A political columnist from President Obama’s hometown is blasting the GOP for using a "foreign" conference call center--the same company that the Obama campaign has also used for similar services.
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet criticized Republicans for using a Verizon conference call center, referring to it as "a company in the Philippines business."
Sweet failed to mention Obama’s frequent use of similar services. His reelection campaign has sent $4,900 to Verizon for wireless services since announcing his bid. Obama has also appointed Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg to his export council, which studies outsourcing as part of its mission. (Sweet added Seidenberg's appointment to her piece in an update.)
Obama also outsourced telemarketing operations to a call center in Manila, Philippines, spending $78,314.10 on the service—another fact Sweet left out of her column.
Sweet challenged Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus for saying Obama embraced "Chicago-style politics," asking him to define what he meant by that.
Sweet characterizes Chicago politics as "street brawls" in her Sun-Times bio, a statement that carries negative implications about the city’s politics.
Priebus responded that he used the term to mean a person "wheeling and dealing, promising one thing and doing another."
Sweet’s coverage of politics as an unbiased reporter has earned her a spot in the city’s Journalism Hall of Fame.