Plame Assignment #16
In Which Mnemosyne Discovers That the Ultimate Answer Is Both Simple and Complex and That the Final Answer Is Not, Alas, 42, But 43.
After beating my virtual head against several walls last week, having a nice chat with a pleasant PR person at the Secret Service, and getting stonewalled by the White House press office, I tended to real-world life for a few days. Then I dusted off the old school tie from Ink-Stained Wretches U., got out my battered Rolodex, and started making calls again.
Most people who write news stories are so focused on their immediate work that it's never occurred to them how and from where their access comes. I suspect that once a large news organization, say the New York Times or AP, has the access, changing White House press credentials is just a matter of substituting a new name for the old, and then letting the Secret Service check 'em out.
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The
White House Correspondents' Association seemed like a good lead, but they don't answer their phone and seem not to have an answering machine. I would like to think that each time I've called, they've been out asking tough questions of administration officials.
On Monday, Howard Kurtz wrote in a Washington Post column headed "The Lock-step Pundits" that Scott McClellan said:
Gannon got a day pass to the White House, available to any journalist, commentator or blogger who writes for an audience. "I don't think it's the role of the press secretary to get into the business of being a media critic or picking and choosing who gets credentials," McClellan says.
There's no indication in the column of when McClellan said this, however. Kurtz did get one important thing out in the open: that Gannon uses a pseudonym "he declines to reveal." (No one has yet attempted an explanation of why the Secret Service would approve a "reporter" with a false name, which tells me that they know very well what his real name is.) In an effort to find out a bit more, and to see if he could tell me how to apply for White House press credentials, I called Kurtz. But he never called me back. I guess when you're a big-time columnist, you're awfully busy.
However, a long-time friend who writes for one of our larger metropolitan dailies was able to give me the name and phone number of the person who handles administrative matters for their international news desk. That person was extraordinarily helpful and, once I had explained that I was trying to discover the process to apply for White House press credentials, offered to call the DC bureau for me.
The information returned from the large metropolitan daily's Washington bureau confirmed what I suspected all along: Anyone seeking a White House press pass must write, on official letterhead, to Jeff's friend Scottie.
Here's the address:
Scott McClellan
Assistant to the President/Press Secretary
Office of the Press Secretary
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest
Room #WH/1/WW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Now, it seems to me that one could use a much simpler address and that a letter sent to Mr. McClellan at the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would probably get there. It is, after all, a fairly well known place. And this is the administration that says it wants to simplify things and get government off our backs.
However, since this is also the administration that is dropping government on our heads, probably best to use the long form.
In your letter, on your official letterhead, include name, address, Social Security number, date of birth, and news affiliation. The twenty-seven color glossy photographs with the circles and arrows and the paragraph of description on the back of each one may not be necessary.
Since the official spokesman for the White House is on record as saying it does not discriminate for or against people applying for press passes and that in this great democracy anyone can apply, all you Kossaks with legitimate news affiliations and with access to Washington get out there and apply for press passes. Bloggers, whip up some letterhead and get to work. (I won't, because the distance is prohibitive.) If there's anything in your past you don't want the Secret Service to know about, best not to apply.
The acid test here is to see if, indeed, the White House will issue press credentials to any and all applicants, or if approval is limited to those on the right side of the political spectrum. If there is discrimination, and it can be proved (keep written records of everything), there is case law in support of openness.
One question that has not been addressed in this search, and which may or may not have a connection to the issue at hand, is the relation, if any, between the name of the press secretary and the breed of the executive's dog, the one that frequently gets dropped on its head. Coincidence? I think not.
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