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Commentary by TrueDialog.org's Founder, Carl Lindemann November 6 - "Lindemann is surely a political operative, but a rather mysterious one." It’s Election Day, and even an off-year is the occasion for all to participate in the one ritual of democracy that all should value and encourage. So – go out and vote! It’s now been four months since the TrueDialog.org website launched, and there’s a backlog of chores that need to be cleared. It’s always a tough choice whether to invest time in housekeeping, or to put it into the many, many projects that beckon. One thing that should be clarified is the question that seems to pop up regularly despite my attempts to remove doubts and suspicions about who – or what – lies behind TrueDialog.org. When the Bangor Daily News editorial about the
Collins campaign was published in early September, someone under the
pseudonym "Mediadog
on As Maine Goes,
a conservative website, posted this: Carl Lindemann is no stranger to AMG. He had a
lively presence here a few weeks after he wrote a Press Herald op-ed
attacking Collins. He was asked repeatedly at the time whom he worked for
but continually dodged the question and then disappeared from the forum.
Now he's back with a similar hatchet job at the expense of the BDN (Bangor
Daily News). First, a few points of fact. The discussion he refers to followed an op-ed about the Maine Heritage Policy Center. It was also the first public appearance of TrueDialog.org. The question it raised was simple. If MHPC was not factually accurate in its testimony to the Maine Ethics Commission, how factually accurate is the information it provides elsewhere? Yes, this did inspire my “lively presence” on As Maine Goes where I accepted a challenge by Scott Fish, the owner/editor of the site, to answer questions about the piece. I spent over a week taking great pains to answer the questions put to me fully and faithfully. The “thread” of the conversation was one of the most highly trafficked discussions on the site with over 3,000 visits. The question of my funding – and that of TrueDialog.org – was explored in some detail. I thought it was worth the investment of time and effort in what was, shall we say, a highly critical environment was that it would save answering these kinds of questions time and again. Once settled, we might be able to focus on other, more substantive issues. So why can’t I simply refer you to the interrogation there about my finances? Unfortunately, it would appear that some raising questions did not appreciate the answers they received. Fish is also on an advisory board for MHPC, and the group’s attorney is one of the most highly visible “regulars” there (Fish, it would seem, is also an acquaintance of Lance Dutson, the Collins campaign operative. Fish recently provided the audio recording from a local radio interview for Dutson’s website). As the online discussion was winding down, Fish decided to pull the plug. He removed my final posting and then removed the entire discussion from the site shortly afterwards. He did not return repeat e-mails asking that he explain this. See the posting of July 14th below. So, to get back to the question, “Who does
Lindemann work for? It is very doubtful that he is being paid by anything
called ‘TrueDialog.org’” ? It is true that I
am not paid by TrueDialog.org. Actually, I am funding this organization,
not vice-versa. My investment in it has been, for the most part, my own
“sweat equity” with some spending on basics like the website hosting
and the like. Unfortunately, this investment has not yielded any
contributions as yet. We remain in the process of receiving not-for-profit
status to seek funding. Note the disclosure statement in the “support”
section. As yet, there’s nothing to report for donations other than the
time, effort and interest of the advisory board and the soon-to-be
announced Board of Directors. So that seems to
beg the question of “Who does Lindemann work for?”
Well, the answer to that is simple.
I’m self-employed. I celebrated my 10th anniversary of
self-employed servitude in September. The brief sketch of my work is that
I’m a freelance writer for numerous broadcast trade publications and
also do freelance public relations writing for various high tech
companies. For the curious, I’ve
collected a few clips here to show the apolitical nature of this work.
One of the
advantages of the freelance lifestyle is that it allows a great deal of
flexibility. I sometimes work around-the-clock on deadline-driven
assignments for days on end, but generally set my own schedule. This gives
me the ability to pursue other activities, such as TrueDialog.org, talk
radio, and other interests that liven things up. For me, radio has always been a passion, a combination of contact sport and performance art. I was on air as a fill-in host for many years till I got a little too far ahead of the curve with the invasion of Iraq. Within the first week of our troops being on the ground there, I expressed what seemed to be a dangerous delusion to most listens. I said there were no WMDs. As the war coverage scaled back, my time as the local lead-in for The Rush Limbaugh Show ended. My value as a fill-in host, too, seemed to have ended. Instead of getting called up several times a month, after March, 2003, I didn’t get a call until late summer. They needed someone to fill-in for the weekend gardening show. I know absolutely NOTHING about gardening. Did I do it? Of course! I’ve been on air since I was 16, and creating an interesting show about an alien subject is an irresistible challenge. Also, as I’ve disclosed elsewhere here, occasional newsgathering and reporting was part of my duties at that station. Oh, and since this is Election Day, here’s a spoof of a radio political ad I wrote and produced back in ’96. The freelance flexibility also allows me to take advantage of occasional consulting opportunities that come my way. For example, I had a wonderful stint with NPR’s weekly environmental news program Living on Earth in 2004. I work on developing a new vision for the show integrating what’s now referred to as “UGC” – “user generated content.” The idea was to engage the listeners so that they share their own storytelling. The vision was of transforming a passive audience into an engaged community of “citizen journalists” keeping an eye on the environmental beat. It was a great vision that is now growing rapidly into an everyday reality in media. In early 2004, we were well ahead of the mainstream – too far ahead, at the time. Also of interest
is the one paid political job I’ve ever had (actually, my time as a
religious professional - i.e. chaplaincy at my alma mater, Phillips
Exeter Academy, followed by an interim ministry at a church in
Massachusetts - was, perhaps, the most political work imaginable. Church
politics are, you might say, ungodly). This was in early 2006 with a new,
non-partisan political action committee called Texas
Parent PAC. Basically, I worked with pro-public school candidates for
the Texas legislature. It is notable that the campaigns I was assigned to
were almost exclusively Republican. It was a 15-week gig that was
exhausting and enormously rewarding. Texas
Parent PAC was also highly successful. Our "show leather
efforts" are credited with bringing a sea change in support for
public schools and in rejecting
the few (or the one) with deep pockets opposed to this. Part of the
inspiration for TrueDialog.org came from this experience of seeing retail
politics up close. It seems to me that we would do well to spend more time
discussing real issues like the place of our investment in public
education in keeping our democracy vital, rather than the latest
overheated, cooked-up campaign scandal.
So how do we move towards such “authentic” public discussions? So I hope that answers the “who do I work for?” question. What does that mean? In a democracy, working for yourself, of necessity, demands civic engagement. Unfortunately, the truth here will likely fail to satisfy those nervous at the notion that anyone would do as I have on a volunteer basis. For them, like those who grilled me on As Maine Goes, they will likely not appreciate the answers I have for their questions about my finances or much else. You're invited to join the dialog. Please send comments below: *** The Wages of Spin Project Spin Shop Ideas & Essays Spin Shops, State by State
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