Transparency: Reporter at Biden Fundraiser Kept in Closet
**Written by Doug Powers
For over two years now, Sheriff Joe Biden has been taking the lead when it comes to transparency and journalist access to all functions of the administration.
It wasn’t even two weeks ago that White House spokesman Jay Carney said journalists should be protected and allowed to do their work. But in fairness to Carney, he was referring to Libya, not Florida, where an Orlando Sentinel reporter named Scott Powers (no relation) was invited to cover a 2012 fundraiser featuring Biden but ended up spending the bulk of the evening in a closet to keep him from talking with the guests:
As the unaware $500-a-head invitees dined on caprese crostini with oven-dried mozzarella and basil, rosemary flatbread with grapes honey and gorgonzola cheese, grilled chicken Caesar and garden vegetable wraps, veteran reporter Scott Powers was locked away.
The Orlando Sentinel reporter was ushered into the closet inside wealthy property developer Alan Ginsburg’s Winter Falls mansion, after being told that Joe Biden and Senator Bill Nelson had not yet arrived.
They were due to speak to the audience to raise money for the 2012 elections.
He was told he could only come out when the politicians were ready to give their speeches.
Powers told The Drudge Report: ‘When I’d stick my head out, they’d say, “Not yet. We’ll let you know when you can come out.”’
Veteran reporter Scott Powers was locked in the closet for most of the event. He emailed from inside ‘sounds like a nice party’
After 90 minutes he was allowed out to hear Biden and Nelson speak for 35 minutes, before being taken back to the closet for the remainder of the event.
The reporter sent this picture to his editors of what is either the closet in which he was being held or one of Biden’s hair follicles as seen through an electron microscope (via Drudge):
At least one dinner guest later took exception:
One of the fundraiser attendees emailed the Orlando Sentinel: “I was in attendance at the fundraiser and enjoyed a nice lunch. If I had known there was a reporter stuffed in the closet, I would have been compelled to stand up and demand answers. I would also like to know if this is actually legal to treat people like caged animals. I’m disgusted by these actions.”
Disgusted enough to put a “stop payment” on the donation check? Unlikely.
Alan Ginsburg, owner of the home (look at a picture of this carbon footprint… I can’t believe Al Gore hasn’t made an offer on it), later apologized:
On Friday, Powers said, the home’s owner called him. “He said he had no idea they’d put me in a closet and was very sorry. He said he was just following their lead and was extremely embarrassed by the whole thing.”
I’d hate to see what they’d have stowed away the reporter if his newspaper wouldn’t have endorsed Obama in 2008.
Holding just one person in a closet is nothing for Biden. Earlier in the week he kept the entire Toronto Blue Jays team team stuck on a bus during his photo op with the Yankees.
**Written by Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
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with obama scrapping don’t ask don’t tell, you woud think they would let everybody out of the closet. i guess it does not extend to the media, they are forced into the closet.
Sadly, this does not surprise or shock me one bit.
Time for a media head count. Anyone missing?
This is actually an improvement over what Hillary Clinton did to reporters, when she confined them to a bathroom with urinals. Let them eat urinal cake!(Scroll down for photo)….
What is the most amazing is the rest of the MSM will be totally silent about the callous mistreatment of one of their own.
As long as the “Black Marias” do not come to their door, they don’t care. Their continued blind support of this wanna be Chinese Communist regime is simply mind boggling.
Criticize Obama and get thrown in jail?
What I want to know is, what was going on in there that they didn’t want reported? Or who was there that they didn’t want the people to know about. This is stunning to me. It gives a new meaning to “State Controlled Media”. Mr. Issa, this one should be right in your investigation wheelhouse.
Being Obama supporters, will the Orlando Sentinel even report this?
*Joe Biden, P-BO, Vladamir Putin; Not a dimes worth of difference when it comes to the 1st amendment; All the more reason to throw the liberal/progressive bums out of office in 2012, every dad gum one of them!
Well, I suppose it’s better than being thrown under the bus, but it is highly unusual behavior(for both sides) in a free country with a supposedly free press. I am just wondering if it is pay back from the incident during the 2008 election where an Orlando info-babe questioned the Gaffer a little too closely.
The press is exibiting symptoms of Stockholm Syndrome.
I have always felt the MSM is more like a woman in an abusive relationship.
“I know he yells at me, sees other women, and slaps me around every now and then, but he loves me; I know that.”
According to USLegal.com:
So why has no one been arrested and/or charged? Or does the reporter feel warm, safe and snuggly in the closet? Where is the outrage, MSM?
Had the MSM got up from their knees and vetted Obama in ’07 & ’08, these corrupt guys would never have been elected. The MSM knows darn well they screwed-up, but are too cowardly to admit their failures (all they need is another nail in their coffin). If it wasn’t for Drudge, we would know nothing about this incident.
From the Drudge link:
I guess he likes it there on the plantation.
If I were locked in a closet I would most certainly file criminal charges; if this man were to think such thoughts I imagine the local DNC fundraisers/Movers and Shakers would find a way to funnel some cash to him.
These people are corrupt from top to bottom–Id read it in a book somewhere
Well, the closet looked like it was transparent.
Go along to get along…
a bit more comfortable too, those tires can be a bit thinning, think pancake.
In my wildest dream, I’ve never thought this could happen in this country.
It’s pretty close to look like Communist to me….
Correct me if I am wrong.
That was my thought. This is an apt metaphor for the lack of curiosity of the press.
It looks like a Potemkin Village scenario, the reporter was only to report on what he was allowed to see.
The continued hypocrisy of the MSM:
If a tragic death occurs, they cannot wait to get the microphone in front of the widow’s face…unless the victim is a member of the media (remember David Bloom in Iraq?).
Whatever happened to their mantra “the public has the right to know”? Selective outrage, obviously.
This was a fundraiser. Why invite the press if the lack of access to those in attendance was predetermined? This is what happens when you surround yourself with idiots – idiotic decisions result. They never should have invited the press. If this was a Sarah Palin fundraiser the media would be screaming to the heavens. Democrats get a free pass from the media – huge surprise/s
Was this just their natural tendency to behave as fascists, or was there something specific they were trying to hide? If so, WHAT?
From the most transparent administration evah’ …. NOT!
As you said in your prior post, a perfect metaphor of the Statist Media.
*I don’t know about the “safe” part, but has anyone checked to see if Barney Frank was in attendance?
Bawney Fwank couldn’t have been there…he came out the closet long time ago.
Remember the Paul Wellstone memorial? The only thing missing was the Horst Wessel Leid. Remember when Whoopie Goldberg went on her nazi rant and the video was never made public? That’s what they’re afraid of.
But you’ll see protesters all over the Bohemian Grove near the Russian River in Sonoma County, CA, screaming about a conspiracy. Yeah. A bunch of wealthy people get together, smoke cigars, drink brandy, and tell war stories and it’s an international conspiracy. A report gets locked in closet to keep him from who knows what and all is right with the world.
I am eating lunch and you are ruining it./s
My wife thought that something she cooked.
Can you just imagine if a r did this when they were doing a fundraiser? Every tv station and newspaper would be all over this 24/7! Freedom of the press and our 1st would be heard from the roof tops.
L
There used to be a funny line about “MUSHROOMS”… Something about being kept in the dark, and fed a lot of “S**T… Ah, but not to worry, the reporter from the MSM will be singing the praises of the OBAMAR come Monday morning, right on schedule…
I’m [not] Surprised the usual trolls [and of course Chap] haven’t tuned in on this. Why? Because in most states this amounts to the crime of “Unlawful Imprisonment”, that’s why. It’s a crime, you see. Of course since when does the present
administrationregime worry about the rule of law?Notice also, though off topic, that the O now says we will be in Libya for “months”, not days. Can anyone say ILLEGAL WAR?
Bruce#32,
But, bho is going to get his face on the tube tomorrow and tell us all about this! I can not wait to see how fact check deals with that speech! Lies upon lies, so I won’t be watching.
L
Thus, he’s been “in the closet” for the O-team like the rest of the LameStreamMedia since Day One. No surprise about his or the rest of Pravda West’s lack of outrage.
it is east to tell when he is telling a lie, whenever his lips move, he is telling a lie, got it?
60 Minutes will be all over this tonight!!!
What the lamebrains in the media fail to get, as soon as their usefulness is finished with these leftists, they will be demonized and shut down faster than one of ours resident trolls can regurgitate something they read at one of the Soros sponsored sites.
If they willingly participate – yes.
Is there a better example of the MSM as tools?
***
HI FLYOVERMAN–#11. Somehow your analogy of the American Pravda Media being like a woman in an abusive relationship misses the mark slightly.
***
They are full throated willing participants in the Comrade Obama (PBUH) lovefest. Kindov like Monica was in her relationship to President Bill Clinton.
***
And–Here’s what the reporter (?) might have seen in the fundraising closet:
***
Millions in GE contributions–check!
Big sack of SEIU cash–check!
Large plate of cash from Rev. Wright–check!
Really big NEA pile of cash–check!
Lots of Blame Boooosh placards–check!
NOW “do it for the kids” posters–check!
Big stack of “Sarahcuda isn’t electable” bumper stickers–check!
And–ta-da! Bawney Fwank doing twicks behind the coats! Don’t check!
***
Ought to be quite an interesting article.
***
John Bibb
***
Transparency – seeing nothing! So if nothing is seen, then there is nothing to see and voila…..the new transparency.
They’ll be first in line to the gulag, no doubt.
Match and SET
CIFY
Given Mr. Power’s employer’s enthusiastic support for “O” in ’08, we can now understand his nonchalance with being cooped up in a closet during the event in question. This appears to be systemic with the media in general. Where is the antidote? With the people!
On March 27th, 2011 at 2:27 pm, rocketman said:
“Large offering plate of cash from Rev. Wright–check!”
apparently you can
seeexperience a little bit of Russia from THAT house…..that’s a FAR off island from the archipeligo…if the PU— powers possibly protested, barry could’ve assaulted him with,”the reporter acted stupidly.”
next up for spin control is another photo op for barry’s buckets of 40 ozers o’ beer
GRAND HYPOCRISY FOR THE GRAND JIHAD !!!
rocketeer,
Your points are spot on. My analogy was presented, becasue Obama and he regime treats the media like crap. The media is in such denail that this abuse is going on they come up with the same rationalizations you wold see from an abused woman.
IMO
These media peeps put up with all kinds of expected abuse. It’s all about access.
And the irony to the access is they don’t even check to see if the pittance of info they do get is the truth.
passingruffian – you nailed it!
We do seem to be having trouble with our transparency lately. I think it’s all that bubble wrap.
Actually, the treatment of this reporter was rather innocuous. I have heard that they usually make the press rake the condoms out of the hot tub at these democrat fund raisers.
Sorry, y’all, it’s Winter Park, not Winter Falls. Horace Grant (basketball, you know) built the house.
“Alan Ginsburg boughSales History (2001-present)
$5,000,000 on June 23, 2004
B: Alan H Ginsburg
S: Horace Grant
N/A on April 27, 2000
B: Robert L Tr Harding, Horace Grant Land Tr
S: Horace Grant”
Horace did a fine job LOL. House is huge with all the perks b-ball players can think of. I live about 8 blocks away and pass it all the time.
Also, Bill Nelson is useless. Went to a party over 30 years ago and he and his wife were there. Not too big a party. She was an iceberg…never cracked a smile and just sat there holding her drink. Bill was such a fake..always looking over your shoulder as he would shake hands seeing who he could shmooze with that was more important. Can’t stand either of them. He needs get the boot next. Actually, he needed to go a long time ago. Must be really worried about now. Bye bye, Bill.
Clear example of how in the tank the media is for The Usurper and Co. If anybody else stuffs a reporter in a closet to keep him from seeing or hearing anything and bloody hell would be raised. Not even a whimper from the lapdog media when done by Chicago Crime Inc.
A little tangent here…
Next time we have a joint meeting of Congress, the President, the VP, and the cabinent, can we do just one little thing? Just seal all the windows and doors then start filling the building with water. All the way to the top. Then let it sit there for a week or so. When we let it drain, we will find that some of the carpets and drapes are ruined. Otherwise, there will be little damage.
Just sayin’…
cabinent? Man, I gotta stop drinking shots of 5-hour Energy every 30 minutes or so.
When they said the most transparent administration in history, they were pretty much right.
Anyone with any sense who has been paying attention has seen that they are transparently one of the worst, the most illogical, the most corrupt, the most Socialist, the most error-filled, the most blatantly partisan, the most media-protected, and the most liberal administrations to ever exist.
Sounds pretty transparent to me.
A few years ago when on active duty with the Air Force, I escorted a half-dozen officrs from the UK on a after-hours tour of the White House.
The officers were two colonels from the British Army, a commander from the Royal Navy, two wing commanders and an air commodore from the Royal Air Force.
During the tour our escort, the military aide to Gore, received a call on his radio and next we knew, we were all shuffled roughly into a closet, door shut and lights out. We were told to be quiet.
We are all confused and thinking perhaps the White House had a security breech. Not so.
It was Hillary. Come to find out, when she would walk from one part of the White House to another part,she had her security detail “clear” her path as she didn’t want to see anyone in the hallways. This resulted in desperate calls on the radio to ensure all people in the path of Cankles would be shunted out of sight. . . and in this case, senior officers from our closest ally.
Class act on the part of the democRATS, class act.
DemocRATS.. . “the people’s party?” Ha! Not hardly.
All they had to do was announce that Hillary was on her way, and the officers would gladly have jumped into the closet on their own.
Problem solved.
I haven’t watched this in a long time, but stumbled into Leslie Stahl interviewing the head of Cisco explaining why Cisco has $40 billion, many plants and something like 100,000 employees overseas (35% US corporate tax rate versus Ireland’s 12.5%) and she looked like she was going to split an artery. Heh. She did manage to work in a trip to Switzerland on CBS’ dime, so she could say (yes, she did) “Look at the clock tower” because she’s a hard-hitting investigative reporter…
Are you sure it wasn’t just a Secret Service reflex action? “Hillary?! Quick, get the interns in the closet!”
Mr. Scott Powers has no spine and no guts. To be shoved into a closet like some piece of trash no one wants the guests to see is beyond the pale. The fact that he did not just bound out that door, shove past those blowhard politicos and make a very LOUD statement about this kind of shabby treatment says as much about Mr. Powers as it says about these hypocritical dems.
By the way, the press is always saying that only Republicans live in houses like this….
Sadly, you’re not…..
I never thought it could happen here either.
For anyone interested, Adam Hasner is the TEA party backed candidate running against Bill Nelson.
Support him now if possible, we need this seat.
Interesting bio info — young Jewish Republican legislator. I’ll check him out.
On March 28th, 2011 at 8:47 pm, floridaobserver said:
Interesting bio info — young Jewish Republican legislator. I’ll check him out.
Ya think I’ll toss him a $20
While I’m thinking about it. Prepaid VISA cards and registered to your work address with a public (yahoo, SnotMail) email address makes an excellent way to contribute in a semi anonymous way.
Freedom of the press?
No.
Freedom of the suppress.
That’s how leftists see it.