Sun-Times remains on the low road
Tuesday, Feb 11, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* At least Ben was up front about it…
ABC7 Reporter Ben Bradley: “The elephant in the room. Are you gay?”
Rutherford: “No. Next question.”
Rutherford points out his accuser Ed Michalowski never filed a formal complaint about inappropriate sexual advances, or any other wrong doing, until now, weeks before an election. But yes, Rutherford says, the two did share a hotel room with his male subordinate Ed Michalowski on at least two occasions.
“This is something you do in small business, in the NFL, NHL. It’s something you do to save resources,” said Rutherford.
* But, once again, the Sun-Times sticks solely with the innuendo…
In the midst of defending against sexual harassment allegations by one male employee, state Treasurer Dan Rutherford acknowledged that he had shared a hotel room with a different male employee on state time — “to save resources.” […]
Another reporter queried Rutherford: “But I don’t share a hotel room with my boss.”
This is the second time in a week that the Sun-Times has tried to get cutesy with the Rutherford story. It’s beneath them.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 10:58 am:
It’s beneath everyone.
- shore - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 10:58 am:
You should plug your uchicago speech tonight.
It’s hard to fault Ben here, there’s been a lot of nasty stuff in politics over the years, but people usually aren’t accused of same sex sexual harassment.
- Dee Lay - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:00 am:
“This is the second time in a week that the Sun-Times has tried to get cutesy with the Rutherford story. It’s beneath them. ”
It obviously isn’t.
And while the S-T plays footsie with the topic, they are letting Baron von Slime off the hook.
Just because he sold his interests in the paper doesn’t mean his influence is gone too.
- steve schnorf - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:02 am:
perhaps the problem is that it is no longer beneath them
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:03 am:
Nothing is beneath them.
- Formerly Known As... - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:03 am:
I am surprised Natasha keeps putting her name on those articles.
So much for the SunTimes rep as the paper of the underdog and fighting for the little guy.
- shore - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:05 am:
you’re right wordslinger. hope you and soccer mom and one man are having a good winter.
- Upon Further Review - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:05 am:
Every time the Sun-Times puts out another issue, I am shocked. The paper seems to be in a death spiral. A few of their Saturday issues totaled about forty pages. During another run, an issue went out with numerous blank pages.
Sometimes, it is humorous: during the worst of the polar vortex cycle, the Sun-Times ran an editorial about the threat of global warming. Talk about poor timing.
The sleaze quotient has gone up in an effort to sell copies. I disregard many of their articles as exploitation.
- Formerly Known As... - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:08 am:
This really is the worst kind of journalism in many ways.
Running stories based on innuendo to imply something about a person’s sexuality even after they have directly addressed the rumors.
Plus, running those stories for the specific purpose of attempting to harm an individual’s ambitions within one political party. Would they still be running this stuff if Rutherford were running in the Democratic primary? 99% chance not.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:21 am:
Whispering and snickering about someone being gay kind of went out in my crowd right after junior high. Sad to see it is still considered newsworthy to idiots claiming to be reporters.
- Juvenal - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:22 am:
*** “It’s beneath them.” ***
Word from industry insiders, including those within the paper, is that the Sun-Times might be terminally ill.
Getting rid of photographers. Ending their downtown lease.
These are not good signs.
Neither are desperate attempts to increase circulation.
- Phineas J. Whoopee - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:23 am:
I have regularly read the pamphlet that used to be the Sun times because it saves me 50 cents but I recently broke down and shelled out the big bucks for the Trib because the Sun couldn’t even make it through lunch.
Having said that, the credence given to this obvious shakedown by the media astounds me. I (and my family) have voted Dem in the primaries for more years than I will admit but will actually be taking a GOP ballot-this time.
Quinn has no worries and I really think this is trash.
- Pizza2Go - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:26 am:
The insiders and the media can justify this however they want. Reality IS in fact : A person with supervisory authority over an employee in the work place does NOT share a hotel room with a subordinate - no mater what the gender. Period.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:31 am:
=Nothing is beneath them.=
Is that you again, Cincy?
- used2beGOP - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:33 am:
I wish there was a LIKE button on this site. ^
- sad - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:34 am:
When the Sun-Times or another low-life reporter asks Dan about his sexual orientation, he should say: something like: “Are you gay?” or “Are you faithful to your spouse?” or “Do you sleep around?” — and then say, “My sexual orientation is no business of yours or anyone else.”
- Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:34 am:
Sen. Rutherford, do you like sports? Know what I mean? Know what I mean? Are you into photography? Nudge nudge. Snap snap. Grin grin, wink wink, say no more?
Here is a transcript of a recent interview: http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode03.htm#9
- Norseman - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:36 am:
Sorry, I missed where Jerry Springer purchased the paper. When will they change the name to the Chicago Springer-Times
- Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:37 am:
Unfortunate that the same rag that has Novak and Fusco still out there battling the bad guys can stir in the trash.
- Rarely Posts - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:38 am:
Our company requires junior staff to share room son business travel in order to save costs, so I could believe there is nothing to the fact that Rutherford and his assistant shared a room on business travel. But when he takes extensive overseas vacations with the guy, and posts Facebook pictures, it does sort of you wonder.
- Rarely Posts - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:40 am:
“room son” = “rooms on”
- Mokenavince - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:43 am:
Why does this happen to Republicans? They have cornered the market on nut jobs. Rutherford should have never run if he knew this skeleton
was in his closet.
Sharing a room with your subordinates in never a
good idea, this ain’t collage.
- hisgirlfriday - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:50 am:
Chicago Blackhawks players Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp will be sharing a bedroom in Sochi for the next 2 weeks. Toews is unmarried. Will we be treated to similar innuendo about what the two of them do behind closed doors on the sports pages of the Sun-Times?
- Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:51 am:
==Sharing a room with your subordinates in never a
good idea, this ain’t collage.==
I have traveled on federal, state, and local funds. I have almost always been required to share a room. AND, sharing a room with a supervisor is common.
We are not in college, we are adults and fully in control of our actions. Plus, from a conservative standpoint, NOT sharing rooms would seem to fall in the category of wasteful government spending. Sheesh.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:54 am:
–Chicago Blackhawks players Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp will be sharing a bedroom in Sochi for the next 2 weeks.–
I hear those guys regularly shower together with a bunch of other dudes. At work.
- Chavez-respecting Obamist - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:55 am:
I *like* it that Rutherford is careful enough with state funds to share a room on the road.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:55 am:
I’m tempted to subscribe just so I can cancel my subscription over this crud.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:56 am:
===those guys regularly shower together with a bunch of other dudes. At work.===
And, get this, I hear it’s mandatory!
- Wally - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:56 am:
20+ years ago, worked in a small biz, and traveled to a consulting job in San Diego and a trade show in Chicago. Shared a room, mainly due to the cost, never gave 2 thoughts about it.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 12:04 pm:
The “shared hotel room” is not the issue; it’s just the device plant the gay innuendo.
If it wasn’t that, it would be something else. “Rutherford, a lifelong bachelor, regularly goes on vacation with his personal assistant, a man….”
See how I did that? Anyone can do it, it’s easy.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 12:12 pm:
Over the years, there have been many Illinois politicians who have enjoyed electoral success despite homophobic whispering campaigns as to their “real” sexuality.
I don’t ever recall a major media outlet joining up with an opponent’s campaign to engage in such prurient and hateful behavior.
Way to be a trailblazer, Sun-Times.
- Connect the dots - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 12:12 pm:
Dan has been well aware rumors about his sexuality have persisted for years. Therefore, it would make decent sense to minimize this type of innuendo or proposition by getting 2-rooms.
Seriously, everyone in Springfield calls it the “worst kept secret,” so why is it in poor form if he is asked the question after a direct allegation? Is it not relevant in a GOP Primary? I would suspect so.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 12:14 pm:
===so why is it in poor form if he is asked the question after a direct allegation?===
Um, I didn’t say it was. Ben was up front about it. Sun-Times was not.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 12:14 pm:
===those guys regularly shower together with a bunch of other dudes. At work.===
And, they’re male ice skaters. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. Know what I mean? Say no more…
- Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 12:20 pm:
==Seriously, everyone in Springfield calls it the “worst kept secret,” so why is it in poor form if he is asked the question after a direct allegation?==
It’s not the direct questions, it’s the innuendo that is objectionable.
==Is it not relevant in a GOP Primary? I would suspect so.==
Why? Is anyone asking about the other candidates’ sexual habits? These guys are running for Governor; how is it relevant?
- olddog - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 12:21 pm:
Not that it makes a lot of difference anymore, at least not at the Sun-Times, but here’s what the Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics has to say about this kind of innuendo:
“Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.”
And now we’ve sunk so low we do our “teases” in the body of a news story? It’s heartbreaking.
- Mittuns - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 12:22 pm:
At least they didn’t make any fluid leakage jokes…
(sorry)
- Wensicia - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 12:34 pm:
I guess the Sun-Times feels it can stay in business if they turn tabloid.
- Jeanne Dough - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 12:36 pm:
You would be hard pressed to find an Illinois educator who ever attended a conference without sharing a room with a supervisor, a co-worker, or even someone from another district. Actually, having only two people in a room was a luxury.
- Roadiepig - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 1:01 pm:
hisgirlfriday - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 11:50 am: comment of the thread, IMHO
- Connect the dots - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 12:12 pm:
==Seriously, everyone in Springfield calls it the “worst kept secret,” so why is it in poor form if he is asked the question after a direct allegation?==
Seriously, everyone in Springfield calls it the “worst kept secret, and even though Rutherford has flatly denied these allegations, the fact that many Republicans are homophobic gives us the right to continue to ask smarmy questions about his personal life and hotel sleeping arrangements ”
(with appolgies to Oswego Willy)- There. Better.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 1:08 pm:
The three-dash Anonymous can’t even seem to get Monty Python right.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 1:10 pm:
Mittuns, that wasn’t very nice.
- Jake From Elwood - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 1:24 pm:
Don’t get me started with all of these firemen bunking together every third night! Plus they wear a lot of bright yellow. Connect the dots!
- Challengerrt - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 1:24 pm:
Come on,I’m a woman and I’ve shared a hotel room with another woman, that does not mean we’re doing something, other than trying to save money. Ever hear of that? Isn’t that what a true public servant would try to do? Especially a treasurer.
- Stones - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 1:26 pm:
Hasn’t Ben Bradley’s question already been asked and answered by Rutherford. I don’t know if he’s lying or not but it seems to me that his flat out “No” response is a matter of record.
- Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 1:32 pm:
The issue is not the Sun-Times or Ben Bradley or press conferences or any of it. The issue is that Rutherford comes across as not being honest and forthcoming about the “elephant in the room.” That is the reason this story has traction.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 1:41 pm:
(Tips cap to - Roadiepig -)
To the Post,
If a news agency, (newspaper, TV, Blog…), wants to go at a story direct and in a way leaving no question to the intent of the story, when the story could be littered with inuneno and phrases taking you away to the real intent, then I am ok with that (Ben Bradley). Doesn’t mean for one second I like the idea that it may/may not be relevent, but at least its shooting stright.
The Sun Times has chosen to just be an arrow in the quiver of leading the “wink-wink, nod-nod” brigade, and then act oblivious to the fact ehy are doing it, or even worse, encouraging the writers and readers to partake in this.
Patheitic is too kind of a word.
Those at the Sun Times know “who they are” and the “journalists” who decide to put their name to it… congratulations, your name is not attached to this garbage.
- oyvah today - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 2:13 pm:
Mr. Harris should have come to his rescue…sort of a knight in shining armor. If you have needs…..well yeah.
- Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 2:22 pm:
==The issue is that Rutherford comes across as not being honest and forthcoming about the “elephant in the room.”==
Says who? Do you mean that he won’t come across as “honest” until he gives the answer some people think he should give based on the rumors they have heard?
- LisleMike - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 2:26 pm:
My dad spent a career in newspaper. Moline Dispatch and then in Capitol Press Room as remote for variety of newspapers across the state. He bemoaned the rise of the reporters who looked for the Pulitzer story only. Said it would taint the profession. He thought the job was supposed to be: question, be skeptical of answer, look for the flaw in their logic, redirect/repeat a question at a dodged answer. Report the truth, ugly or not. He would be sick with the journalism of today.
- shore - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 2:28 pm:
maybe things are different at the local level but at other levels of government grown men don’t share hotel rooms. It’s just not done. I get the show the taxpayers we’re thrifty bit, but like that debate on pat quinn spending money on pencils we pay tax dollars for a reason and if it’s a worthwhile trip the money gets spent.
I want to believe this stuff isn’t true because I was planning to vote for Rutherford but there’s too much there there with this and now it starts to feel like Jack Ryan circa 2004 when water kept pushing up against the dam and you could hear it and see small amounts coming through.
- haverford - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 2:49 pm:
==The issue is that Rutherford comes across as not being honest and forthcoming about the “elephant in the room.”==
So what has the guy got to do? Get caught in flagrante with a woman? Get straight married? What could possible ‘prove’ to us that he’s straight?
Leaving the Sun-Times aside because they keep proving they don’t have the maturity level to play, the problem with Ben’s question is that is seems to presuppose that these charges would be more understandable if Rutherford were gay. No one asks the offending party in an opposite sex harassment suit, ‘So tell me.. are you straight?” It plays into a tired and dated notion of gay men as hyper-sexual.
Rutherford’s sexuality shouldn’t enter into it - the charge is sexual harassment. Any gender, any sexuality can cross the line with a co-worker. A lady can even sexually harass another lady… even if she’s not a gay lady!
The elephant in the room is whether this constitutional officer used his power and position to sexually harass and intimate a subordinate - and all the rest of this from the Sun-Times to Ben to some stuff even in the comments here is just prurient titillation over ‘the gays’ - and, as wordslinger said, it’s beneath everyone.
- karma - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 2:57 pm:
I doubt any of the other male staff in that office share rooms other than interns at county fairs
- Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 3:10 pm:
==maybe things are different at the local level but at other levels of government grown men don’t share hotel rooms.==
==I doubt any of the other male staff in that office share rooms other than interns at county fairs ==
Yes, they do. Local, state, federal dime…typical to share rooms. Been there, done it. If you don’t like it, pay more taxes. The gov’t is a cheap boss.
Let me repeat. Slowly. Yes. They. Do. All levels of gov’t.
Supervisors not excluded unless there is an odd number of travelers, then the senior supervisor gets the lone single room. Otherwise, folks wanting their own room have to pay the difference. In my experience, and I have been traveling on gov’t $$$ for over 25 years, this is common.
- Upon Further Review - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 3:31 pm:
This episode made me flashback to when George Dunne was accused of “entertaining” two women employed by Cook County at his farm property in McHenry County. The collective response to their charges was a horse laugh. It has been so long ago, I cannot recall if there was any litigation, but Dunne did not suffer any consequences at all.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
- John Boch - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 3:43 pm:
Rich says, “This is the second time in a week that the Sun-Times has tried to get cutesy with the Rutherford story. It’s beneath them.”
No Rich. It *should* be beneath them, but it’s not. Not at all.
What does Mr. Rutherford’s sexual preference matter? Last time I checked, it wasn’t an issue for any politicians in Illinois who didn’t want to use it to their advantage.
John
- Phineas J. Whoopee - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 3:45 pm:
Upon Further Review,
Your kinda right about Dunne but he didn’t run for re-election after that. The horse laugh was that he was like 80 at the time and everybody just thought-more power to him
- Chicago Cynic - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 4:03 pm:
So Rich, is your primary beef with the Sun-Times that they keep beating around the bush and throwing out innuendo instead of confronting the issue head on like Ben did?
- DuPage Dave - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 6:50 pm:
For about a 10 year period the state agency I worked for required that staff share hotel rooms at conferences or training events. If you did not want to share a room you had to pay half the cost of the room on your own.
This was same gender room sharing mandated as a cost saving feature by a state agency. So its not something Rutherford invented.
I’d be interested in knowing if any other state staff had the same experience.
- Pensioner - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 7:16 pm:
To save money is absolute nonsense. I was a traveling state employee for 26 years and this was NEVER done. Nor could it be mandated. Who wanted to share a room with a fellow employee. NOBODY!
- Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 7:32 pm:
Pensioner: It may be nonsense to you, but it is the experience of many. When I worked for the state, it was mandated. We drew straws to see who would have to share a room with the guy who had sleep apnea and snored so loud you would be lucky to get to REM before being jarred awake.
- Soccertease - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 8:10 pm:
May just be me, but for the treasurer/director of a state agency to share a room is not very smart for a lot of reasons: The treasurer should have a tight schedule so the need to maximize his sleep is important; picking favorites/office politics, etc. For the rank and file it’s one thing but for the agency head (especially running for governor) it’s another.
- Wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 8:16 pm:
Once again, two separate issues here.
The sexual haraassment allegations are serious and need to be adjusicated
- Wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 8:24 pm:
Whoops.
Rutherford wasn’t going to win and now he’s really done.
The great issue for the rest of now is a governor wannabe dealing in hateful homophobia and the Sun- times doing his dirty work.
In Illinois. In 2014.
I’m sick about it.
- Pensioner - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 8:29 pm:
Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 7:32 pm:
90% of state employees are union. Not a requirement for anybody I knew of. I participated in union negotiations so exposed to all agencies. It was hinted at where I worked and they were informed not gonna happen. Bad enough you spend all day with your co workers, was not gonna happen all eve and night. Not.
- Classico - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 8:49 pm:
I would like someone to name another statewide constitutional officer who shares a hotel room with a subordinate 25 years their junior.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 10:06 pm:
–I would like someone to name another statewide constitutional officer who shares a hotel room with a subordinate 25 years their junior.–
So that’s the burning issue? Hotel rooms?
I’m going to go way out on a limb here and speculate that you, Rauner and the Sun-Times think the fact that Rutherford spent nights in a hotel room with another man, means he’s gay.
And that bothers you, Like it’s your business. You on the trail of the rest of closet gay dudes in public life?
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 10:08 pm:
Requiring sharing rooms with the same gender is based on the false premise that everyone is heterosexual. Would any employer expect opposite genders to share a hotel room?
- Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 10:17 pm:
Double bunking was never a requirement or even a suggestion in my time with the State. Old timers recall that it may date back to the Walker days. AA and colleagues often joked about sharing rooms in decent Chicago hotels back in the day instead of staying in the crappy joints we had to choose from (e.g. Bismarck.)
- Johninchicago - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 10:49 pm:
Ok, Rutherford has denided being gay to Windy City Times months ago and now ABC Chicago Ben Bradley has asked the same question and he has denied being gay… Yet no one has asked if he is bi-sexual which I believe is the shroud he is hiding under. Why hasn’t anyone asked? Rumors of Rutherford’s gay tendencies have been around since the 1970’s and I believe he is going to come out as bi-sexual to masquerade his being gay.
- Pot calling kettle - Wednesday, Feb 12, 14 @ 6:57 am:
Maybe someone needs to ask Dan and each of the other candidates for detailed descriptions of their sexual preferences. I’m not sure why it is relevant, but lots of folks seem more obsessed with sex than the budget.
- Robo - Wednesday, Feb 12, 14 @ 8:39 am:
Maybe more than seeing who wins, the public enjoys a good wreck. Like NASCAR fans, downstate folks should relate.
- Norseman - Wednesday, Feb 12, 14 @ 9:15 am:
AA - I cringe at the thought of the Bismarck. I hated those couch beds.
- Southsider - Wednesday, Feb 12, 14 @ 9:33 am:
I guess the Tribune is in bed with Sun-Times…or maybe they are just sharing a hotel room?
- Southsider - Wednesday, Feb 12, 14 @ 9:34 am:
I guess the Tribune is in bed with Sun-Times…or maybe they are just sharing a hotel room? Bad judgement on the Treasurers part either way.
- Pensioner - Wednesday, Feb 12, 14 @ 10:09 am:
wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 11, 14 @ 10:06 pm: Word being gay matters if they are closeted republican, cloaked in “family values”, and as a party vote against LGBT civil rights. Hypocrisy is always noteworthy.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Feb 12, 14 @ 10:11 am:
Who is closeted?
Innuendo is pathetic.
- Pensioner - Wednesday, Feb 12, 14 @ 10:58 am:
The innuendo is not mine. It is the theme of the post. If he is gay or bi, what he does on his time is his business. But, re this topic his political affiliation does matter.