I was a guest on the Matt Murphy show this morning to discuss the very damning article in the Birmingham News yesterday that, in my totally biased and wanting it to be true opinion, did everything but say outright that Troy King hired his young male lover into a position he is not qualified for and at a pay grade that is way above his experience...which is none as far as anyone can tell.
I'm working on getting that uploaded.
There has been a lot of talk about the different standards for bloggers and the MSM. And there are different standards. Bloggers have no restrictions on what they can say and a lot of times I think we say what the MSM wants to say, but cannot. The MSM, on the other hand, has to be very careful or else their whole outfit could be dragged into court and bankrupted. Not that bloggers can't be sued, too, mind you.
How this particular story has played out has involved both bloggers and the MSM. The rumors started in Montgomery from sources that were in a position to know....else they never would have lasted this long nor would they have inspired the story in yesterday's BHAM News. The rumors moved from bars in Montgomery that pols frequent to the blog world...where everyone who is not fan of Troy King and even those who know nothing about him and don't live in Alabama had a field day with them.
While, most bloggers had more than a sneaking suspicion that the rumors were true the MSM, who no doubt wanted to confirm it so they could report on it, had to find another way to report on it because there was no direct evidence....like photos or people willing to go on the record and say that they knew it to be true.
And that is what yesterday's article in the BHAM News was. The real jump from the blogs to the MSM. That article, while without saying outright that the rumors are true, dripped with insinuation and pointed to some very strange things that seem to give credence to what bloggers have been saying for weeks.
The question now becomes why does that kid make so much money? Chris Bence's weak attempt to justify it by saying 'he is near indispensable' isn't going to fly. How is he near indispensable? I mean, if he were a genius in his field of broadcast journalism, then we should have seen some media genius come out of the AG's office recently...and I just can't recall any. In fact, all of the things coming from the AG's office in recent memory have been embarrassing for this state. So, it can't be that the kid is good at what he majored in and he gets paid a lot accordingly. What else could inspire such a fat paycheck for someone who isn't even a lawyer?
I think we'll know the answer to that relatively soon. Anyone want to start an office pool on when Troy King will resign?
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3 comments:
I will offer two comments from my front porch.
First...a blogger has a limit on what they can say...because if they defame or lie a bit over a story....then they are cheating the system. Course, if you were writing a parody, and saying such....with names changed....then you can write just about anything you want. So in your case...I might be making up some names (from racy 3rd rate trailer trash novels) to discuss what you need to talk about.
Then we come to the $57k dollar man. For a kid from Troy University...say just a year or two out...then I'd be asking a few questions. How many other guys from Troy state make $57k a year after two years? I'd be guessing over the past ten years....NONE. I can think of some Auburn or Alabama engineer grad's...who are making $80k a year right now...but then they are doing real work to earn that. A journalist? Well....ifing you were working for the Birmingham newspaper folks...at 25 years old...I'd doubt that they'd pay more than $35k max for a young guy. And if I worked for any news bureau in Bama....I wure wouldn't make more than $40k a year over the first four years.
So here's the final thing to consider. If this episode had never occurred...the the AG would have continued on....making governor and taking his favorite assistant along...moving his yearly pay up to $80k as the chief of staff for the new governor. Four to eight years would pass....and then our favorite governor would have taken a senator position...and taking the young assistant with him to DC...promoting him up to $120k a year. All along, special lobbyists would have paid off this assistant with bribes to ensure they got their agenda in front of the governor. The grad from Troy, would have been making $125k a year by the time he turned 35 years old...and really had no experience except knowing how to handle his boss. This is the sad part about this story...the Troy State dude could have made his first million by age 45...just by being an assistant. We are working in the wrong line of work...I think....but then I'm from Bama....and it pains me to think like that.
Great minds! I linked to your earlier piece on the article, and I'm going to add a link to this one.
gracias Kathy!
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