Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Dated June 30, 12:30 am.

Correction: In my "Fair and Balanced with Mark Brown," blog entry below, I state Rod McCulloch called in to Bruce DuMont's WLS "Beyond the Beltway," radio program on Sunday night [June 27, 2004] and had a somewhat dramatic exchange with guest and Jack Ryan senior adviser [and Leader President] Dan Proft. McCulloch indicated that he had been shown documents [which included some of the famous Jack Ryan sealed records] by someone who had had a professional relationship with Jack Ryan and who had signed a non-disclosure agreement with Jack Ryan as a part of his being given access to some of the sealed records.

I was mistaken in that Rod did not state on the DuMont show that the person who showed Rod the sealed documents had signed a non-disclosure agreement with Jack Ryan as a part of his being given access to some of the sealed records. What Rod said on the DuMont show was, "I was shown to them [the sealed documents] by people who were close to Jack at one point who had them, themselves." DuMont asked, "So, you were alleging that the information that you leaked to the media when you were working for another campaign originally came from someone who was with the Jack Ryan campaign." Rod responded, "Not with the Ryan campaign, someone who had professional ties to Jack at one point." I think Rod means, by professional ties, someone who knew Jack related to his responsibilities at Goldman Sachs, but I am not sure.

Rod, in his March, 04 written statement,writes, "...I was shown what I was told and believe to be records from Jack Ryan's divorce, that were obtained before the records were sealed."

I don't believe the above affects my blog, below, about the inaccuracies of Mark Brown's column or of Rod McCulloch's March, 2004 statement. However, it does let Archpundit off the hook. I give him the equivalent of a walk, so his batting average on this matter is 0, as in 0 for 0.

As to when the "records," were sealed, I think there is some confusion all around. I have not received the documents that were handed out at the press conference last week, and they may clarify this. A divorce dispute can be settled, but custody issues can continue and custody documents can continue to be created and sealed after the divorce is finalized. Or, alternatively, some custody records can be sealed and not others. Further, documents can be produced subject to a judicial protective order, which may restrict access to the documents to, say, parties, counsel and the Judge. People who receive such documents agree not to distribute or disseminate the documents or information contained in the documents to anyone who is not bound by the protective order agreement. People may refer to such docs as filed under seal, even though multiple copies are floating around. What happened here? I am not sure and at this point it may be moot.

What may not be moot is what was Rod trying to do when he released his "Statement," and was he working with, for or at the direction of others. We will leave that discussion for another day. However, facts relating to that issue could affect the selection of the Jack Ryan replacement.

Jeff Berkowitz, host and producer of "Public Affairs," can be reached at Public Affairs.