This final post on the authors of FiredUp is highly speculative, but I'm confident I'm pretty close to the truth, seeing as I've read more of the FiredUp site than any sane person would ever want to. The truth is I'm not connected to high up's all over the state of Missouri, so I'm hopeful some of these posts will make it easier for reporters and other bloggers and yes even politicians to figure out who has been sniping at them from the shadows, and to react accordingly. I have not shared everything I have found, nor each reason for my conclusions, preferring to keep some things hidden to prove my conclusions should it be necessary. I've given you enough to do your own research, but also to show why I come to the conclusions I did.
I'll throw this out there. Any author at FiredUp who can prove they are an individual citizen who is not a member of or working closely with the Nixon or Carnahan administrations, or a paid staff member of the Missouri Democratic Party, can reach out to me in confidence, and I'll remove their information and print a retraction if I am wrong. All correspondence sent to me with the subject FiredUp Author will be treated as confidential, and it will not be seen by anyone but me. That's as true for tips as it is for clearing the fake name you use. I am an honest man, and keep my word.
Now on to the story. For logistics, remember each author can be found by typing in http://www.firedupmissouri.com/blog/(number).
Let's start with J. Carter, who is author number 150. J. Carter started writing in 2005, and stopped writing January 29th of this year. J. Carter has a lot to say about Jefferson City, and clearly works and lives there. With 175 posts, this was a major contributor to the FiredUp site over 3 1/2 years. So why did J.Carter stop? I don't know, but a Sherman Potter (16173 -one of the fake accounts in the 16,000 range we discussed yesterday) started writing January 30th, and what's interesting, is how similar the writing of Sherman Potter is to J.Carter. Compare the two in side by side windows and you start picking up a similarity in tone, linking, content, and most important, a weird formatting error probably caused by uploading a Microsoft word document into the blog software. This formatting issue is not present in current postings, but just about the time Carter stops and Potter starts, the formatting errors are identical. That's some coincidence! Was J.Carter worried about someone figuring out who they were? Did FiredUp create a new account to protect them? Potter has a scorching 133 posts since starting January 30th. Potter also has access to the FiredUp Flickr account and an annoying habit of hotlinking images shows someone with a lot to say but not enough internet savvy to hide his tracks. Potter is in cahoots with Sean Nicholson, and is definitely not some Missouri citizen looking to get active. There is more information on Carter which I am not currently publishing, yet.
Also added into that mix is Eddie M. 16410, who shares a special account number in the 16K's, but has only one post. The formatting error is present for that person too, but with only one post, it's hard to say if Eddie M is Sherman Potter, or perhaps a false start for...
Blunt Ed. This is a really strange one. You can't find Blunt Ed as an author the way you find other author's. Typing the name into the FiredUp Search bar yields nothing, but my super sleuthing skills unearthed him as 16581. 60 posts, starting February 20th, and all targeted at Roy Blunt (with a few elbows thrown at Ed Martin). Blunt Ed also hotlinks FiredUp Flickr images, which is unique to just a few of these folks. It's clear Blunt Ed is a plant, but it's doubtful it's Jeff Mazur or Jack Cardetti, because this author poured out 5 posts between July 27th and the 29th (when my first stories aired). This author was also the one who attacked Chad Livengood and Dave Catanese, in what appeared to be a very poorly timed attempt to manipulate the media considering my traffic showed quite a bit of buzz on my reporting of how FiredUp attacks journalists that don't reprint Democratic press releases just the way they're submitted. It's always fun to see political opponents make mistakes, but it's something special on the day you print an example of them doing it. My hope is this is Ryan Hobart, the new communications director for the MDP, as it would fit with his new role.
The final fake, or special author is Eleanor_Roosevelt 16309. Eleanor only has 19 posts, and she tends to focus on voter ID and election materials, which makes me think this is someone from the ProVote/ACORN/SEIU axis of evil. I'm not convinced it's a woman, but the writing is quite feminine. This blogger is not as sure of themselves, so it could be someone new. Possibly this is Julie Terbock in her dual role at ProVote/ACORN, but I hope for Robin Carnahan's sake that it's not Laura Egerdal, her Director of Communications, who has those deep ties to ACORN/ProVote, and who to this day hasn't told us if she completed her college degree, as listed in the posting for her position. Whoever this is, they're now tasked with a wrap-up, or a "catch-up" for the week, separate from what Sean does.
Two other older authors are Cole 850 (2005- March 15, 2009), and then one post July 8) and Jefferson Thomas 686 (2005 - current). I really worked on these two, and I lump them together because they seem to be written by the same person. The styles are the same, words they use are the same, and openings to blogposts are the same. Either this is the same person, or they attended a blog writing class together and sat at the same desk. Based on a feeling, I think this author is also the author for Thomas Charles 4125, who wrote from Feb 2007-December 2008. Thomas Charles had a lot of short, factual posts - exactly the kind of thing you dropped into a site to make it seem bigger, but without much analysis. The posting was heavy with documents, and the author used "we" a lot. Sometimes that just means a writer with an ego, but Thomas Charles also referred to "I" as well, and writers that use "we" tend to do it all the time. No, Thomas Charles was part of the inside crew, and so I think should be put in with these other two. Jefferson Thomas is someone in the state Capitol. They seem to be heavily invested in the Governor's office, or at least their postings are focused on Nixon and the transition to power.
And of course, while we're at it, we should mention that General Content, the general admin catchall I linked to Jeff Mazur, has gone back to posting only lists, and no longer "speaks" in first person attacking Peter Kinder. The profiles on Blogger have also been deleted, as has the related blog from Spoon and McR, but as I pointed out, I saved those files. What's fun is those accounts were deleted six hours after I posted my 2nd FiredUp post. Did you think I wouldn't notice when those links went dead?
Conclusion: FiredUp is believed to be a newsmagazine of sorts, a for-profit company neither owned nor controlled by a political party, a political committee, or a candidate. If this research is used correctly, it could be a roadmap to demonstrate how the Missouri Democratic Party in conjunction with government employees has been utilizing state resources, labor from activists groups, and perhaps even time and equipment from the party itself to coordinate a political message for the benefit of specific party candidates. The pdf I have from this search says FiredUp functions under a media exception, but only based on the information that was available at the time (Nov 2005). Specifically from that pdf.
For example, the Missouri Democratic Party cannot directly or indirectly set up a website, print "news" about Republican Party House and Senate candidates, and then finance the whole effort with unlimited contributions from individuals or prohibited corporate and labor money because it claims the website is entitled to the press exception.
Back in 2005, the site was run by Roy Temple and the FEC gave it a lot of leeway based on the growing internet impact, the newness of the site, and the proclaimed idea that it would not be an organ of the Democratic Party in Missouri, despite its strong ties. Since that time, and especially since February of 2009, the site has turned into an increasingly nasty and prolific site that runs every story a Democratic Communications Director could want. If it is proven that press reports are first sent to state reporters and then published on FiredUp if they are not picked up, then the conclusion is obvious that FiredUp is indeed controlled by a political party and possibly directly to internal staff of candidates involved in current campaigns. That assertion can be proven if reporters collaborate with me on emails and phone calls they've received from Democratic staff. I can track down those instances on FiredUp, and will not reveal the source until you publish.
I've done what I can. The information is there for you. If you believe as I do that current members of the Missouri government are continuing to use a partisan political blog to attack opponents, the path is clear. It's quite a scoop for any reporter who believes constant vigilance of those in government is a primary goal of journalists.
This blog is a private endeavor written by a Missouri citizen, and is not affiliated with and takes no money from any source other than a few GoogleAds on the side bar. What you've read in the five posts on FiredUp is information easily obtained through search engines and a review of the FiredUpMissouri.com site.
Comments