It now turns out that the secret audio of Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell and advisors discussing how to in effect smear potential Democratic opponent Ashley Judd was not like the (in)famous audio of Mitt Romney. In the case of the Romney video, it was recorded by a bystander who was not associated with a political group. According to reports, the McConnell recording was recorded by people associated with a progressive group:
A secret recording of a campaign strategy session between U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and his advisors was taped by leaders of the Progress Kentucky super PAC, says a longtime local Democratic operative.
Mother Jones Magazine released the tape this week. The meeting itself took place on Feb. 2.
Jacob Conway, who is on the executive committee of the Jefferson County Democratic Party, says that day, Shawn Reilly and Curtis Morrison, who founded and volunteered for Progress Kentucky, respectively, bragged to him about how they recorded the meeting.
On the tape, McConnell and his advisors are heard laughing and joking about opposition research they had on actress Ashley Judd, who had been considering running against McConnell next year. Many Democratic groups blasted McConnell for the remarks yesterday, disgusted by the fact McConnell would potentially use Judd’s suicidal thoughts as a child against her.
Reilly and Morrison have declined to comment for this story.
While this won’t negate the contents of the audio tape, it will allow McConnell to continue to talk about how “the left” won’t stop at anything to defeat him — an allegation which helps squelch down the fact he and his advisors were talking about jumping into the political septic tank to defeat Judd. He can claim he’s a victim in a way that Romney never could. But it may mean the taping was not illegal.
The Romney tape (details revealed by Mother Jones) was about a bystander releasing a recording he made for himself because he wanted the public to know what he had heard. He happened to be there doing his job.
The McConnell recording, it turns out, involved political activists who didn’t just happen to be there — and one official of the group has now resigned.
Pressure is growing Thursday afternoon on a liberal super PAC in Kentucky accused of surreptitiously recording a strategy session held by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Jacob Conway, the Jefferson County Democratic Party’s executive committee member who originally accused Progress Kentucky of making the recording, told NBC News he was on his way to talk to the FBI about the allegations. And the group’s treasurer confirmed he had quit his position after the audio was published.
“At this time based on advice of both friends and counsel, I will be not be making a public statement available until everything has been reviewed by an attorney at this time,” Douglas L. Davis told NBC News. “I have resigned my position as treasurer and did not and do not condone any allegations of illegal activity that might have taken place.”
Conway told Louisville’s NPR affiliate earlier Thursday that two Progress Kentucky employees bragged to him about recording the meeting through a door in McConnell’s office.
Conway said Shawn Reilly and Curtis Morrison told him they snuck into McConnell’s freshly-opened campaign office February 2, not long after McConnell held an open house for GOP activists and media members. They heard the meeting going on through a closed door and recorded it.
“When I guess they heard the tasteless and offensive and tacky things the McConnell campaign was saying, they decided to record it,” Conway told Fox News in a later live phone interview. “They told me about it later that day, or maybe it was the next day. I don’t really remember, it was a couple months ago.”
McConnell campaign manager Jesse Benton told the radio station the door in question has a large gap at the bottom and a vent the duo could’ve recorded the meeting through.
Not the same circumstances as the Romney tape, but in politics this means some will now argue that, why, there is not a single bit of difference. Putting aside what McConnell & Friends were discussing,the fact is: the facts in this case aren’t the same as the facts in the case of the Romney taping. Romney’s revelation confirmed what many suspected; McConnell’s ruthlessness has never been a question or even 1/1000th in doubt. He is the country’s most disliked Senator, according to polls.
MUST READ: The Week gives a great summary — and puts it all into perspective.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.