MediaWatch: June 1990
Table of Contents:
Revolving Door: ABC's Democratic Lobbyist
ABC's Democratic Lobbyist. After nearly 20 years with ABC, Eugene Cowan has retired from his position as Vice President in Washington. Cowan was a Deputy Assistant to President Nixon for congressional relations from 1969 to 1971. Cowan's been replaced by his deputy, Mark MacCarthy, Vice President for government affairs at Capital Cities/ABC. Before moving to ABC in 1988, MacCarthy worked for seven years as a professional staff member for the House Energy and Commerce Committee where he focused on communications policy for Chairman John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat.
Texas Ties. Glenn Smith, the Campaign Manager for Texas State Treasurer Ann Richards, the Democratic nominee for Governor, spent several years as a newspaper reporter before going into politics. Smith was a Houston Chronicle State House reporter until becoming Austin Bureau Chief for the Houston Post in 1985. Two years later, when Texas Lt. Governor Bill Hobby promoted Saralee Tiede from Press Secretary to Executive Assistant, Smith took the Press Secretary position. He stayed on the Democrat's payroll until joining the Richards campaign last year.
Tiede jumped to politics after working as a State House reporter for both the Fort Worth Star Telegram and Dallas Times Herald, a job she took after reporting from Washington for the Dallas Morning News.
Turning Through Turner. Nell Payne, Director of Government Affairs in D.C. for Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), parent company of CNN, has accepted a White House job: Special Assistant to the President for legislative affairs. Before jumping to TBS in 1987 she served as Chief Counsel to the Senate Budget Committee's Republican staff. Replacing Payne at TBS is Peggy Binzel, Legislative Director for U.S. Representative Jack Fields (R-TX) for the last five and a half years.
A Judicious Move. In the wake of an inquiry into who confirmed an embarrassing CBS News story about an investigation of Demoratic Whip Bill Gray, Attorney General Richard Thornburgh has reassigned some officials. David Runkel, a former Philadelphia Bulletin reporter who ran the public affairs department since 1987, has become Communications Director for the Justice Department. A Washington bureau reporter from 1980 to 1982, Runkel covered the State House and City Hall in the 1970s for the now defunct newspaper.
New to the Hill. Two new staffers for Democrats on Capitol Hill used to have media jobs. Jo-Anne Goldman, the new Deputy Press Secretary for Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), worked for the past year or so as a free-lance news writer and producer for CNN and National Public Radio, Roll Call recently reported....Brian Keane, who joined the office of U.S. Representative Les Aspin (D-WI) in April as a Legislative Assistant handling environmental and educational issues, spent the previous few months as a staff assistant in the CBS News Boston bureau.
