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February 02, 2006
Et tu, Moskowitz?
In one hoot of a letter to the editor, Rep. Steve Vaillancourt of Manchester pronounces Monitor reporter Eric Moskowitz:
– Guilty of liberal bias.
– A demonizer (of Vaillancourt, of course).
– A willing dupe.
– A fellow traveler.
That’s a mouthful even for Vaillancourt, whose words often get away from him.
Moskowitz’s fine reporting needs no defense from me, but in case you missed it, here is the item from Moskowitz’s Sunday Capital Beat column that set Vaillancourt off. And even if you didn’t miss it, I thought you might want to refresh your memory before reading Vaillancourt’s letter, which I’ve pasted in below it and which will run in tomorrow’s Monitor.
Fightin’ words, left at the beep
Manchester Democratic Rep. Jean Jeudy, the first Haitian-American in the House, was honored recently at the first annual Lionel Washington Johnson Dinner, held in memory of the late Manchester lawmaker and NAACP leader.
The controversial Al Sharpton was the keynote speaker – prompting Rep. Steve Vaillancourt to leave the following message on Jeudy’s answering machine:
“Lionel Johnson was a friend of mine, Lionel Johnson sat in front of me for many years in the State House, Lionel Johnson would be rolling over in his grave to see that people like you – supposedly honorable people – would share a stage with that charlatan from New York City, that racist who happens to be black but is equally vile as any white racist, Al Sharpton! Shame on you, Representative, for sharing the stage in the name of Lionel Johnson with that bigoted racist Al Sharpton.”
The message was extremely upsetting to Jeudy’s wife, Elvire, who was the first to hear it, and who suffers from heart problems and high blood pressure. Jeudy was not amused.
“My wife is my life, so that’s why I am really mad,” Jeudy said. “I told (Vaillancourt), ‘For me, this is harassment,’ and I told him, ‘Don’t call my house anymore. You’re not my friend.’ . . . This is the first time in Manchester somebody disrespected me like that.”
Vaillancourt, a Manchester Republican, said he was just trying to give Jeudy notice he would be slamming him on his cable-access TV program.
“Before I criticize anybody on my show, I feel that I should let them know what I’m about to do. I don’t feel like you should just randomly or wantonly criticize somebody.”
And here's Vaillancourt’s letter:
Every time I begin to think it’s wrong to accuse the media of a liberal bias, along comes a piece like your columnist Eric Moskowitz wrote last week, and it becomes clear the bias is alive and well.
I took a half hour to explain to Moskowitz why I was appalled when Manchester Democrats chose to honor my friend the late Lionel Johnson by bringing in a despicable demagogue like Al Sharpton. I provided Moskowitz with backup documentation, a piece in which Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jakoby accused the media of giving Sharpton a pass.
Sharpton has incited riots that have led to numerous deaths.
Moskowitz ignored all that and tried to demonize me for pointing out Sharpton’s record. Manchester Democrats should have apologized for bringing Sharpton in, but instead they decided to use Moskowitz as a willing dupe. As Zell Miller was fond of saying, “A hit dog barks,” and this dog was yelping to high heaven!
Moskowitz went out of his way to make it seem like I was “harassing” Rep. Jean for noting his unfortunate participation in the Sharpton dinner. He even brought Rep. Jeudy’s high blood pressure into the equation.
If Jeudy cannot take criticism when he does a vile thing like appearing with Sharpton, he should either get out of the kitchen we call politics or tell his wife not to answer the phone.
I get numerous calls far more critical of me and do not run off to the liberal media trying to hide behind someone’s skirt. Jeudy compounds his shame of being involved with Sharpton, and your young Moskowitz proves that there are indeed fellow travelers in the media.
Posted by Mike Pride at February 2, 2006 05:42 PM
Comments
Vaillancourt is passionate in his causes and fairly articulate. I enjoy listening to his speeches on the House floor. His letter is a stretch but I do agree that Sharpton has been given legitimacy beyond his assets. Yes, and why?
Eric Moskowitz is a great addition to the Monitor staff covering the state house. He represents your organization well.
Posted by: David Currier at February 2, 2006 10:43 PM
Eric Moskowitz is a good writer and Rep. Steve Vaillancourt is always great for a quote.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is brought in to events like this because he is a powerful speaker - not because he is virtuous human being. And Jeff Jacoby can hardly be considered a neutral source. He has a long career of being a conservative - albeit more libertarian than most - columnist.
Posted by: Anthony Schinella at February 20, 2006 08:46 PM