent Seibert and Brad Schrade were breaking story after story, the Sentinel ignored it all. They gave a bit of coverage to the Troopers who put together what amounted to a shop, but they framed it as if Bredesen discovered it and was in the business of cleaning up the mess. The Sentinel has a habit of ignoring what doesn't benefit their friends.

If I were in charge there, I'd move out Hartman and McElroy and put Humphrey in charge. He has his opinions, but he also knows that news should be reported.

At any rate, AC, I think it's amazing what finishes people off these days. There exists a high tolerance for corruption and graft, yet, an inappropriate email literally ignites a firestorm.

Did the secretaries selling merchandise directly out the legislative plaza in a state office and advertised via emails on the state computer network get fired? Did they come under this much scrutiny? I don't believe so.

Again, your honesty is appreciated.

[...] over using state computers and the state email system to send emails has erupted into a firestorm.  I agree that the forwarding of such an email was a bad decision.  I received the same email [...]

Why demean this woman by calling her a secretary? You'd never call a male legislative aide a secretary. She held a responsible position without behaving responsibly.

For everyone that complains that this was done on the state dime - would it have mattered if this was a welfare recepient that sent such an email? Should they be kicked of the state dime for having racist views?

Jim, false equivocation, two minutes in the penalty box.

I'd respect this explanation a lot more if it didn't have so many gaping holes.

"A career employee would have her name on CNN and the AP wire. Calls for her termination would commence from people with an ax to grind and a political agenda to advance."

Yeah, and "career employees" of the Legislature are attached to political parties; if that weren't the case, then no one would have worried about the head janitor losing his job at the time of Speaker Williams' election, when Rep. Mumpower was planning to replace everyone in these "non-political" positions.

Employees reflect directly on employers. That's the nature of employment. When time after time, the employees of a specific affiliated group of employers (the GOP in TN) repeat a pattern of racism, that's news.

It doesn't take anyone with "an ax to grind" to suggest Goforth doesn't belong in her position, either. All it takes is a regular Tennessean who's tired of racist messages and actions coming from the upper echelons of Tennessee politics, and who'd like to see that change. Of course the theme WILL be picked up by those dastardly folks 'playing politics,' but at the heart of it this is still a story about racism alive and well, thriving even, in our halls of government. When it's bribery alive and well, or sexual harassment, or anything else the good people of Tennessee rightly reject as inconsistent with Tennesseans' values, that's news.

As such, I don't care what views Sherri Goforth and her friends personally espouse; obviously it's a free country and they're welcome to be as despicable as they want. But at some point, accountability to the people of Tennessee has to be a factor. I'm aware of my accountability to my employer every time I hit "send" on an email or answer the phone on my desk. Why isn't Sherri Goforth similarly aware? That's the story.

...and I still have Pixie dust in my head. That should read, "I've gotten some of them from some of you reading this".