Did the White House Randomly Credential a Right-Wing Blogger?

Steve Gutowski, reporter for Newsbusters and proprietor of the website TheCollegePolitico.com, got some good news in his email yesterday: (via email)

You have been granted credentials to cover President Obama’s arrival at Albany International Airport tomorrow, September 21st.

The strange part is, Gutowski says he not only never requested credentials to the event, he’s never even emailed the White House before. In order to be credentialed for a Presidential event, a Secret Service background check must be performed, which would seem to mean they either didn’t perform one in this case (a frightening prospect), or they did perform one without Gutowski’s knowledge (also frightening).

Gutowski is also the subject of legal hassles by Politico, who think Gutowski’s site may confuse their readers. Did it also confuse the White House?

A White House source told me that Gutowski’s name didn’t appear anywhere on the email, or on the Secret Service roster, so there was no way an unchecked journalist would have had access to the event. On the issue of Gutowski’s privacy, a further check revealed that another Newsbusters reporter, George “Rusty” Weiss, did request credentials, and put down a Newsbusters general email address as his secondary contact.

This might also explain some of the seemingly unexplainable emails that so enraged Fox News viewers last month. It turns out, if you give the White House an email address, that’s where they send your emails.

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