Scarpinato proves my point

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In the SWAG Update I posted that Sen. Jonathan Paton's pre-arranged roll-out in the Arizona Daily Star makes me question whether the Star reports the news, or is acting as the media arm of the Paton campaign as it did when Paton ran for state representative in 2006 while serving in Iraq, when former Young Republican Daniel Scarpinato was the political reporter.

As if to prove my point about the political bias in the Arizona Daily Star, the Tucson Weekly reports today Scarpinato Joins Paton Campaign:

Daniel Scarpinato, the former Arizona Daily Star political reporter, is leaving his job with the Arizona Capitol Times to work as the press guy for Republican Jonathan Paton's campaign for the Congressional District 8 seat now held by Democrat Gabrielle Giffords.

Scarpinato had so much practice working Paton into every story he wrote for the Daily Star I thought he was already the press guy for Paton – it was transparently obvious. The only difference now is who cuts his paycheck.

Will the Arizona Daily Star simply act as a stenographer for Scarpinato's press releases from the Paton campaign? We'll be watching closely. Send your letters to the editor.

The truly sad part of this story is that a long-time veteran capitol reporter, Phil Riske, was fired by the Capitol Times to make room for the biased Scarpinato. Political Insider – PoliticalInsider – Daily Star political reporter bails for Yellow Sheet Report Scarpinato had been the Yellow Sheet reporter only since September 1, 2009. Stupid move firing Phil for this guy.