Last week I wrote an article for Human Events about schemin' Eamon Javers, Business Week's Washington correspondent. In the last few months, Javers has been trying to dig up dirt on conservative columnists. Not surprisingly, Javers had a few well-dressed skeletons in his closet. While at the now defunct Business Forward magazine, Javers was quite friendly to clients of Patton Boggs, one of DC's most prominent lobbying firms. Earlier this week Brian Hale with Patton Boggs' media department contacted me about the article. For the record, Hale said, "We're disappointed that we weren't initially contacted. Javers receives the same amount of attention as any other reporter that calls us." That may come as a surprise to those who weren't invited for a round of "18 holes of networking, schmoozing, and networking" at Bretton Woods golf course. Hale also stressed that Javers hasn't contacted Patton Boggs more than twice in the last 22 months, which isn't of much consequence since it doesn't fall within the time period of impropriety.
Hale seems to miss the point that this controversy isn't just about his lobbying firm. It's about the systematic destruction of conservative columnists and writers. It's outrageous that Business Week doesn’t hold its writers to one-tenth of the "journalistic integrity" it demands of conservative writers whose names it drags through the mud. Javers' charges against conservative writers are completely bogus whereas the connection between Javers and Patton Boggs is a hole-in-one.
