I just talked with David Goldstein. He's on vacation at the coast and said he sent me an e-mail earlier, but he has had spotty wireless at best and I never got it.
In any case, Goldstein says that Lowney talked to him about a possible lawsuit against McGavick and Safeco and asked if horsesass could help find a good plaintiff. He said that if he had been in town this week when the story broke he would have reported his role.
Does his involvement, as Howland said, lend credence to the argument that the lawsuit was political?
"Everything I do is political. But that doesn't mean the case doesn't have merit and that doesn't mean it shouldn't be brought until after election. ... I'd love to take more credit for it. I think the only thing you could say is if not for me, they would have had a different plaintiff."
Goldstein does think Schwartzman makes a boffo plaintiff. It was Schwartzman's mother, Ashley Bullitt, who responded to Goldstein's solicitation. He then connected Lowney with Schwartzman.
"I was more than happy to be involved," Goldstein said. Goldstein keeps up a steady attack on McGavick on his blog. He has been a strong Cantwell supporter and helped lead the charge against anti-war critics in the Democratic party that were unhappy with the senator. But he says his involvement in the McGavick lawsuit does not mean that the Cantwell campaign or the Democratic Party played any role.
"I can tell you I have no more connection to the Cantwell campaign than you do," he said. By way of showing his relationship to the campaign, Goldstein told me that when he got his radio gig at KIRO, one of the first things he did was call Cantwell's people and tell them "it would help me keep this job" if he could get Cantwell on the air. It took six weeks or so, he said, and then she came on only for a few minutes to talk about the decision to hire her former opponent, Mark Wilson. He said sometimes he'll send an e-mail to Cantwell's campaign consultant or a staffer and "usually they don't respond."
"When someone uncovers the paycheck to me from the Cantwell campaign or the Democratic Party they can come after me. Somebody should be paying me. My God, they owe me."
Lowney has a political background himself. So the involvement of Goldstein doesn't tell us a whole lot more about the motivation for the suit. It does give a glimpse into a chain of events that I think readers of the McGavick story should know.
It's important for Goldstein to disclose his role. He has a foot in the established media now with his Sunday night show on KIRO, and I know at times at least he tries to reach Republicans to get their side of things for horsesass. Appearing to be more a player than chronicler or cheerleader for the Democrats could make that more difficult.
Howie question: Jeez, David, didn't another talk show host run for governor as a conservative Republican? Does he have any problems getting Democratic guests?
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