Washington Post reporter Paul Schwartzman wrote an article on how deeply Democratic D.C. was taking the Trump inauguration. He began:
At 6 on the morning after the election, Mindy Moretti, a writer and editor residing in the District, reserved a rental car that she intends to load with her mutt Maisey and an overnight bag to drive out of Washington just before Donald Trump is sworn in as president.
“They’re coming — it’s inevitable,” Moretti said of the new administration. “But that doesn’t mean I have to be here with the welcome wagon.”
The Post is hiding a little secret. It turns out that Mindy Moretti is the editor of a supposedly neutral website for political junkies called ElectionLine.org. The site announces it's "the nation's only nonpartisan, non-advocacy clearinghouse for election reform news and information."
Her Twitter page mentions her dog Maisey as well. The site's founder reports Moretti isn't merely a contributor to Electionline....she is Electionline:
Mindy joined the project right around Election Day 2005 and instantly became a valued part of the team: building the daily news roundup, writing newsletter stories and contributing to the other research work that seemed never-ending. She stayed with the project in 2007 when we moved under The Pew Charitable Trusts’ umbrella – and more significantly, came along when electionline left Pew in 2011 to operate at the University of Minnesota. At the beginning of 2014, she found funding from the Democracy Fund and has run the site pretty much by herself (with the occasional pitch-in from alums like me) ever since.
This isn't the first time Schwartzman has featured Moretti in a D.C. story. Back in August, it was a local story on decrepit playground equipment. It was the same subject (local parks) in 2009. They have friendly banter on Twitter about her Orioles fandom. And about airline hassles.
There's nothing wrong with quoting a buddy in a news story -- but it might explain why you would obscure that despite her hating Trump, she writes for a "nonpartisan" political website.
