Biden Keeps Press in Closet at Event: 'They Gave Me a Bottle of Water and Shut the Door'

This apology that the spokesman said Powers accepted must not have gone over too well since he talked to Newsmax.  Not sure I would believe anything out of this Administration but at least Fox News has picked up on the incident.  Now you know if you are a reporter attending a Democrat fundraiser that you will not be allowed to mingle and will be put in a hold room like a cell to keep you from asking questions.  Is this going to wake-up the mainstream media because they could be next?

UPDATE:   Fox News reports:

Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander, responding to coverage of that account, said in a written statement Sunday that the decision to hold Powers there was a "mistake" and that the reporter has accepted her "unequivocal apology." The apology was made shortly after the fundraiser.


"This was the unfortunate mistake of an inexperienced staffer and the vice president's office has made sure it will never happen again," she said.

She explained that "hold rooms" are typically provided for pool reporters covering the vice president when he speaks at private homes. In this case, Biden was speaking at the home of a wealthy developer and the reporter was told to wait in a storage closet -- which Alexander said contained open space, as well as a table and chair where the reporter could work. She said the space was chosen because of its "close proximity" to the room where Biden was speaking.

"A hold room, however, should not be a storage room," she clarified.

 ******
The former Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach was fired by Texas Tech for putting a player in a holding room out of the sun.  Is Biden going to fire his staffers for doing this to a reporter?  We doubt it because this Administration has little regard for members of the press and feel they can do whatever necessary to keep the members of the press from asking questions.

This is unbelievable that this happened in the United States.  Where is the uproar out of the media or we will be hearing a lot about this today?  This imperial administration seems to think they can do whatever they want and no will criticize.  Are members of the media going to speak up or will they be the next put in a 'closet' as a holding room so they cannot ask questions?  Time will tell but no amount of apology out of a Biden spokesman is going to make what happened go away.

Biden Keeps Press in Closet at Event: 'They Gave Me a Bottle of Water and Shut the Door'
Sunday, 27 Mar 2011 11:23 AM

By David Wright

Veteran reporter Scott Powers went to cover a fundraiser headlined by Vice President Joe Biden – and ended up being "imprisoned” in a closet by the veep’s staffers.

“They gave me a bottle of water and shut the door,” Powers said.

Although Biden's team has apologized, staffers merely said they were sorry they didn't have a better "hold room" for Powers.

The Orwellian incident happened on March 23 when Powers, 51, was assigned to be the pool reporter for Biden’s fundraiser for Sen.  Bill Nelson at the Orlando, Fla, home of developer and philanthropist Alan Gingsburg.



Scott Powers Closet


More than 150 guests had paid at least $500 a head to listen to speeches by Biden and Nelson. They enjoyed a buffet of caprese crostini with oven dried mozzarella and basil, rosemary flatbed with grapes, honey and gorgonzola cheese and bacon deviled eggs, followed by a lunch of grilled chicken Caesar.

Powers, a highly regarded veteran staff reporter on the Orlando Sentinel, arrived expecting, as usual, to be able to mingle and chat with the guests, many of whom he knew.

But he got a rude shock.

"One of Biden’s staffers, a young woman of about 23 or 24, met me at the door, led me through the party, then said, 'We want you to wait here until the vice president arrives,'" he told Newsmax.

"'Here’ was basically a storage closet. It was about 8 feet by 10 feet, with shelves full of stuff and boxes and baskets piled up all over the place. There was an old desk in one corner with files and papers all over it – and just enough room for one chair close by the door to sit on.

“They gave me a bottle of water and shut the door.

“I was puzzled, but assumed this was only going to last a few minutes. Instead, it went on for an hour and 15 minutes.

“I put my head out five or six times and asked what was going on, but each time another young woman staffer who was guarding the door told me, 'I’ll let you know when you can come out.'

“They were obviously waiting until Biden and Senator Nelson were actually on the podium — and didn’t want me to speak to a soul at the fundraiser.”

Powers was finally escorted out of the closet to listen to Biden's and Nelson's non-headline-making speeches.

“But as soon as the speeches finished, the female staffers escorted me back to the closet and told me, ‘You’ll have to wait here till the motorcade clears,’” he told Newsmax.

“Finally after another 15 minutes they let me out and walked with me to my car — making sure I was on my way.”

During his confinement, Powers took a picture of the crowded interior of the closet and emailed it to his editor.

“Should I have made a scene?” he wonders. “Maybe — but I was more concerned with thinking how the hell I was going to get a story without talking to people.

“As far as I’m concerned, Joe Biden is the first politician who’s kept reporters and fundraiser guests apart.”

Ironically, says Powers, he knew many of the well-heeled guests and would have had no problem talking to them.

And two days later, after news of the bizarre incident spread, he got a call from the embarrassed host of the fundraiser, Alan Ginsburg.

“He said he was very sorry — he had no idea I’d been confined in the closet,” Powers said.

Biden’s spokeswoman apologized after Newsmax and other outlets reported about the incident.

But instead of addressing the issue head on, Biden fell into campaign speak, calling the small closet a “hold room.”

"Scott — You have our sincere apologies for the lack of a better hold room today," wrote Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander.

Read more on Newsmax.com: Biden Keeps Press in Closet at Event: 'They Gave Me a Bottle of Water and Shut the Door'

Fred Barnes: Obama's Pathetic Budget

Of all the articles on the internet about Obama's budget, this headline and article by Fred Barnes caught my eye because of the title: "Obama's Pathetic Budget" which sums up the budget in three short words.

The high speed rail was covered on here yesterday -- we cannot believe that Obama is adamant about this boondoggle. Can remember when he promised then Governor Charlie Crist of Florida they were going to get the money for high speed rail like it would help him win in his fight for the Florida Senate seat against Marco Rubio. The closer Crist got to Obama the more he lost Republicans until finally he went NO PARTY, but that didn't help either -- he lost to Rubio big time on November 2nd. We would expect Marco Rubio in the Senate to go after this boondoggle of high speed rail as Florida doesn't need this added expense to their budget either.

Obama’s plan includes spending hikes in some areas. The most egregious may be $53 billion for construction of high-speed rail in Florida, California and several other states. This is one of the least cost-effective projects in the history of wasteful government spending. Yet it’s one of the president’s pet projects, and he appears more wedded to it than to taming the rise in the national debt.

Would bet his high speed rail boondoggle is DOA in the House. Would also bet that Florida Democrat Senator Bill Nelson would rather have the $53B for NASA which Obama seems to be out to destroy.

Obama's Pathetic Budget12:30 AM, Feb 14, 2011 • By FRED BARNES

Let’s be candid about President Obama’s budget. It’s pathetic. The country faces a worsening debt crisis and Obama has not come to play. He kissed off the crisis in his State of the Union address last month. And now his plan for spending over the next 10 years doesn’t come close to dealing with the debt problem.

So he's 0-for-2 in coming to grips with the fiscal mess that threatens America’s economic position at home and abroad. Obama didn’t create the crisis, but in two years his spending has added $3 trillion to the national debt. In 2011, the deficit figures to be nearly 10 percent of the gross domestic product. In 2012, the deficit will exceed $1 trillion for the third consecutive year.

Obama would cut spending by $1.1 trillion over the coming decade. That figure is smaller than the projected deficit of $1.5 trillion in 2011. Think about that: Obama’s total reductions are less than a single year’s deficit. That’s what I mean by pathetic.

A highly publicized item in the 2012 budget is a 5-year (partial) freeze on discretionary spending, a saving of $400 billion. That was swallowed up this year when Congressional Budget Office re-calculated the deficit for 2011 deficit and boosted it from $1.1 trillion to $1.5 trillion, the biggest 1-year deficit ever.

(snip)

The Obama budget is so unresponsive to the fiscal situation that it prompts this question: it’s merely a tactical budget. He’s now waiting to see what Republicans will propose in their 2012 budget, the outlines of which are to be hammered out by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan in April. Following that, Obama and congressional Republicans will negotiate, ultimately agreeing on a budget.

That’s the most benign interpretation I can think of. A more likely explanation: Obama has set the stage to attack Republicans for proposing spending cuts certain to be deeper than those Obama is advocating.

Excerpt: Read More at The Weekly Standard

If Obama and the Democrats think this 'pathetic budget' is going to set up Republicans to make the electorate mad at them for deeper cuts, he has been hanging out with Bill Clinton too much. Deeper cuts are exactly what the American people want to get this Country back on track and spoke loudly about that on November 2nd.

Looks like Obama and the Democrats want another Government shutdown to blame on Republicans, but it is not going to work this time. Obama is dealing with a House that understands how Democrats work.  With Paul Ryan as head of the House Budget Committee, Obama and his people are out of their league. Under Clinton, the GOP received really bad PR because the Clintonites were masters of spin starting with Clinton. This is a new day and people have more than the alphabet networks to give them the news.

Whatever happened to his Debt Commission recommendations made in December? That group favored $4 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years. Cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other mandatory spending programs recommended by that Debt Commission were ignored by Obama in his budget. Looks like the Obama Debt Commission was another boondoggle by this Administration. Which Clintonite recommended the Commission?

The White House has even more Clintonites in it today then when Obama first took office. Every since Bill Clinton took over the press conference, the number of Clintonites who were close to Bill and Hillary have now been appointed by Obama. Just who is running the White House now? This latest budget stunt seems to be right out of the Clinton playbook to try and make Republicans look bad. Not going to work and in the end this 'do nothing President' about the deficit and reining in spending will find out that he is on the outside looking into the White House in January 2013.

Rick Scott: One Year Lobbying Ban for Members of Governor-elect's Transition Team

Governor-Elect Rick Scott of Florida publishing the Code of Ethical Conduct which will serve as a guideline for members of his transition team and staff is a great start for turning Florida Government around and make it responsive to the people instead of lobbyist.

This should be standard operating procedure for Governor and Presidential Transition Teams and employees in every state and at the Federal level. In fact we would extend it to the members of the House and Senate and their staffs. We have thought it ludicrous that someone could leave office and immediately become a lobbyist.

In the Congress and in some state legislatures, lobbyists help write or write the bills which is something else that should be forbidden. If an elected official needs help writing a bill, hire a consultant not a lobbyist who has a vested interest in the bill.

We think it is time to also bring back the regulation that high ranking members of the military cannot lobby for a defense contractor or go to work for the military when they retire. It worked well for years and then under Clinton the rules all changed.

We applaud Rick Scott for taking this iniative.

One Year Lobbying Ban for Members of Governor-elect's Transition Team

November 10, 2010

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – Today, Governor-elect Rick Scott released a Code of Ethical Conduct for transition staff and volunteers. The Transition Code of Ethical Conduct lists specific ethical standards that each member of the team will be held to and requires that transition team members “will not lobby any state agency, on behalf of any other person or entity”.

Members must agree to abide by this condition during the transition period and for one year after they have left the transition team.

The code further states: “As a condition of my service as a member of the transition of Governor-elect Rick Scott, I pledge to act solely in the best interest of the people of the State of Florida, and to abide by all relevant laws. I further agree to perform only those activities that I have been directed to perform by an appropriate transition official and will use any information obtained in the course of those activities only for authorized purposes.”

Pat Gleason will serve as Open Government Coordinator to the Transition. Ms. Gleason, currently the Director of Cabinet Affairs and Special Counsel for Open Government in the Executive Office of the Governor, is recognized as the leading expert on Florida’s Sunshine and Public Record laws.

Christopher M. Kise will serve as Counselor to the Transition, providing legal and strategic advice. Mr. Kise, a partner in the Foley & Lardner law firm, served previously as Counselor to Governor Charlie Crist and as Solicitor General of the State of Florida.

For specific conditions and the full agreement, please visit the transition website at: Rick Scott Code of Ethics

Is Charlie Crist Unethical Using Bill Signings for Campaign Fundraising? You betcha!

While typing in the labels for this post, it shows very clearly why Crist and Obama get along so well as they share the same arrogance, no ethics, no core values, and use their position to campaign on the taxpayer's money.

The fact that Crist wants the Senate Dems to endorse him instead of the Democrat candidate shows that Crist is not only a prima donna but has a total lack of understanding what loyalty means. Meeks has been a lifelong Democrat but because Crist is now No Party he expects Reid and Obama to throw Meeks overboard for him. If that is not arrogance nothing is.

What makes the Democrats think that Crist won't flip flop again? Anyone who trusts Charlie Crist needs to let me know as we have some swamp land in Arizona for sale!

08.03.10 AP Looks At Crist’s Use Of Taxpayer Money For Little More Than Campaign Events
Just a week after Marco outlined his 12 simple ways to cut government spending, The Associated Press posts a lengthy article about Crist wasting taxpayer money on ceremonial bill signings, a practice he has taken to new levels and often mixes with campaign events. In some cases, “campaign fundraisers were held in the same area where bill signings were earlier that day” thereby “reducing travel costs for his campaign.” All this leads to the question, is Charlie Crist campaigning on the taxpayers’ dime?

“Crist has made frequent use of the legally unnecessary events”: It’s not unusual for Florida governors to hold such ceremonial bill signings on important or popular measures. But Crist has made frequent use of the legally unnecessary events, which usually happen weeks or even months after the official signing. An Associated Press analysis found Crist has held about 90 ceremonial signings during his nearly four years in office, while his predecessor, Republican Jeb Bush, held about 65 during eight years. – The Associated Press

Charlie Crist latest veto to destroy property-insurance market in Florida

Charlie Crist, current Governor of Florida, who is now running for the United States Senate as a No Party affiliation has done it again -- he vetoed a bill that would have required every property-insurance company doing business in Florida to have the money in reserve to pay off the claims. Shame on the legislature for wanting to ensure that all insurance companies had the money to pay off claims before selling property-insurance policies in Florida. (sarcasm)

This is unfathomable that Crist would veto this bill he worked on with the legislature but since he became Governor, Charlie Crist has been out to destroy the property-insurance market in Florida. "Why?" and "What is in it for Charlie" are questions asked by many Floridians.

Charlie Crist's veto ensures we'll face insurance woes

June 03, 2010By Mike Thomas, COMMENTARY

Charlie Crist has put the finishing touches on his four-year campaign to destroy the property-insurance market in Florida.

And just in time for what is expected to be a wham-bam hurricane season.

Crist vetoed a bill that would have required all these strip-mall insurance companies setting up shop in Florida to have enough money to pay claims.

We learn more about the Crist veto from the Orlando Sentinel that makes this veto even more disgusting. With a huge hurricane season predicted, this veto could have a large impact as many of these strip mall insurance operations have no money to pay off in good times. Where are they going to get the money if there is a bad hurricane season?

Crist vetoed a bill that would have required all these strip-mall insurance companies setting up shop in Florida to have enough money to pay claims.

They are so thinly bankrolled that they have been losing money and going belly-up even without hurricanes. We live in the riskiest state in the nation with the most under-capitalized insurance market in the nation.

If the winds huff and puff and blow your house down, your insurer may or may not be able to make good on your policy.

This could leave you scrambling for a bailout from a bankrupt state, which itself will be scrambling for a bailout from a bankrupt federal government that will be scrambling for a bailout from the Chinese.

Crist, a candidate for U.S. Senate, is gambling this will not happen before the November election so people won't understand the consequences of his actions before voting.

The punch line is that Crist's office worked with legislators on the bill. His insurance commissioner endorsed it, as did the state's insurance consumer advocate.

But then Charlie went rogue, dumped the Republican Party and began using his veto pen as a campaign prop.

Instead of tightening up insurance regulations which Charlie Crist worked with the Florida Legislature to do with this bill, the opposite has happened since the Crist veto. Regulations on these strip mall insurance companies have now been relaxed. How much did these strip mall companies donate to the Charlie Crist's Senate campaign? When these strip mall insurance companies cannot pay off homeowner claims when a hurricane hits Florida, then voters need to remember that their current Governor is responsible by vetoing a bill that would have required them to have reserves on hand to pay off claims.

Major insurance companies have been pulling out of Florida due to the number of hurricane insurance claims with more 'fly by night' companies taking their place with essentially no reserve to pay claims. Some have gone bankrupt without a hurricane so Florida homeowners need to be very careful where they buy their insurance.

Charlie Crist in order to score points with the strip mall insurance industry has put the residents of Florida at risk if a major hurricane does hit by this veto. At least he no longer is a Republican because his actions are more like a Democrat. Crist has no core values and goes with who donates the most money. Vetoing a bill he originally wanted says it all. This latest by Crist putting property owners at risk if a hurricane hits, may be one of the lowest things that Crist has done yet.

Charlie Crist would make a horrible Senator but then he is a friend of Barrack Hussein Obama so that should tell us all we need to know. Crist scammed voters for years saying he was a conservative but now the true Crist comes out of the closet -- he is no Republican conservative -- he is an opportunist. The only Republican Conservative in the race is former Speaker of the Florida House, Marco Rubio, who had Crist pegged as not being a conservative from Day One. Rubio has been proven correct.

A friendly reminder of where Charlie Crist stands:

FL property insurance: turning a blind eye is not reform
by Michelle Minton
June 15, 2010

While deregulation is always a good thing, we shouldn’t be fooled into believing that the recent news that Florida’s office of insurance regulation has “relaxed their standards of solvency” is anything akin to deregulation or reform. Insurance companies, property owners, and taxpayers remain in a situation as precarious as a beachfront home in the middle of hurricane season.

Insurance companies in the state of Florida will now be allowed to continue operating despite having a level of funds that previously would have had their license to operate revoked. What this means is an insurance company that by industry standards (you know, the standards that actually reflect the reality of a situation) doesn’t have enough money to pay their customers in the event of a reasonably likely hurricane season, is perfectly fine by the new standards of the Floridian government.

This news comes on the heels of a veto vote by governor, Charlie Crist on a measure that would have allowed insurers to charge higher rates (a measure he worked on and supported prior to his separation with the Republican party). Allowing insurance companies to charge the rates they want would have allowed them to rebuild their underfunded coffers–the one thing that would actually represent a real step toward reforming Florida’s insurance market.

So, while it is great that the state won’t step in and shut down companies, insurers in Florida are no less prepared to weather a bad hurricane season and just as likely to find themselves needing state assistance to pay claims after a storm. And because the state has an underfunded catastrophe fund the very likely event of a bad hurricane season could send the state of Florida begging for money from the federal government and every taxpayer in the country to pay for beach homeowners who have been paying too little for insurance for too many years.

Source: Open Market.org

Questions Raised As To Why Connected Nation Selected In Florida Despite Costing More Than Double

from the doesn't-look-good... dept

We've already discussed how Washington DC darling Connected Nation appears more and more like a telco sponsored boondoggle to control gov't mapping mandates and collect gov't money, without having to give up real data on broadband access. But, for some reason, politicians just seem to love Connected Nation (CN). Last time I was in DC, it was all anyone was talking about concerning broadband policy. However, there are more and more questions being raised now. Apparently, Connected Nation got a big win in Florida recently, despite the fact that its bid for mapping was more than double the next runner up, ISC. Connect Florida -- a brand new "affiliate" of Connected Nation, bid $7.1 million. ISC, which is actually based in Florida and has worked with Florida gov't agencies in the past, bid $2.8 million. ISC used references for its actual work on the ground in Florida, including "the Florida Department of Health, the Florida Department of Transportation, the Florida Department of Agriculture and two local businesses, including an Economic Development Council. The ISC application also listed 11 contracts the company has with Florida state agencies." Connect Florida, on the other hand, named out-of-state references who were involved in other Connected Nation projects, raising questions about Connect Florida's understanding of the Florida market. So how did Connect Florida win?

According to sources, one of the five judges gave ISC the win, with an eight-point differential over CN. Two other judges gave CN a two-point win. One other judge gave CN a 15-point win over ISC. Yet in another curiosity, one judge gave CN a 51-point win. That judge was Bill Price, currently the broadband stimulus program manager for the state of Florida, a position he has held for the past three months. According to his profile on the Linked-In social networking site, Price was vice president for business development for BellSouth Business.

Remember how Connected Nation is really closely connected to the telcos? And a former telco exec who only recently got the state gov't job suddenly happens to rate it up massively over the second place competitor? Doesn't that at least raise some ethics questions? Perhaps there's more to it, and perhaps there are good reasons why Connect Florida is better than ISC. But it sure does seem like Florida owes the public an explanation of what those good reasons might be.

COMMENT: Why is FL paying over $4M more to a company from DC versus a company from FL that understands Florida and the needs of its citizens. Why send an extra $4M out of state. Gov Crist -- are you listening?