For those of us who have been covering the Hispanic Caucus since the days when there were like 10 members and Esteban Torres was still in the House, way before Linda or Loretta or Joe were elected, it was with great interest to find out that a media outlet that didn’t even exist 5 minutes ago, is actually the one who discovered us.

Today we were notified very politely that we should give credit where credit is due:

Subject: Loretta Sanchez story
From: “Josephine Hearn”
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 16:24:40 -0500
To: [Redacted]

Hi all,

If you are working on a story about Loretta Sanchez and the CHC, please credit Politico.com for breaking the story.

Below I am including stories I have written over the past year on the CHC rift. They may be of use to you.

Thanks,
Josephine Hearn

In the email, she highlights her byline in red and Hispanic Caucus in red also and gives a list of stories she wrote for The Hill…

Well,

Querida Miss Josefina:

Even this blog, which only comments on the work that others do, and claims credit for nothing, was well aware of the Sánchez vs Baca affair way back when it happened last year.

You can find more on the issue here in the work done by real reporters, other than yourself in the archives of the Capitol Standard (November 06)

And a December story here in Hispanic Business

I have only included stories in English, because why bother with the ones in Spanish that you obviously cannot read.

I would also add, that you might send this email to Loretta herself, who apparently did not consult you before sending out her press release announcing her split from the Caucus.

We have posted the statement here in case you didn´t get it, (notice the date) and as a bonus we have added a picture of her non exclusive xmas card, which we also posted last year.

But querida Josefina, do not worry too much, you are not the first to make such a mistake, Christopher Columbus also thought he “discovered” us after we had been living in America for several thousand years and some people still think that Taco Bell is authentic Mexican food.

The full exchange…

Subject: Re: Loretta Sanchez story
From: “Patricia Guadalupe”
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 17:07:00 EST
To: “Josephine Hearn”

Hi Josephine,
Here are some stories that I have written about it, going back to November for The Capitol Standard (www.thecapitolstandard.com, which comes out every Monday) and Hispanic Business Magazine (daily on the web and monthly on newstands). There have been other stories about this in the Spanish-language press dating back to last fall.
Thanks,
Patricia Guadalupe

Subject: RE: Loretta Sanchez story
From: “Josephine Hearn”
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 17:35:28 -0500
To: “Patricia Guadalupe”

Hi Patricia,

I’m not saying I’m the only one writing on this topic. I’m just saying I’m the first to write on it and that in these three instances I broke the news. Nothing you’ve sent here seems to suggest otherwise. The LA Times and other papers have credited me on some of these and I appreciate it. But some outlets, especially La Opinion and AP, sometimes follow the story without credit. That may be their practice. I’m just putting my contributions out there.

Thanks,
Josie

Subject: Re: Loretta Sanchez story
From: “Patricia Guadalupe”
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 17:45:33 EST
To: “Josephine Hearn”, [Redacted]
CC: [Bruce Drake, Jim VandeHei, John Harris]

Hi Josephine,
The previous stories that we have done were done with our own sourcing and our own reporting, as you can see by the quotes in just the two stories I sent you, so I beg to differ that you were the first source to break this in previous ocassions.
You may want to recheck whomever is telling you La Opinión and others are not crediting you for yesterday, because it is credited and that here is highlighted for your convenience.
Patricia

Subject: RE: Loretta Sanchez story
From: “Josephine Hearn”
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 18:30:08 -0500
To: “Patricia Guadalupe”

You’re misunderstanding my point and then ccing my editors. This is becoming ridiculous. Have a good day.

Subject: Re: Loretta Sanchez story
From: “Patricia Guadalupe”
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 18:32:55 EST
To: “Josephine Hearn”
CC: [Bruce Drake, Jim VandeHei, John Harris]

It was ridiculous for you to start this in the first place. I am cc’ing your editors because you cannot make baseless accusations that question my work or the work of my colleagues in the Hispanic press who have been working on these stories since time immemorial before the mainstream “discovered”.
Have a great evening.

Even Wonkette does the Discovery of the Hispanic Caucus.

3 Responses to “The Politico Discovers the Hispanic Caucus”

1. Latino Blogger - Our voices, our people, our Latino netroots » BREAKING: Politicones.com discovers that Tequila is not made of cuervo says:

   February 9, 2007 at 1:02 pm

   [...] BREAKING: Politicones.com discovers that Tequila is not made of cuervo By dabloguiman The astute and enterprising journalists of Politicones.com today broke a fascinating story claiming for the first time that Tequila is not made of cuervo. [...]
2. Adventures of the Coconut Caucus - We put the PANIC in Hispanic » The Politico claims to own the Spanish language says:

   December 3, 2007 at 8:08 pm

   [...] The Politico claims to own the Spanish language By La bloguera Not content with taking stories that Hispanic journalists have already published and passing them off as exclusive, and THEN sending emails to Hispanic journalists asking to be credited with stories that EVEN this blog had already published… It seems that Politico now also claims the own the Spanish language….. [...]
3. Big Head DC » Politico Hammers People of Color — Again; Former Tom Delay Staffer Possibly Involved says:

   December 4, 2007 at 1:26 pm

   [...] “Not content with taking stories that Hispanic journalists have already published and passing them off as exclusive, and THEN sending e-mails to Hispanic journalists [who had already broken the stories]…it seems that The Politico now also claims they own the Spanish language…,” writes Patricia Guadalupe, executive editor of the Capitol Standard. [...]