Senator Bill Finch accuses ConnecticutBLOG of "sandbagging"

Wow, I guess there is a first time for everything...

From Bill Finch's blog:

While I believe that the internet is an amazing tool, I must admit it has it's drawbacks. Recently, someone contacted my office to make an inquiry into a particular position of mine in one of the upcoming primaries. When my aide responded in a timely fashion, accurately stating my position, he was quoted on a blog as me. While I support the efforts of my aide, I would have appreciated the opportunity to respond to something that was going to be quoted myself.

It is this type of deceptive, irresponsible use of the internet that will prevent bloggers from being taken seriously when it comes to getting information out to the media. My aide knows my positions, and does a good job of relaying them when asked. As a rule, however, if anyone wants an official quote, they should always contact the source of the quote instead of sandbagging a staffer by failing to disclose the true nature of the inquirers question. I will always answer questions in as forthright a manner as the questioner poses it.

Now let's take a ride in the time machine and take a look at the quote in question (note the sentence in bold)...

Received this from Bill Finch's office:

Sen. Finch supports Joe Lieberman, believing that he is in lockstep with the democratic platform and the DLC 90% of the time, and that the 10% where Lieberman breaks from his party is on personal principle.

Now, after a trusted reader received the following quote from his office, Senator Finch's name was placed in the undecided category in terms of answering the simple question.

Some things to consider here.

1. The statement came from Finch's office. Nowhere in the post was it stated that these were Finch's direct words.

2. In his own words, Senator Finch stated that the aide stated Finch's position accurately therefore, the statement cited in the post was accurate.

3. Senator Finch had a chance to clear up any confusion by answering the simple question on his blog but instead, he accused ConnecticutBLOG of smearing him.

Senator, in no way did ConnecticutBLOG or any other blog who crosslinked to me smear or sandbag you and I'm personally disappointed that you would make such a claim. The simple question posed to you is a question that the voters of Connecticut deserve an answer to yet we still haven't received a response from you as of today.

I'll ask you this question personally...

Will you support the Democraitc nominee for senate?

Based on the response from your office (which you stated as accurate) your name was labeled "undecided" on the list and the Democratic voters of Connecticut still await your answer. If there is any confusion, you're in the best position to clear up any misunderstanding by again answering the simple question:

Will you support the Democraitc nominee for senate?

The readers of ConnecticutBLOG and the Democratic voters of Connecticut which you represent, patiently await your reply and I hope this matter can be cleared up in a timely manner.

BTW: I could understand if you're upset over the somewhat unflattering photo that I used of you in the original post. I wouldn't want any pictures of myself standing next to Ernest Newton and Mayor John Fabrizi to be published right now but, may I recommend that you consider removing the photo from your website since this is where I found the photograph.

UPDATE: Let Senator Finch know how you feel about attacking this site. You can leave a comment on his site by clicking here. Please be polite when making your point. I just want my simple question answered...is that too much to ask from a person who represents the Democrats in the state?

UPDATE 2: Oh man, this is rich!

It seems like Senator Finch's office took down the webpage containing Finch posing with disgraced former Senator Ernest Newton and admitted cocaine user, Bridgeport Mayor John Fabrizi. Taking the page down makes me look like I'm making stuff up so I guess it sucks that I'm pretty good with the whole internet thing and was able to find the page cached on Google...

Senator Finch (and his aides), I'm not looking for a fight here and personally, I think you're making this hard and unnecessary. If you want to continue to smear my site and have this entire situation exposed to the whole country, then be my guest. Please keep this in mind, all I am requesting from the senator is a reply to my simple question and I'm very disappointed that 1. you're avoiding the question and 2. you're accusing this site of "sandbagging" you which clearly was not the case.

Why does answering a simple question have to be so hard?

BTW: God bless ya Sue!