sharkansky fired for arrogance, sleaze

Ever wonder why Stefan Sharkansky got fired from The Stranger earlier this month? So did we...today we got the real story behind News Editor Josh Feit's nice-nice when he announced Sharkansky's demise Nov. 3.

In case you've forgotten who he was, (so many have) he's the blogger (Soundpolitics) who had his 15 minutes during the post election brouhaha. He gained national MSM attention by "investigating" the county elections department and dribbling out plausible-sounding revelations, some of which were factual.

His often fallacious blogs got him on Fox News and local media loved him too. He was a fixture on KVI and KTTH with John Carlson, Kirby Wilbur, and Mike Siegel during the long months of the recount and the Republicans' made-for-TV lawsuit challenging Gregoire's election.

(If you read it on Soundpolitics, politicos joked, you'd read it next day in the Seattle Times. Even the ultra-left, bad-boy, The Stranger gave him a column, even though he was a doctrinaire Republican. County Chair Chris Vance used to write in to Soundpolitics' comment pages and Stefan would regularly appear on Republican Radio (KVI Sat.,3-5p). Those were the days...)

This came to a halt, we're told by someone inside The Stranger, when Sharkansky attended a pair of press conferences wearing a different hat to each. The pressers were in reaction to a news story he wrote for The Stranger on "fatal pends," incomplete ballots he said were illegally counted by King Co Elections.

According to our source, Sharkansky attended the Republicans' press conference first, where he was hailed as a hero; invited to stand up in front, got the "googly eyes from Kathy Lambert" (not that hard to get, actually, if you're of the male species) and perhaps even spoke to them. Then shoving his Republican political operative hat back in his pocket, he donned his journalist hat, (made with duct tape and Superglue on PhotoShop, no doubt) and as a Stranger reporter, went to the Elections Department presser, where he presumably asked searing questions ala Mike Wallace.

That a reporter would stand as a party operative, and then be a reporter on the same afternoon would embarrass any news organization. Feit was not amused to say the least, according to our source. He decided then and there to kick him off paper after the election.

Besides his overreaching arrogance, Sharkansky has proved to be a one-trick pony. If you read his blog, (so many don't) he's still prattling on about ballots and voting peculiarities. (check out today's riveting "photo essay of frightening mail ballots ") even though the world has moved on.

It's been fascinating to watch Sharkansky spin out into irrelevance after his meteoric rise and dazzling crescendo. An interesting comparison is his arch-rival David Goldstein whose blog, Horse's Ass.org built slowly and has gained a more stable readership. Goldy was instrumental in bringing down the candidacy of the Dave Irons, the ne'er-do-well challenger to County Exec Ron Sims in this month's election. His exposes of Irons' family feuds and rageful temper (which included his own mother's polygraphed account of him hitting her) put the frosting on the coffin.

Goldstein has more to say on many more issues and he has a sense of humor. Doggedness seemed to be Stefan's long suit and now he just seems stuck.

Comments

[Unkl Witz]

While doggedness may be Stephan's long suit, accuracy and effectiveness are not. He and his blog site have long ago slipped into irrelevance as he continues to harp on the daily minutia of ballot counting.

[certsmouth+l]

your journalistic licks couldn't wipe Stefan's ass. Goldstein and Sims stooped to last-minute smear tactics to defeat Dave Irons who was the only hope to clean up this corrupt county. you oughta be ashamed of yourself.

[Physicist]

According to Truth Laid Bear's traffic ratings, Sound Politics currently gets 5000 visits/day, while Horsesass gets 1900 visits/day. Both are tiny -- the big blogs get a couple hundred thousand visits a day. But the notion that Horsesass has "a more stable readership" isn't supported unless "stable" is somehow another word for "smaller."

[Lazy Murrow]

Sound Politics used to be a cute little tyke, but tried to jump into maturity a bit too soon. They suckled up on losers like Rossi, I-912, and any other dry tit the Washington GOP threw their way, but continued to pretend like they were still the coolest kids around.

Oh well, it's fun to watch them chatter away at the children's table of local politics while the adults talk about real issues. Pat 'em on the head, it's where they belong. Aren't they adorable?

[Luigi Giovanni]

Savage and Feit also wear two hats and are as partisan as Sharkansky.

[Belltowner]

Luigi-

The difference is Savage and Feit are absolutely clear about their biases when they write in the Stranger. Sharkansky wasn't.

[Dan Savage]

This is total crap. Who are your sources? This "two hats" shit? It's the first I've heard of it. The nice-nice was the truth-truth. You're letting your hatred for Stefan cloud your judgment and your bias is the issue here, not Stefan's.

Christ, guys, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes an amicable parting of ways is just that. Believe me, if there were some big, dark, scary reason why we stopped running Sharkansky's column, I'd tell you about it.

We never regarded Stefan as a reporter. He's a participant, an activist, a blogger, and a columnist. We like printing stuff written by folks who have a stake in what they're writing about - Dominic Holden wrote up Hempfest for us last year.

Let it go, kids. We ran Stefan for a while, he had a nice run in print, and we parted on friendly terms. We plan on running pieces by Stefan in the future, so this "we fired him" stuff is just nonsense.

[PeakLimiter]

Too bad Michael and what's his face at HA don't have a quarter of the class and intelligence that Dan Savage has. He shows once again why even as a conservative, I have the utmost respect and admiration for him, his books, family and for a very successfully run business.

[sclub]

So, Dan, god forbid anybody who disagrees with your little clique of "reporters" stick around, right?

What's the Stranger an "alternative" to, anyway?

That doorknob licking incident spoke volumes about your true nature. Never seen a person more full of himself.

[windie]

"We didn’t cut Stefan for any reason other than a feeling that it was time to shake up the news section a bit. Plus, the election cycle was over, and we saw Stefan’s column as a meta commentary on the 2004 election and how it played into the 2005 election locally. With that election over, it was time to turn the space back over to regular Stranger stuff - stuff like Police Beat, which was getting cut a lot to make room for Stefan’s column.

Bottom line, we enjoyed having Stefan in the paper, and feel he contributed good stuff to the Stranger over the last year. He’s got a strong POV. We dug having him, and we remain fans of his blog, despite the beatings he gives us on a regular basis.

Judy Miller fucked her paper, fucked her editors, and fucked her readers. Stefan didn’t fuck The Stranger, our readers, or the editors here. Please don’t read anything into the timing of this. We’ve also welcomed Stefan to contribute pieces to The Stranger in the future. "

Does dan even read his own posts?

[randal]

i even agree with Stefan's POV sometimes, but he's such a BORING writer, i could rarely finish his column and never do more than scan his pathetic blog. The stranger published him simply because they like to be contrary and they knew it would stick it in the nose of the seattle MSM. He was so out of place with his republican talking points memos.