Big media has been happily bashing both sides of the Dean-Trippi divide.
Sure, Howard Dean lost a string of primaries–but Dean must be a villain to replace Joe Trippi as his campaign director.
Sure, Trippi turned Dean’s campaign from a footnote into a frontpage story–but he must be a villain because his company got paid millions to place Dean’s ads.
Funny how Trippi’s alleged greed never makes Dean less of a villain for replacing him. Funny how Dean’s alleged ingratitude never makes Trippi less of a villain for getting paid for the work he did.
One side of the story, at last, speaks up for himself.
Joe Trippi just got his own blog, Change for America”.
In today’s post he tells the story big media doesn’t want you to hear.
I recently inquired about the contract and my compensation. It turns out it was a 7% contract. Meaning that if $7 million in TV was bought 93% went to TV stations to buy the time and 7% or $490,000 was paid to the firm in which I was a partner. My firm has 3 partners so my third or share comes to approximately $165,000. I will let the grassroots and donors of the campaign decide if that was too much compensation. $165,000 is a lot of money, but it is not the $7 million the media and those leveling the attacks want you to believe either….
My partner Steve McMahon had handled Governor Dean’s media for over 12 years. And Trippi McMahon & Squier were hired as the media firm long before I volunteered to run the campaign when not many would. This is important — because this fact means that as a 1/3 partner in my firm — I would have made the $165,000 in 2003 if I had gone golfing in Fiji for the entire year instead of going sleepless in Burlington….
I do not talk about the Dean campaign in the past tense. Because I still think Howard Dean can turn the race around. I have said it as loud as I can — that I am out of the campaign, but I am not out of the fight.
Thanks, Joe. We’re glad you’re still in the fight with the rest of us.