Monday, July 23, 2012

Washington Post Muddles Story on Gray Campaign and Public Housing List

The Washington Post broke a story yesterday that the campaign of Mayor Vince Gray had a database containing the names and address of residents of DC public housing:

The database, part of a cache of documents The Washington Post obtained from former campaign workers, includes residents’ names, addresses and telephone numbers. One of the documents designated “team captains” responsible for reaching out to tenants in specific housing complexes.

Oooh!  Team Captains.  Shame.

I'm not saying the Gray campaign is innocent of any the skullduggery it's being accused of lately.  But this story, written by Nikita Stewart and Mike DeBonis is sloppily written in a way that makes it sound like a common campaign practice of keeping lists of people that you plan to contact is in and of itself sleazy.  Why, they not only have list (excuse me, "database"), they actually have people ("team captains!") who actually go and talk with them.   Don't you realize that sort of thing could get more people involved in the political process.

Okay, so, DeBonis' article does say that the information "appears to be an unauthorized use of private government information."  But the vague way it is written leaves open the possibility that the Gray campaign obtained the data through legitimate means and the piece reads more like insinuation against a legitimate campaign practice and less a piece of good journalism.   Campaigns buy data all the time.  There are multiple businesses here in Washington (and elsewhere) whose sole purpose is to sell it to them.  Even if the data of "public housing residents" wasn't a list available commercially, I could create one by matching a list of DC residents against a list of addresses of DC public housing apartment complexes.

This point is so muddled by the original article that DuBonis has to go into the comments posted below the article and clarify:

The list, to the best we have been able to determine, appears to have been generated internally at the Housing Authority. It included names, addresses and phone numbers for residents, as well as the names of the associated public housing complexes. Both DCHA and Gray campaign officials, during the several weeks of reporting that went into this story, were given the opportunity to explain how the information was obtained or could have been obtained through legitimate means. Neither party did so. 

If the Gray campaign somehow obtained the list directly from the DC Housing Authority that is a horse of a different color.  Why DeBonis and his editors found it necessary to omit this specific information in the body of the article isn't clear.  By painting with such a broad brush they tarnish what is a perfectly acceptable (and laudable) campaign practice -- reaching out directly to the voters.

And that requires a database.  Not to mention "Team Captains."

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