Kevin Fischer’s a busy guy. He does a blog on FranklinNOW.com.He’s a guest host on WISN-AM 1130, filling in for Mark Bellingand Jay Weber.He’s one of the regular pundits for Milwaukee Public Television’s InterChange program.
And he’s a full-time Republican legislative aide.
That latter gig has drawn scrutiny to Fischer’s peripatetic media career. Our March Pressroom noted he was one of the bickering bloggers on Journal Communications’ MyCommunityNOW Web sites. Since then, his critics have turned up the heat on his role as an aide to state Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin).
Brookfield blogger Cindy Kilkennymade an open-records request for Fischer’s time sheets from the state to see whether he was blogging or commenting while on the taxpayers’ clock. Kilkenny says that while Fischer’s blog entries appear to have been posted on his off hours, she believes he has gone back into some of his comments to other blogs and changed the times of entries.
Fischer denies any wrongdoing. “Whenever I blog, it’s on my own personal time – usually on nights and weekends,” he says. Mindful of the 2001 caucus scandal that rocked the Capitol over the use of legislative aides for political campaign work, he adds, “I am very meticulous about when I’m on state time and when I’m not.”
Fischer blames the “nonstory” on a small group of people who don’t like his politics. “They were trying to not only silence me but get me in trouble with my livelihood. And I don’t take too kindly to that.” But while he singles out “lefty bloggers,” Kilkenny calls herself a conservative, and says she was motivated by Fischer’s penchant for bombastic insult. “People like Kevin Fischer give Republicans a really bad name,” she says.
Lazich insists she demands professionalism of her staff: “I don’t tolerate nastiness and name-calling.” But Fischer says he’s never been counseled about the content of his blog.
Fischer also denies preparing for his media appearances on state time (though there’s no way to prove or disprove this by checking his time sheets). He notes that he discloses his job as a legislative aide on all his broadcast appearances, and – after some pushback from critics – FranklinNOW.com has begun identifying him as such in his accompanying biography.
Yet, by the very nature of his work as a political operative, anything he writes or says is arguably in the interest of his boss. That’s the assertion of Michael Mathias,among the liberal bloggers who have also raised questions about Fischer’s many roles. Fischer’s job working for Lazich includes communications – for instance, helping with Lazich’s blog, which also runs on FranklinNOW.
“Can you really separate his work on behalf of her office or Republicans in the state senate that cleanly?” Mathias asks. “His job is to make sure his boss gets lots of great publicity and that she is well-positioned to win re-election. To what extent is [the JS]participating in that? I think that’s really troubling.” Indeed, the same question could be asked of Milwaukee Public Television and WISN.
Fischer really has no counterpart among Democrats – a government-paid insider who doubles as a news commentator. NOW’sonline editor, Mark Maley, says the Web site has an open-door policy: “Any Democrats/liberals who would like to present opposing views are welcome to start a NOWblog.” But would that solve the problem or compound it?
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Meanwhile, the man Fischer fills in for on occasion, Mark Belling, remains without a TV show of his own. Channel 58 dropped Belling’s Sunday morning panel discussion last summer. The WISN talker tells Pressroom that people working on his behalf made overtures to try to get the show back on the air, without success.
Belling says he enjoyed the program, but professes not to miss it. Still, given the way it reinforced his presence, it’s not surprising he’s open to its return.
A pending ownership change at WITI-TV Fox 6 could create an opening. But Sunday morning political chats aren’t big sellers. “The audiences are relatively small for all these programs,” says Jeff Fleming,director of public relations for Howl Fire, a new ad agency.
Belling rival Charlie Sykes (on whose TV show Fleming is a regular panelist) now has the Sunday morning field to himself locally – or did until WISN-TV Channel 12 hired retired WTMJ-TV Channel 4 anchor Mike Goushato do a Sunday morning interview show. But that wasn’t about making money; it was about building the Channel 12 brand as Milwaukee’s serious news station.
Former Belling panelist Mordecai Lee says the lack of local public affairs shows is “a sad commentary on the economics of American television, and of how weakly licensees feel the need to substantiate serving the public interest.” But Lee has a personal reason to see Belling return. “I’ve got six months worth of opinions all stored up, and nowhere to go.”
