The Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise seems to think that the big news here  is that the local GOP re-hired a sleazy operator to collect party registrations.  The bigger news to me is that the P-E’s owner, A.H. Belo, was one of the donors that financed the GOP’s hiring of the sleazy operator.  Four hundred dollars is peanuts to a company the size of Belo, so maybe it was given without much thought to please an advertiser or a golfing buddy. A second’s hesitation might have reminded whichever executive made the bone-headed move that a newspaper’s non-partisan standing is one of its most valuable assets. Or is that too old school in the new media world?
UPDATE: The PE is now reporting that the $400 was an advertising rebate, not a contribution. It was misidentified on the GOP’s books. Never mind.
