Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.

Launched in May 2004, Media Matters for America put in place, for the first time, the means to systematically monitor a cross section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation — news or commentary that is not accurate, reliable, or credible and that forwards the conservative agenda — every day, in real time.

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To: Media Matters
From:  Gary Stein, Democratic candidate in NJ's                           2nd Congressional District.  31% of the vote.


No sour grapes here, I don't think?  Would like to go on the record however concerning local paper, The Press of Atlantic City.  I guess IT IS sour grapes!  They were in the tank for the Republican incumbent, and to be nice about it, I don't think they have a clue what they do.  On the other hand, if they do......shame, shame!!!

Forget the sparse coverage of the Democrat (me);  the two or three articles, always with half the space wasted mentioning I had no backing from Democratic Organization, the other half of article wasted listing the number of counties comprising the 2nd district....there are many counties...a waste of news space.  Don't those among us, who live down here know it?  Yes, it's a very large district.  Those that don't know it, probably DON'T VOTE (or read the paper)!!  And I'll put aside an article about me written over the summer, posted on-line briefly, the hard copy never published.  Parts of it were recycled later on....in October...they got my age wrong.  Why?  Because they didn't update my age.  I had a birthday over the summer.  Poor Gary....

Media Matters, just consider the coverage last week, FOUR DAYS BEFORE THE ELECTION!!!

  

                    "A third candidate in the 2nd district....Gary Stein, is a no-show....

Fact #1

The reporter showed up late and didn't hear it announced that I had a prior engagement- a one hour radio interview in the studio of conservative talk show host, Harry Hurley.  That hour was booked before I was invited to Chamber event.

#2

I spent an entire day, Friday, Oct. 29th,  begging, cajoling, pleading with the AC Press to make a correction.  Only after I talked with Catherine Boyce, wife of Peter, and she told me she'd made a tape of the event, and had my apologies, relayed to the guests- on tape- did the AC Press agree to make some kind of correction.

#3

The reporter wrote Friday's story as if LoBiondo and Boyce were the only guest speakers at Chamber event, and worse, made it appear like they had a lively discussion.  At least a dozen other candidates, running for different elected offices, participated, and they were angry too at not being mentioned in the article at all.

#4

LoBiondo didn't show up, two weeks earlier, at an event- Millville First- where I was, and there was absolutely no coverage by AC Press, therefore nobody to say he wasn't there.  And I doubt Mr. LoBiondo  had precious radio time booked already like I would the next week.  At another event a few days later, a Cumberland County Chamber luncheon, LoBiondo, Boyce and myself had 5 minutes to make a speech, with no discussion allowed after-wards; and again, no coverage by the AC Press?!? 

#5

LoBiondo got an hour platform on Don Williams, Pinky Kravitz, Barbara Altman, Harry Hurley radio shows, and I don't know, maybe other shows as well.  I wasn't offered equal time.  I was cut off when I tried calling in during LoBiondo's hour on Don Williams and Barbara Altman.  I didn't complain.

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The Press of Atlantic City tries to make it up to me on Sunday.......

 

Incumbents LoBiondo, Adler go low-key in two very different races for House

By JULIET FLETCHER Statehouse Bureau | Posted: Saturday, October 30, 2010 (for Sunday's paper).

.....Democratic 2nd District candidate Gary Stein of Mullica Township, who is running a shoestring campaign, missed an opportunity to appear with LoBiondo at a candidates forum in Middle Township on Thursday. Stein said he had already committed to appear on a radio program at the same time.

“They asked first,” he said.

That left LoBiondo speaking directly to the small business owners of the Middle Township Chamber of Commerce. He told them big bailouts and stimulus programs had not boosted the economy or eased unemployment because they bypassed helping little companies.

“We keep hearing about ‘too big to fail,’” LoBiondo said. “There’s a new mantra in Washington: too small to succeed.”

On Saturday, Stein parked himself and a 1986 lima-bean-green Chevrolet Chevette with promotional decals at the intersection of the Black Horse Pike and Tilton Road in Egg Harbor Township.

Dressed in jeans, a brown sweatshirt and red hat, he sat alongside the road in a worn easy chair next to his car and cardboard-painted signs that read “Vote” and “Fed up? Let’s do something together.”

His intent was to get as much exposure as possible on a cold, windy but busy afternoon.

“I’m getting a lot of visibility here,” Stein said.

Many motorists glanced his direction as they passed by or stopped at the stoplight, and Stein said he received dozens of honks and waves. He felt the effort was productive and would consider repeating the tactic elsewhere prior to Tuesday.

“It’s crazy at the end not to give it a final push,” Stein said.

Meanwhile, LoBiondo made a late-morning stop at a barbecue fundraiser for the Landisville Volunteer Fire Company....

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Dear Media Matters,

Why no picture of the me, the 86 Chevette, the promotional decals and the homemade signs?  They sent a photographer who snapped at least 25 pictures in rapid succession!!!  Why the article at the bottom of the page???  Why????  The guy wins by 20 points every two years! Give a challenger a break for God's sake!!!

Finally, to my friends at Media Matters, I would be amiss if I didn't produce the few paragraphs further down Sunday's article, where the AC Press did kindly report  one  important aspect of the last few weeks of the campaign, what I call (with all due respect to Watergate) TROOPSURGE GATE.

 

For the record though,  while I was complaining to the AC Press how they got the "no-show" part of their Friday article wrong, I demanded to know why no coverage of my one and only press release, two days prior, about my explosive charge concerning LoBiondo's misrepresentation (to put it mildly) of his 2007 Troop Surge position in Congress, hereafter to be known in abbreviated form as SurgeGate.

 

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Sunday's AC Press continued.    ......Stein has spent his last days telling voters and interviewers that he believes LoBiondo has been inconsistent in his support for the military strategy in Iraq known as the surge. LoBiondo missed the vote on whether to authorize the surge, but Stein alleges that LoBiondo spoke before the vote and said he did not support Bush’s strategy.

In later debates, the congressman stated his support for the policy, which took effect in 2007.

“He flip-flopped,” Stein said.

In his House speech, LoBiondo said, “While I do not support the President’s latest strategy, I believe the American military should not serve as a referee in the sectarian conflict that has lasted for centuries. It is the responsibility of the Iraqi Government to take a stronger role to set benchmarks and not let the American military and our forces be caught in the middle. This resolution is silent in its requirements to the elected Iraqi Government and to the Iraqi people, and holding their own destiny in their hands.”

LoBiondo responded in a recent Press of Atlantic City editorial board meeting that his speech had been attacking the implications of the resolution, which he called “nonsubstantive” because it failed to include provisions for how the Iraqi army would play a part in the new strategy. He maintained that he had supported the decisions made by General David Petraeus and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

But voters notice that has been the only scuffle in the 2nd Congressional District. Atlantic County Republican committeeman Mark Hutchinson has watched how LoBiondo and Runyan have fared — and said Thursday he has felt the election gearing up in some counties, while already cooling down in others.

“LoBiondo has had an easy race,” Hutchinson said. But Runyan, on the other hand, had not.

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Below:  Only picture of me, w/car, decals, and homemade signs available to date.  Taken by cell phone, by stock boy from furniture store in background.  High resolution, professional shots available, call AC Press.




Link to Tuesday's Press Release, here.

p.s. to Juliet Fletcher.  I hold you blameless.  Froonjan and others, not.  Editorial dept., dumb, very dumb.  He broke his term limit promises you once praised him for making, he lied about his 2007 position (SurgeGate), he made a mockery of a 2008 debate with Dem. Dave Kurkowski- as a direct consequence; and he  didn't answer Project Vote Smart Questionnaire after you asked him to in an editorial.    Other than that he's great.  A Washington dinosaur that will bring home the bacon to the district.  Never mind 13 trillion worth of government debt.       


The End