Trash Talking and Astroturfing

There's nothing untoward about the Editor-in-Chief of the Maine College Republicans' official newspaper publicly taking a few swipes at Rep. Allen.

But there's also no reason for the Morning Sentinel to publish his cheapshots without making the writer's affiliation clear.

(More on astroturfing here.)

UPDATE: Okay, now this is getting interesting: It turns out that just yesterday the Sentinel published another pro-Collins letter without any affiliation listed--this one by Ralph Kettell. And would you believe he's also on the Maine College Republican State Committee? What are the chances?

I just spoke to Naomi Schalit, Opinion Editor of the Sentinel, who graciously explained that the editors "do our best to find out" the affiliation of letter writers. That said, she confirmed that the paper may have dropped the ball in this instance.

At the same time, she noted that if any affiliations had been listed on the letters, the paper would have printed them. And that she'd be happy to run a future letter drawing attention to Kettell and Roundtree's affiliations.

"This is going to be a long campaign," she lamented, wearily. Indeed, Ms. Schalit. Indeed.