Klobuchar fires communications director for accessing protected video
The Amy Klobuchar for U.S. Senate campaign fired communications director Tara McGuinness today for accessing a Mark Kennedy for U.S. Senate advertisement.
through the use of protected passwords that were accessed by a local blogger
. Ben Goldfarb, campaign manager with Klobuchar's campaign, just called back to say that McGuinness was sent a direct link to the video from an unnamed local blogger who accessed the video through the use of passwords. Goldfarb said McGuinness accessed the direct link and watched the video. When I asked him directly if McGuinness typed in a password to access the video he said "I cannot answer that question."
Apparently a blogger, who has not been named, accessed the video first and notified McGuinness. McGuinness was unavailable for comment. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office would not comment. Goldfarb, would not provide much more detail beyond the statement released below. One of the big questions is which local blogger accessed the video? (UPDATE- I just talked to Matt Martin with MNPublius and he insists that no one in his shop had anything to do with this). The other big question is how big of an impact will this have on Klobuchar's campaign?
Anyway, here's the release:
Statement of Ben Goldfarb, Klobuchar for Minnesota Campaign Manager
U.S. Senate candidate Amy Klobuchar’s campaign manager, Ben Goldfarb, today released the following statement:
“On Saturday, September 16, 2006, our campaign was contacted by a local blogger. He called Tara McGuinness, Communications Director of our campaign, and then sent her a link to what appeared to be an unreleased advertisement of the Kennedy campaign. Neither Amy Klobuchar nor I have personally seen this advertisement and no campaign strategy or decisions will be changed because of it.
“The blogger indicated to Ms. McGuinness that he had gained access to the advertisement by use of passwords. Exercising poor judgment, Ms. McGuinness opened the link, watched the advertisement and asked others on our campaign to watch it.
“When we learned of this occurrence, Ms. Klobuchar directed that I take immediate action. I instructed the blogger that sending information like this to the campaign was wrong and not to send us any further advertisements. I then asked for and received Ms. McGuinness’ resignation. Ms. Klobuchar also directed that the incident be reported to federal law enforcement for their review. That report has been made and the Klobuchar campaign will cooperate fully with law enforcement.
“Because law enforcement officials will now be reviewing this matter, any additional public comments will be necessarily limited.”
Statement of U.S. Senate candidate Amy Klobuchar
U.S. Senate candidate and County Attorney Amy Klobuchar today released the following statement:
“What happened here was wrong. By reporting the blogger’s activities and this incident to law enforcement, we are doing the right thing. Some people may believe that this happens on campaigns all the time, but it is not acceptable on our campaign.
“I offer a sincere apology to Mark Kennedy and his campaign.”
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