Politico is defending its new CEO’s history of donating to Democratic candidates.
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Patrick Steel, who comes to Politico from FBR and Co., an investment firm based in the nation’s capital, has given an estimated $60,000 in the last 20 years to Democratic big shots, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Al Gore, according to OpenSecrets.org.
“It’s true, in addition to a successful career in finance, Patrick has extensive experience in politics and government and that breadth of knowledge is a huge plus for Politico,” a spokesman for the Virginia-based newsgroup told the Washington Examiner Tuesday.
The spokesman added, “Politico is an incredible global brand with a tremendous runway for growth—Patrick’s mission runs counter to ideology, it’s to apply his expertise to seize that opportunity and expand the reach of Politico’s journalism, products, and services.”
Steel has also donated to Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, the Media Research Center reported this week.
Image courtesy MRC:
Regarding the donations, there are a few points worth mentioning.
First, Steel has been upfront about the issue.
“I skew moderate politically,” he told the Wall Street Journal, which announced the hiring. “At the end of the day, I am a businessman and this administration has been very good for business so far.”
Second, the donations, which have disproportionately favored Democratic candidates, don’t exactly prove newsroom bias, especially considering they were made well before Steel was brought on as Politico’s new CEO.
Lastly, Steel isn’t the only person with a history of heavily tilted political activity in the Politico operation. Brad Dayspring, who spent more than a decade working for the Republican Party, currently serves as the news group’s vice president of communications.
However, given the nature of the heated debate surrounding “fake news,” as well as conservatives’ longstanding belief that media organizations are disproportionately staffed with Democratic sympathizers, it’ll be interesting to see how the decision by Politico to tap a Clinton and Obama donor as the new CEO shakes out in the long run.
Politico, for its part, maintained Tuesday that there’s no need to be concerned about the new hire. At the end of the day, they explained, Steel is just a businessman.
