The Eberle Boys Are Brothers - Houston Chronicle

From Friday, Feb. 18 Houston Chronicle

Houston Chronicle

Feb. 18, 2005, 12:59AM

Web sites operator stirs up politics, journalism debate

Scandal places his Pearland-based Internet enterprise under a microscope

Until employing a reporter who used a fake name to gain access to the White House and insult Democrats during a nationally televised briefing, Bobby Eberle managed to keep a low profile while amassing a conservative Internet following.

Though Eberle was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2000, Texas Republican officials this week declined to talk about him and even denied knowing him.

But Eberle -- a former aerospace engineer who has never contributed to a political candidate and works out of his $225,000 home in a sprawling Pearland subdivision of new, color-coordinated burgundy and beige brick houses -- finds himself a key player in a tawdry scandal that has captivated Washington.

This article appears to tie up many of the loose ends and give more back ground on Eberle than had been previously published in one place.

It also has confirmaiton that Bruce Eberle, the direct mail fund raiser, is Bobby Eberle's brother.

Eberle's older brother, Bruce, runs a conservative Web site, Millions of Americans (millionsofamericans.com). The two sites joined forces in 2004, and Bruce Eberle started referring his readers to Bobby Eberle's site.

But, the article really brings about more questions than answers.

Eberle would not discuss Gannon, but he portrayed himself as a do-gooder who got involved in journalism and politics to spread information and the conservative message.

1.  How did Gannon and Eberle connect?
   
2.  What was Eberle doing near the Pentagon on 9/11?
   
3.  When and under what circumstances did Eberle leave employment with Lockheet Martin?
   
4.  What did Eberle do for Lockheed Martin?
   

Suggest reading the entire article.  It should stir thinking and raise more questions.  

It might even suggest other places to look.

This story is a long way from over.

Again, this is the link to the story in today's Houston Chronicle.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3045613

Off to do more digging.

•  Tin Cup

  Alms for the poor?  

  by freepress4all on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 09:12:30 AM PDT

  •  Great work. Props to the HouChron

    The HouChron is a great resource for info on Republican skullduggery.  They've had most of the Tom DeLay stuff months before anyone else, but nobody seems to read this paper, or take seriously what it puts out.  Hopefully that will change.

    by Dallasdoc on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 10:16:14 AM PDT

  •  Talon was GOPUSA front

    The New York Times pinned down Bobby Eberle on why he created Talon News. "Mr. Eberle said he started Talon News as an offshoot two years ago in an effort to build a news agency that would appear more objective and whose purpose was to sell reports to outside subscribers. 'If someone were to see GOPUSA, there's an instant built-in bias there,' Mr. Eberle said. 'I thought, well, if you want to pursue this business idea of building up a news service, it's best to keep it separate.'"
    

    It seems like the word has gone out to all the players to stone-wall this when it gets too close to Gannon.  (This is from Cox News.)  "Jennifer Ohman, in an e-mail sent Thursday on behalf of Eberle, said, 'We are not commenting on Jeff Gannon and have not since the beginning of all this.'"

    by densityland on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 10:29:32 AM PDT

    •  but in this interview I diaried yesterday...

      Bobby says in this interview that Bruce is not his brother.

      Irony and Eberle

      Surely some enterprising Kosser lives in Houston and can go to the County Courthouse and inquire?

      There must be a way to find out the name of Eberle's mother and then find out the family members names?

      by Carolyn on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 11:14:35 AM PDT

      •  Bruce Wayne Eberle

        born December 14, 1943; son of Adolph Herman and Emma (Reinert) E.

        from Who's Who.  Definitely "our" Bruce Eberle.

        Did not find an entry on Bobby Eberle or Robert Eberle  that looks like our boy.  There is a Robert Anntz Eberle - Occupation: lawyer - Born: Yonkers, New York , November 7, 1960 ; son of Robert Addison and Yvonne (Klusman) E.

        and others born in the 40's - too old to be our Bobby Eberle.
        

        by MH in PA on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 12:07:08 PM PDT

  •  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

    Just found something, from the horse's mouth. This is on the MillionsofAmericans website. It doesmn't prove a damn thing, but it's a nuggett:

    Saying "Thank You", one last time. September 2001-January 2002
    Sen. Jesse Helms announces his plans to retire, and MOA posts a "Thank You" card at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Bruce Eberle's brother, Bob, and the MillionsofAmericans.com webmaster, Jordan Gehrke present the senator with the card and thank him for his long career of service, and his willingness to champion the conservative cause. Over 22,656 readers signed the card. We did something similar for Rush Limbaugh.

    If SusanG doesn't have this, please get it to her.

    Here's the link
    

    by Earl on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 12:03:07 PM PDT

    •  Sary four tha

      speleeng airors

      by Earl on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 12:03:55 PM PDT

  •  Great catch, but . . .

    if the only "proof" of the brother relationship is that Bobby said that to a reporter, someone still needs to go to the local courthouse and go through the vital records.

    Not that I think Bobby Eberle would tell an untruth -- oh my, no -- but I'm just a suspicious, cynical journalist, and I don't take as true the word of a story subject who has something to gain by muddling the waters.

    Words to live by: If your mother says she loves you, check it out!

    by Mnemosyne on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 12:08:37 PM PDT

•  nice find!

  i found this passage especially interesting:

  Several local Republican elected officials did not return phone calls regarding Eberle.

  "I'm not going to comment because I don't know him, and nobody here does," said Sherry Sylvester, a spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Texas, when asked about Eberle.

  my ass!  the texas gop has no idea who eberle is?  riiiiight.  

  this was pretty interesting too:

  Eberle told the Chronicle that Talon's reporters are a mixture of volunteers and paid staffers, but he would not disclose how many reporters are on staff.

  and he patently refused to discuss gannert.  

  by Cedwyn on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 09:47:04 AM PDT

•  nice find!

  i found this passage especially interesting:

  Several local Republican elected officials did not return phone calls regarding Eberle.

  "I'm not going to comment because I don't know him, and nobody here does," said Sherry Sylvester, a spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Texas, when asked about Eberle.

  my ass!  the texas gop has no idea who eberle is?  riiiiight.  

  this was pretty interesting too:

  Eberle told the Chronicle that Talon's reporters are a mixture of volunteers and paid staffers, but he would not disclose how many reporters are on staff.

  and he patently refused to discuss gannert.  

  by Cedwyn on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 09:47:59 AM PDT

  •  ok...whoa

    sorry for the double post.  i hit "post" and i was right back at the "post comment" box.

    * shrug *

    by Cedwyn on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 09:49:26 AM PDT

•  implausible deniability

  The thing that gets me is this claim repubs, even texas repubs, didn't know him.

  Someone mentioned this earlier -- it seems highly unlikel the republican party would allow an unrelated nobody to use the term "GOP" without some kind of clearance.  There is a federal registry of trade names and marks.  I'll bet "GOP" is licensed to the repubs.  I simply can't believe they don't police the use of their trade names.  So there had to be some interface.

  Maybe someone needs to do their own "GOP" cite, and when the GOP objects the user could point to Eberle's "unauthorized" use to show that the name must be public domain because the GOP did not care when Eberle used it.

  by sophiebrown on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 09:53:30 AM PDT

  •  I wonder if GOPSUX is available?

    by Dallasdoc on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 10:14:04 AM PDT

  •  Its the unknown delegate!

    I wonder if he wore a brown paper bag on his head at the convention.

    by Cache on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 10:54:11 AM PDT

•  Brothers

  That info's been out there for a while on SusnG's and America blog and the others. I honestly don't see anything new in their story. But I'm glad the HouChron is staying on it and you passed it on.

  by Earl on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 09:58:56 AM PDT

  •  No confirmation

    I haven't seen a confirmation from anyone on that "fact" to date. We've been assuming they were brothers or something, but I haven't seen a post yet that confirmed it. This Houston Chron article is the first confirmation I've come across...

    by Phoenix Rising on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 10:06:03 AM PDT

    •  Agreed....

      Their relationship has been a bit muddled.  This, I believe, is the first confirmation they're brothers.

      by dqueue on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 10:19:25 AM PDT

  •  Plenty of people here leaped to

    the conclusion that they were brothers but there was no evidence to support that conclusion -- neither Bobby nor Bruce have acknowledged this.

    Maybe someone should check with this reporter to confirm that she got that information from Bobby -- because as we have found here in the past week, assumptions and conclusions not based on fact or poorly researched seem to take on a life of their own in spite of how frequently others try to correct the record.

    by Marie on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 10:28:45 AM PDT

  •  But Never Confirmed

    I was one of those that put out the possibility that they were EITHER brothers or cousins during that first hectic weekend of the feeding frenzy that SuganG (tip of the hat!) started.

    However, as hard as many of us have looked, I believe this is the first independently published confirmation that they are brothers.

    Coming from a reporter that appears to be speaking direclty with Bobby Eberle, makes this a pretty credible source.  Granted, only one source, but more credible than anything I have seen before.

    Considering that Bruce Eberley has ties way back and deep into the GOP machine (can you say Newt?), this leads me to believe that little brother Bobby was not just sitting around Lockheed Martin one day feeling patriotic and decided to become an activist.  

    I still have many questions about the Lockheed Martin (BIG Defense Department contractor) connections in all this.  

    One of those questions is:  When and why did he leave Lockheed Martin?

    Recommendations to keep this alive are appreciated.

    by freepress4all on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 10:33:21 AM PDT

    •  WELL IF YOU WANNA BE THAT WAY ABOUT IT

      My bad, thought it had been confirmed.

      I just found a letter from bruce on GOPUSA, with a link to a letter from bobby. No mention of relation. Damn us, it was put forth as fact so many times, that I believed it. And this mention does not prove it either. (Though they could obviously stil berelated.)

      And I found another another story that says they are not related:

      Despite sharing the same last name and buying the "Millions of Americans" Internet petition company from him recently, Bobby Eberle is not related to direct mail baron Bruce Eberle. Bobby Eberle hopes to transition out of engineering into politics and news full-time. "I believe in enacting conservative ideas through Republican solutions," he said.

      Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Aug 30, 2004
      Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

      by Earl on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 11:51:29 AM PDT

•  Proof of Ethics

    Good find, and lends thoughts towards the use of Ethics in Journalism, mis-leading, mis-representation of information.

    Kudos and Recommended

  by infidelpig on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 10:04:33 AM PDT

•  nt

  Somebody get me a Dun & Bradstreet number for their companies and I'll find out if they got any federal contracts.

  by rzklkng on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 10:59:06 AM PDT

•  My favorite part of the article

  His opinion pieces include one, written before the United States gave up the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that declared Saddam Hussein's possession of such weapons a "fundamental truth ... as dependable as the sun rising in the East."

  Another of Eberle's works declared former President Carter, a Democrat, "should stick to picking peanuts."

  Lord, what a hack. He makes Sean Hannity look like a Cambridge don.

  by Dump Terry McAuliffe on Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 11:06:13 AM PDT