Another blogger with ties to John McCain has come to light, but the issues of disclosure in this second example seem to be of a different order of magnitude. 

John Balbach, a Michigan political professional and an employee of a firm currently under contract to McCain’s PAC Straight Talk America, wrote two posts on RedState.com touting the Arizona Senator and one criticizing the ethics of Rudy Giuliani, a likely rival of McCain’s in the 2008 Republican presidential primary. However, Balbach is not currently working for McCain’s PAC; he is working on other accounts for the firm, Strategic National Consulting. Balbach was previously employed by former U.S. Ambassador Ron Weiser, who is a veteran GOP fundraiser and currently finance chair of the Michigan Republican Party. 

“When I was employed by Ambassador Weiser, I assisted him in raising funds for numerous causes, candidates, and organizations including Dick DeVos, the state party, several local candidates as well as Straight Talk America,” Balbach said in an e-mailed statement. “Checking contribution information will also show that I made a personal contribution of $1000 to STA.” 

Craig Goldman, executive director of Straight Talk America and John Yob, the head of Strategic National Consulting concurred that Balbach’s duties do not currently include work on behalf on Senator McCain.  

“[Balbach] has no official role with the PAC and is not on our payroll,” Goldman said in an e-mail.  John Yob, the head of Strategic National Consulting confirmed that Balbach was an employee, that Balbach’s duties involved other accounts. 

Balbach’s postings on RedState came under scrutiny after other individuals posting on the site found a short biography on a press release released by the Senate campaign of Jerry Zandstra earlier this year. The release, announcing that Balbach had joined the campaign as a fundraiser, stated, “John Balbach has been Ambassador Ron Weiser’s key political staffer for the last six months and has helped raise money for Senator John McCain’s Straight Talk America, the Michigan Republican Party, and numerous other candidates across Michigan.” (Zandstra ended his campaign in May after the Board of State Canvassers ruled he didn't have enough valid signatures on his candidate petitions.) 

Balbach posted three diaries on RedState. To his credit, he did say in his first posting, dated July 13, “I have been a long time supporter of Senator McCain.” “I posted on Redstate.com using my real name fully knowing that people could search my background if they desired,” Balbach said. “I did this because I have nothing to hide. I write the articles I write because I believe in McCain and I support the positions he has taken on the critical issues currently facing our country.”

In the comments under that posting, a RedState poster, Taras Shevshenko, pointed to the Zandstra campaign release.

 

Balbach’s second post, the following day was about gay marriage amendment, and “why I believe Senator McCain's approach truly reflects conservative principles and values.”

 The third post, on July 19, focused on Rudy Giuliani, and linked to another blog that looked at Giuliani’s dealings with Ralph Reed and Bernard Kerik. “Do Rudy's relationships with questionable individuals reflect negatively on his judgment? After reading Matt's post, I think the answer is yes,” he wrote.

The first comment on the thread came from Red State managing editor Erick Erickson, who asked, “Aren’t you one of the guys who is on McCain's PAC's payroll?”

The open diary and comment format at Red State means that anyone can log in and post comments to their site; the site’s editors seemed to detect early on that Balbach had some tie to McCain. On July 15, the directors posted “a note to our readers” declaring, “we are increasingly sensitive to folks working for campaigns that come to RedState (again, you're most definitely welcome) to push your agenda without telling the community (or worse, actively misleading) about your affiliations.”

In the discussion underneath the post, one commenter noted, “It is ironic that there is a paid McCain person posting without disclosing their identity, isn't it?” Mike Krempasky, a senior editor at the site added the unnamed individual should “consider this their mulligan opportunity.” 

Balbach has not posted to RedState since; he said that a vacation and work preparing for today's Michigan primary election had kept him from posting again. 

Balbach’s case has some distinctions from that of Patrick Hynes, a consultant who posted several pro-McCain and anti-Romney items to his blog, AnkleBitingPundits, without disclosing his financial ties to the Arizona Senator’s PAC. One could argue that as a former employee of a figure who raised funds for McCain, and as an employee of a firm currently contracted to McCain, Balbach ought have disclosed that in his RedState posts. But as of now, there is no evidence of Straight Talk America money going directly to Balbach; in fact, the opposite is true – $1,000 went from Balbach to Straight Talk America. And once again, he did introduce himself to his readers at RedState as “a long time supporter of Senator McCain.” 

According to Straight Talk America’s filings with the FEC, the PAC has paid Strategic National Consulting $27,500 since the beginning of the year. John Yob has also been reimbursed several thousand dollars in travel expenses.