Irvin Commentary: Brewer rumor sheds light on ugly side of politics

PHOENIX - If we reported every rumor we hear in a busy campaign season, we’d have some pretty juicy stories.

Too bad most of them would be untrue.

For weeks now, we’ve been hearing Gov. Jan Brewer was suffering from some unnamed health problem that was limiting her schedule. The rumor was circulating among numerous reporters to be sure, but none would go with the story without something to substantiate it. That’s called responsible reporting, especially knowing the tendency of campaigns to float hearsay in order to derail their opponents.

And then, there was John Dougherty, the former New Times reporter and Democratic senate candidate who tweeted the rumor on October 7th, citing reliable sources. That Dougherty’s tweet actually became a story is an illustration of how rumors gain traction and also, the ugliness of politics.

So far, Dougherty hasn’t substantiated his claim and has ignored requests to back it up. But it didn’t matter. Reporters and talk radio were able to run with the information, citing Dougherty, thus qualifying the story as essentially unreliable. It gained “legs” as more joined the chorus, giving reporters an excuse to ask the Brewer campaign about it.

It’s a pretty simple ploy. When “everybody’s talking about it,” you suddenly have an excuse to report it, true or not. It should’ve ended there, with the campaign denying a reckless claim from a former journalist with a stated agenda. Instead, Brewer campaign manager Chuck Coughlin threw gasoline on the fire, suggesting in response that Brewer’s Democratic opponent Terry Goddard was gay.

Someday, Coughlin’s actions will become a case study for political strategists everywhere of how NOT to kill a story. Not only did Coughlin fail to kill it, but it forced the campaign to backpedal and mishandle the remarks even further. Brewer herself refused to apologize, even though the person who speaks for her actually said it. Instead, a different campaign spokesperson clarified that Goddard indeed was a heterosexual.

Huh?

For their part, the Brewer campaign did condemn the remarks. Coughlin, however, should’ve been fired – not just for the remarks themselves, but for his boneheaded mishandling of the media. Speaking for the campaign, on a story which should’ve never seen the light of day, he actually made it worse.

As of this writing, human rights groups are busy issuing condemnations of Coughlin’s remarks, and Goddard’s campaign quietly released a letter from his doctor saying Goddard had a physical less than a month ago and is in good health.

Will Goddard’s campaign pounce on this one? One could argue, they don’t need to, as at least one poll has Goddard pulling to within three points of Brewer as the race heads down to the wire. Then again, this is the ugly business of Arizona politics, and you never know where the next rumor will surface.