Congressional Dems’ interest in Guckert/Gannon grows

An odd but inescapable reality to many political controversies is the need among reporters for the opposition to drive a story. Controversies are rarely seen as independently interesting; news outlets tend to care (or at least, care a lot more) when one side “pushes” a story by staying engaged.

In the Guckert/Gannon scandal, a lot of political reporters would probably move on to other matters unless Dems — at high levels, and in a formal way — stayed on top of the story. As such, this is encouraging.

Two leaders of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee want the federal prosecutor investigating the Valeria Plame case to subpoena a personal journal of controversial White House reporter James Guckert, following Editor & Publisher’s disclosure yesterday that Guckert claims he kept the journal for the past two years.

“It is clear that a primary obstacle to the … investigation is uncovering a precise chronology of when, and to whom, classified information was leaked,” Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), one of those seeking the subpoena, told E&P. “The revelation by Editor & Publisher that Mr. Guckert kept contemporaneous records of his ‘reporting’ activities could well be a major step forward in developing such a chronology.”

In addition, E&P has confirmed an report on The Raw Story that Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) is circulating a letter among his colleagues that asks President Bush to launch an investigation into how Guckert, who writes under the byline “Jeff Gannon,� gained access to White House press briefings over two years despite having no journalism background and using a false name.

Both letters are just the latest in a string of inquiries by congressional leaders, which have included a previous request by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) for documents related to Guckert’s continued White House access.

In the latest effort, Conyers and Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) sent a joint letter today to Patrick Fitzgerald, the prosecutor investigating who leaked the identity of Plame, a CIA agent, to several reporters. Guckert, who worked for GOPUSA.com and Talon News before resigning two weeks ago, interviewed Plame’s husband, Joseph Wilson, last year.

This is the way to keep a story alive. When lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol start raising a substantive fuss, it’s incumbent on journalists to follow-up.

On a related note, the Think Progress team has come up with a handy list of the five questions the White House needs to answer regarding this controversy.