Longtime A.P. Correspondent Ousted From Job in Vermont

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
March 22, 2006

The longtime chief correspondent for The Associated Press in Vermont has been forced out of his job, stunning the state's journalists and politicians.

Christopher Graff, 52, a writer who was in charge of The A.P.'s Vermont bureau in Montpelier, was told Monday he no longer had a job. The move came after he put a partisan column on the wire, and as the news agency is consolidating some of its bureaus across state lines.

Mr. Graff, a 27-year A.P. employee and host of "Vermont This Week" on Vermont Public Television for more than a decade, said he could not discuss the matter because he had signed a nondisclosure agreement. But speaking of news articles yesterday about his losing his job, he said, "It's a little like reading your obituary prematurely."

Jack Stokes, a spokesman for The A.P. in New York, confirmed that Mr. Graff was "no longer with the company" and said The A.P. did not discuss personnel issues.

Candace Page, a longtime reporter and former managing editor of The Burlington Free Press, said: "The phone lines were burning up around the state. He's certainly a solid journalist and I can't imagine why The A.P. would fire him."

Emerson Lynn, editor and publisher of The St. Albans Messenger, said one clue to Mr. Graff's departure might have been The A.P.'s having told him this month that it was inappropriate for him to have posted a column by Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, on the wire.

Mr. Lynn said that for the last two years, The A.P. had prepared a package of articles about Sunshine Week, in which media organizations advocate openness in government. Senator Leahy had written a column highly critical of the Bush administration on the matter for the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

The column said, for example, that "the foundations of our open government are under direct assault from the first White House in modern times that is openly hostile to the public's right to know."

On March 8, Mr. Graff posted Mr. Leahy's column on an advance wire that carries material that can be used at a later date. He had attached an editor's note saying Mr. Leahy "was asked by the American Society of Newspaper Editors for his thoughts on the status of the right to know for use in Sunshine Week, organized by media organizations and other groups to combat government secrecy and bring attention to the public's right to know."

The A.P. removed the column from the advance wire within an hour and advised newspapers not to run it.

Mr. Lynn said Mr. Graff called him and told him he had been criticized for posting a column that The A.P. said had compromised the integrity of the wire service.

Mr. Lynn said Mr. Graff was surprised because he had posted a similar column from Senator Leahy last year during Sunshine Week and had not heard any criticism and because Senator Leahy had held a hearing last year on the matter and Walter Mears, a former A.P. executive editor and vice president, had testified.

Mr. Mears was speaking in favor of a bill sponsored by Senators Leahy and John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, to force the government to respond more quickly to requests under the Freedom of Information Act. The bill is still pending.

Mr. Graff's departure from The A.P. comes as critics of all ideological stripes have been scrutinizing the media closely for signs of what they perceive as political bias. Mr. Graff's departure was first reported Monday on a blog of The Rutland Herald and The Times Argus.

The media in Vermont, one of the most liberal states in the country, came under particular assault from conservatives in 2000 when Vermont became the first state to consider same-sex civil unions.

Mr. Lynn said he and other journalists in the state were angry that The A.P. had refused to explain what had happened and were worried that Vermont was being left with weakened news reporting.

Letter Reveals Reason for Firing of Vermont AP Chief

By Joe Strupp

Published: May 03, 2006 12:10 PM ET

NEW YORK Former Associated Press Vermont bureau chief Chris Graff, whose firing for unannounced reasons in March sparked statewide protests from journalists and public officials, was terminated for distributing a column by Sen. Patrick Leahy that promoted open public records, according to his termination letter obtained by E&P today.

The letter, written by AP Northern New England Regional Bureau Chief Larry Laughlin, revealed that Graff, a 27-year veteran of the Vermont bureau, lost his job because he distributed the column, which was eventually pulled from the AP wire.

"This is to inform you that your employment at the Associated Press is terminated," the March 20 letter begins. "The AP has a proud tradition of speed, accuracy and impartiality that has made it the most trusted news gathering organization in the world. Your decision to allow an elected official's editorial comments to run unfettered on the wire March 8 compromised the integrity and impartiality of the AP's news report."

When Graff was fired, widespread speculation surfaced in Vermont that the Leahy column had been the reason. Neither Graff nor AP officials had previously commented on the cause. But Graff, who released the letter today, said the "elected official" cited in it refers to Leahy and his column. Many in Vermont news circles had been puzzled that the Leahy column would prompt a firing since a similar Leahy column on the same topic had been distributed by Graff's bureau a year earlier with no repercussions.

The termination letter, which was released by Graff as part of a severance agreement struck between AP and Graff last week, also notes an alleged misstep in 2003. That year, Graff allowed a staffer, David Gram, to write a chapter for a book on Howard Dean. The book, published by the nearby Times-Argus and Rutland Herald, included submissions from nine different reporters who had covered Dean in the past.

Laughlin's letter referred to that decision as "a failure in judgment," noting that he was "admonished" for allowing it at the time. "Both incidents could have been avoided by consulting with your supervisors, specifically me," Laughlin added. "When viewed either independently or in totality, these grave violations of the AP's policies, procedures and specific directives supply just and sufficient cause for the termination of your employment."

Graff said he could not comment on the letter, the reason for his termination or any other aspect of his severance as part of the agreement. But he said he had asked that he be allowed to release the letter to "answer some of those lingering questions" about his departure.

Laughlin and AP executive editor Kathleen Carroll could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday. Jack Stokes, an AP spokesman at its New York headquarters, declined comment.

Since his firing, Graff, who is married and the father of two grown children, has taken part-time positions with Vermont Public Radio and Vermont Public Television. "I am still talking to folks to sort out what I want to do next," Graff, 52, told E&P. "I have to see if we will stay in Vermont, if that is an option. It is going to be a several-months process."

UPDATE

In response, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) released the following statement this afternoon:

“If anything, this letter makes AP’s decision all the more difficult to accept and understand.

“Those of us in public life never agree with all the news coverage we receive. But within the two rough-and-tumble professions of public service and journalism, I have never heard anything but praise about Chris Graff for his professionalism and his evenhandedness, and he has earned that praise.

“The ironies of censoring discussion of the public’s right to know -- during Sunshine Week, to boot -- have already been noted by others.

“But it must also be noted that AP itself takes an advocacy position each year during Sunshine Week. AP bureaus across the country distribute and also produce materials in which these issues are examined. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that we recently held, a prominent AP witness testified – and forcefully -- in support of the public’s right to know and of the bipartisan FOIA reform bills that I have authored and introduced in the Senate with one of the Senate’s most conservative Republican members.

“Earlier this year the American Society of Newspaper Editors once again asked for my observations for Sunshine Week, which they distributed to every newspaper in the country. Making the incidental effort to ensure that Vermont’s editors were aware of this was, apparently, Chris Graff’s ‘mistake,’ in the view of his supervisor.

“The letter’s explanation is all the more amazing because the piece that I wrote and that Mr. Graff simply called to Vermont’s editors’ attention is all about the public’s right to know, calling on the government to be more open with the press and the public. Since Sunshine Week, and to this day, I still have not seen anyone venture forth with any column arguing otherwise, that the government these days is sharing too much information with the press and the public.”