Harper Wins A Correction

On B1 of last Sunday's Valley and State Section, E.J. Montini wrote a scathing columnabout budget cuts taking place at the Legislature.  Montini skewered Sen. Jack Harper for this quote.

When some folks visited the Legislature last week to reinforce the real pain that was about to be inflicted on our most vulnerable citizens, they were met by legislators like Republican Sen. Jack Harper, who said, "We're beyond the point of whether something is a good program, we're cutting everything we can; the time for whining is over."

Whining? Harper was among those who voted against cutting the pay of lawmakers. So perhaps what he meant by "cutting everything we can" was "everything but us."

Harper cried foul and produced video demonstrating that Montini had combined quotes that were about different issues and were about 5 minutes apart in the hearing.  I wrote about Harper's protest here. 

Sen. Harper - Randy Lovely forwarded your letter to me. Thank you for including the video site. After reviewing it and talking to E.J. Montini, we will be running a correction on Wednesday putting your comment in the context you outlined in your letter. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

 

Best,

 

Ken Western

Editorial director

On Wednesday morning, the paper printed this correction.

"The 'courage' to abandon kids and the ill," March 14, Valley & State, B1:

A comment by Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, in E.J. Montini's column that "we're cutting everything we constitutionally can" was made during an Appropriations Committee hearing in response to testimony on proposed cuts to the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission. Harper's comment was not directed at advocates of protecting children's and social programs.

Congratulations to Randy Lovely and Ken Western for making the correction.  However, I have to make a few points.  First, it's important to note that the incorrect quote isn't incidental...the quote is the core of the column.  Harper was only included in the column because of the quote.  In fact one could argue that without the incorrect quote, there's no reason for the column.  The correction saying that the quote was wrong, doesn't provide the context to show that the entire Harper section of the column falls apart.

Second.  The only reason that I could find the correction is because I knew to look for it.  The correction is on the bottom left of Wednesday's page A2.  The original story was on the front page of the Sunday edition of the Valley and State section.    The number of people who saw the original article will be hundreds of times more than the number who saw the correction.

Nevertheless it's great that the Republic reviewed the tape and asked E.J. to make the correction.

Comments

[Winnie]

Greg wrote "The number of people who saw the original article will be hundreds of times more than the number who saw the correction."

Zero times zero is still zero.

[todd]

Harpers both claims that the his statements were taken out of context and misquoted. He has perhaps demonstrated the context was different, but the evidence is clear he made the statement as reported.

[George]

The Repugnant runs a (small) apology! That explains the small earthquake I felt this morning.

[Travis]

todd:

Harper did not make the statement as reported.

He made the statement, but NOT as reported.

That's the whole point of Greg's post and only partially the point of the Republic's correction.

[todd]

Travis,
Harper made two claims - "Ed Montini has taken two quotes of mine from Appropriations Committee and sited them together and out of context. " So again, he is flat out wrong about the former.

[State Senator Jack Harper]

Thank you, Greg Patterson.

Besides your generosity, my only recourse was to post my evidence on the comment section of azcentral.com ...on every story... for the rest of my life, ha ah

[Bad]

What I want to know is why is a reporter calling a quotation a "quote?" The word "quote" in this case is a verb. "Quotation" is a noun.

[Jim Torgeson]

Isn't it funny that people who are ideologically different than Harper read it totally differently than people who have his point of view or no political bias?!

It was obviously out of context and purposeful in creating fiction.

[Travis]

todd:

You may be comfortable with this kind of reporting, but no one else is - including the Republic.

Word order, context and construct are all important for accuracy. There was inaccuracy in the story and it prompted a correction.

As usual, the Republic's correction was more of an obfuscation than a correction, but at least they called it a correction.

[todd]

Travis, I am not interested in defending the Republic, I am interested in the fact that Harper's claim that he did not even make the statement is not true.

[todd]

Senator, I have no desire to defend Montini, I am questioning your statement. The Fox 10 report here (http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/politics/state_politics/public-input-budget-3-9-2010) quotes you as saying:
"We're beyond the point of whether something is a good program, were cutting everything we can, the time for whining is over. We've got to pass this budget we already agreed to."
On the video you say this. This is not a constructed quote.

[Ann]

I taught my children that their apology should be as public as their insult or offense. Being a public bully then a private apologist is no virtue.

Obviously, it is a lesson that needs to be taught at the Republic.

[Foxfan]

C'mon Senator, let's hear your reply to Todd's post on the Fox10 report.

[Jack Harper JackWHarper@Hughes.net]

Dear Fox Fan,

The March 19th post supposedly by "State Senator Jack Harper" was not me. Only Greg can verify that.

I did tell the director of ACJC that the time for crying about the budget is over. I did not make the comment to anyone that was speaking about children's health issues, as Montini implied.

This is what the entire debate is about. Montini's column impliued that I said that to people who were testifying about children's issues:

Letter to Randy Lovely: Video from Senate Appropriations Committee contradicts Montini's column

Randy,

Ed Montini has taken two quotes of mine from Appropriations Committee and sited them together and out of context. About one hour and 15 minutes into the committee, I chided John Blackburn, from the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission for complaining about his agency’s budget (when we were cutting services and insurance to children). In the video, you would be able to see that I challenged Blackburn to justify his lobbying. I asked him how many lives his agency saves. I then went on to site money wasted by the Arizona Auto-Theft Authority by giving out Club Anti-theft devices to people who live in apartments or drive Honda’s, like it was the most important thing state government does. I told Blackburn that there was no sense in crying about it in public.

Later in the meeting, I mentioned that we were no longer weighing the merits of a program, but cutting everything that we constitutionally could (at One hour and 19 minutes). Montini wrote his editorial as if I were saying that about children’s programs. Incidentally, there were emails being circulated by liberals that misquoted me, first. I wonder if Montini did his research before writing, or repeated the emails going around. He should watch the video, recognize that I was trying to make children’s issues a priority, and print a retraction. Thank you.

Jack

State Senator Jack Harper

602-926-4178

1:15 and 1:19 in this video:

http://azleg.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=13&clip_id=7038