Chip Hanlon, CEO of the conservative blog Red County, wrote today he's discovered that one of the blog's writers who had provided positive coverage of GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner was on the payroll of a consultant hired by the Poizner campaign.
Hanlon called the arrangement "sleazy tactics" because he hadn't known the writer, named "Sgt. York," was being paid by the Poizner camp. Hanlon said in an interview that the writer is Placer County resident and California Republican Assembly Sgt. at Arms Aaron Park, who, according to Red County, no longer writes for the blog.
Hanlon went on to write that "any contributor writing on behalf of a paying client must simply disclose that relationship -- not too difficult."
He concludes, "I'm now personally through paying any attention to Steve Poizner and his run for Governor of California."
Poizner communications director Jarrod Agen said his campaign knew the blogger in question "worked for one of our consultants and that he blogged."
"This looks more like an issue between Red County and someone who works for them," Agen said. "There's a lot of consultants who blog on Web sites all over the state."
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