p2p news / p2pnet: US congressman Marty Meehan is re-writing history.

His own history.

His staff have been handling a little reality adjustment by editing his Wikipedia post, says the Lowell Sun.

They’ve, “wiped out references to his broken term-limits pledge as well as information about his huge campaign war chest,” says the story, going on:

” Matt Vogel, Meehan’s chief of staff, said he authorized an intern in July to replace existing Wikipedia content with a staff-written biography of the lawmaker.

“The change deleted a reference to Meehan’s campaign promise to surrender his seat after serving eight years, a pledge Meehan later eschewed. It also deleted a reference to the size of Meehan’s campaign account, the largest of any House member at $4.8 million, according to the latest data available from the Federal Election Commission.”

The changes to Meehan’s listing aren’t as “reprehensible” as, “inserting derogatory comments in someone else’s entry,” the Lowell Sun has Stephen Potts, former director of the federal Office of Government Ethics, “which establishes conduct standards for the executive branch,” saying, adding:

“But the sheer breadth of changes emanating from the House reflects an abuse of public time and equipment, said Potter, now chairman of the Ethics Resource Center. ‘That kind of usage, plus the fact that they’re changing one person’s material, is certainly wrong and ought to be at a minimum the focus of some disciplinary action,’ he said.”

Says the Wiki posting:

Campaign finance reform

Congressman Meehan is an advocate for campaign finance reform, and is one of the sponsors of the Shays-Meehan-McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.

[edit]

Financing

The Marty Meehan for Congress Committee fund is probably the largest campaign account of any House member at slightly over $4.8 million cash on hand as of his 15 October 2005 FEC filing[2]. In his 2004 Congressional race Meehan was able to raise $3,170,733 but only spent $459,977. His opponent Thomas Patrick Tierney raised and spent a little over $30,000 [3].

It adds:

On 18 July 2005, U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan’s staff made controversial changes to his Wikipedia article. These edits consisted of, among other things, removing verified facts that portrayed him in a bad light. On January 27, 2006, Matt Vogel, Meehan’s chief of staff, admitted to authorizing a replacement article on Meehan published on Wikipedia, with a staff-written biography.[2] This ran afoul of internal Wikipedia guidelines and possibly federal law.

(Thanks, JT)

Also See:
Lowell Sun - Rewriting history under the dome, January 27, 2006

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