The dusty archives of The Source aren't something we've ventured into before. Most of the efforts of the new team have been focused on upgrading the front end of the site and putting out our own spin our editorial coverage - but one post we found (no longer online today) caught our eye.
In February 2007, The Source accused Fired Up blogger Howard Beale of being none other than Steve Brown. He denied it and the Prime Buzz had a few words on the matter as well.
Here's an excerpt of the post:
Given Steve Brown's recent circumstances, we wonder what the effect on his blogging career will be. But the bigger issue we noticed is that the problem The Source wanted to expose in 2007 is as big as ever - there are still many employees on government payroll who are blogging on the public dime.
It's not just about the partisan positions they're taking during work hours - we'd like to go a little further than the old guard of The Source did. We think it's one thing to hang out around the water cooler, but another entirely to have a second 'job' while you're being paid by the state. It's a breach of the public trust and for all practical purposes it's no different than theft.
One consideration is that these bloggers leave trails of hundreds of date and time stamps - how many of them were using their government issued computers when they did it, and what evidence are they leaving behind? It might be worth following up on in the future.
In February 2007, The Source accused Fired Up blogger Howard Beale of being none other than Steve Brown. He denied it and the Prime Buzz had a few words on the matter as well.
Here's an excerpt of the post:
According to sources, Howard Beale, in reality, is assistant Attorney General, M. Steven Brown. Some of you may remember Brown for his unsuccessful bid for State Representative in 2000 where he was defeated before even making it out of his party’s primary.
All kidding aside, there is a serious issue at hand. If Beale, who is on the show-me-state’s payroll to the tune of $55,000, has time to constantly post well researched, propaganda filled submissions on the blogs day in and day out, than what work is he pushing aside? It would be reasonable to assume that the assistant Attorney General, one of the most powerful attorneys in the state of Missouri, might have a fair amount of legal work on his desk.
The Source would like to join with the rest of Missourians and demand for increased accountability from state officials. Assistant Attorney General Steve Brown was not appointed to his position to be a hired blog-hand for the left. Rather, he was promoted to the position to serve the state of Missouri.
It’s now quite apparent that Brown has violated the authority vested in his office. The only thing now left to determine is how much state time was actually abused by Brown’s Internet expeditions. In order to determine this, the Source is calling for a full ethics investigation into the matter. The time has come for Steve Brown to stop blogging under fake names and phony aliases and start earning the money the taxpayers are giving him.
Given Steve Brown's recent circumstances, we wonder what the effect on his blogging career will be. But the bigger issue we noticed is that the problem The Source wanted to expose in 2007 is as big as ever - there are still many employees on government payroll who are blogging on the public dime.
It's not just about the partisan positions they're taking during work hours - we'd like to go a little further than the old guard of The Source did. We think it's one thing to hang out around the water cooler, but another entirely to have a second 'job' while you're being paid by the state. It's a breach of the public trust and for all practical purposes it's no different than theft.
One consideration is that these bloggers leave trails of hundreds of date and time stamps - how many of them were using their government issued computers when they did it, and what evidence are they leaving behind? It might be worth following up on in the future.
Comments