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pegkerrMr. Chris Stewart was very polite, and we spoke for about ten minutes. He will be releasing a statement later today, which I will include when I receive it.
He said that he is very sorry that the parody website, which was meant simply to be a private joke between five friends who privately blog together, ever made it into the public eye. It was a mistake, but he wishes to take full responsibility for his part. He stated that he had had some good conversations with Tammy Lee in which he had said he appreciated it that she had not succumbed to identity politics, the way that Mr. Fine had--and then he (Mr. Stewart) had been struck by the contrast between that conversation and Tammy Lee's suggestion that liberals were perhaps too eager to make Keith Ellison the first black and Muslim congressman from the Fifth District. That lead to some jokes back and forth between him and this private group of bloggers, which led to the creation of the parody site. It was always meant to be private, just for the five of them, but one of the bloggers, a friend of Mr. Stewart's for twenty years, posted the link elsewhere, where it was seen by about fifty people. From there, Tammy Lee's campaign became aware of it, and they disseminated the link to another 4,000, at which point Mr. Stewart's private blogging group removed the link (although it can still be seen on the mirror site, which I believe Ms. Lee's campaign maintains).
I asked him how much of the content he had been personally responsible for. He said some, in the nature of the jokes passed back and forth between him and his friends, but the website was created with all of their input. He said repeatedly that he had never meant for this to be seen publicly. It was precisely the sort of thing (identity politics) that he had hoped his campaign would avoid. I pointed out the irony to him, that because of this incident, he was now could easily be seen as fomenting the worst sort of identity politics. He admitted ruefully that the irony was not lost on him. I pointed out that I had some questions about whether or not he was the author of the parody site on election day and considered posting my query on several twin cities blogs to try to find out, but I didn't do so, because if it was a dirty trick made to make him look bad, I didn't want to participate in slandering him. He responded that then he wanted to apologize to me personally, and that he was mortified to be in turn perceived to be smearing Tammy Lee or Kathleen Anderson, when in fact the parody site was simply meant to be private between friends.
He has been contacted by many people today, some angry, some disappointed, some supportive, some simply trying to learn more. Some have been calling upon him to resign. He was unhappy and concerned that his wife has been contacted too, including hate messages at her place of work, "and she doesn't have anything to do with this at all." I told him that I certainly wished that the truth had all come out before the election. He said that there wasn't time to do more than simply take the link down, much less generate any response.
I asked him what would he want anyone looking at this mess to understand about him now. He said that he was sorry, that he takes fully responsibility, and that he still wants to serve the kids in our school district and hopes that after answering questions, he will be able to focus on making them his primary concern. I told him that I didn't know whether that would be possible, given how badly he has managed to shoot himself in the foot. I asked what he could do to regain the trust of parents in the school district. He said he hoped to regain trust by working hard for the kids, and by releasing his statement and taking responsibility. He said that he might sit down with a group of bloggers to answer questions and asked whether I would like to be part of the group. I said that I might, and that he should send me further information.
I told him that since I'm a blogger too, I would be repeating the particulars of our conversation on my LiveJournal, and that I would send him the link so that he could satisfy himself that I reported our conversation correctly--but that of course, I cannot control the reaction to this post. I told him that as a writer and blogger, I understand the concept of parody, and the boundaries (private and public) of which one must be aware when putting something out on the Internet.
In short, Mr. Stewart is very contrite about all this.
He said that he is very sorry that the parody website, which was meant simply to be a private joke between five friends who privately blog together, ever made it into the public eye. It was a mistake, but he wishes to take full responsibility for his part. He stated that he had had some good conversations with Tammy Lee in which he had said he appreciated it that she had not succumbed to identity politics, the way that Mr. Fine had--and then he (Mr. Stewart) had been struck by the contrast between that conversation and Tammy Lee's suggestion that liberals were perhaps too eager to make Keith Ellison the first black and Muslim congressman from the Fifth District. That lead to some jokes back and forth between him and this private group of bloggers, which led to the creation of the parody site. It was always meant to be private, just for the five of them, but one of the bloggers, a friend of Mr. Stewart's for twenty years, posted the link elsewhere, where it was seen by about fifty people. From there, Tammy Lee's campaign became aware of it, and they disseminated the link to another 4,000, at which point Mr. Stewart's private blogging group removed the link (although it can still be seen on the mirror site, which I believe Ms. Lee's campaign maintains).
I asked him how much of the content he had been personally responsible for. He said some, in the nature of the jokes passed back and forth between him and his friends, but the website was created with all of their input. He said repeatedly that he had never meant for this to be seen publicly. It was precisely the sort of thing (identity politics) that he had hoped his campaign would avoid. I pointed out the irony to him, that because of this incident, he was now could easily be seen as fomenting the worst sort of identity politics. He admitted ruefully that the irony was not lost on him. I pointed out that I had some questions about whether or not he was the author of the parody site on election day and considered posting my query on several twin cities blogs to try to find out, but I didn't do so, because if it was a dirty trick made to make him look bad, I didn't want to participate in slandering him. He responded that then he wanted to apologize to me personally, and that he was mortified to be in turn perceived to be smearing Tammy Lee or Kathleen Anderson, when in fact the parody site was simply meant to be private between friends.
He has been contacted by many people today, some angry, some disappointed, some supportive, some simply trying to learn more. Some have been calling upon him to resign. He was unhappy and concerned that his wife has been contacted too, including hate messages at her place of work, "and she doesn't have anything to do with this at all." I told him that I certainly wished that the truth had all come out before the election. He said that there wasn't time to do more than simply take the link down, much less generate any response.
I asked him what would he want anyone looking at this mess to understand about him now. He said that he was sorry, that he takes fully responsibility, and that he still wants to serve the kids in our school district and hopes that after answering questions, he will be able to focus on making them his primary concern. I told him that I didn't know whether that would be possible, given how badly he has managed to shoot himself in the foot. I asked what he could do to regain the trust of parents in the school district. He said he hoped to regain trust by working hard for the kids, and by releasing his statement and taking responsibility. He said that he might sit down with a group of bloggers to answer questions and asked whether I would like to be part of the group. I said that I might, and that he should send me further information.
I told him that since I'm a blogger too, I would be repeating the particulars of our conversation on my LiveJournal, and that I would send him the link so that he could satisfy himself that I reported our conversation correctly--but that of course, I cannot control the reaction to this post. I told him that as a writer and blogger, I understand the concept of parody, and the boundaries (private and public) of which one must be aware when putting something out on the Internet.
In short, Mr. Stewart is very contrite about all this.