It looks like more Republican staffers than Democrats have their fingers caught in the cookie jar known as the Wikipedia. At least that’s what this entry on the Wikipedia page shows for IP 143.231.249.141, which belongs to Information Systems, U.S. House of Representatives and which is cited for “a large amount of vandalism.” Rep. Marty Meehan (D-MA) was the first Congressman whose staff admitted cleaning up his Wikipedia entry–to remove an unflattering but true reference to his having broken a campaign pledge to step down after four terms–but he’s hardly the only one. In no particular order, Wikipedia lists these Members’ names and their reported infractions, along with several other politically-charged pages that were altered from House computers:
* Richard Pombo (Removing referenced to possible ties to Jack Abramoff and many other npov [neutral point of view] yet politically damaging items),
* Trent Lott (editing references to his rumored actions…)
* Phil Gramm (removing quotes I wouldn’t want anyone to see if I had to run for re-election),
* Rick Renzi (removing a section titled “Ethical Questions,”)
* Jim Ramstad (removing reference to his “moderate liberal” tendencies),
* Trent Franks (replacing article with official House bio),
* Darrell Issa (removing references to pro-palestinian actions),
* Talk:Jim Nussle (removing talk section titles ‘Republican conspiracy’),
* Jim Nussle (removing references to his divorce),
* Darrell Issa (removing quotes supporting Hezbollah),
* Rick Renzi (replacing article with official House bio),
* Rodney Frelinghuysen (removing information about financial contributions),
* Sam Johnson (removing unflattering quotes),
* Mark Green (removing references to ” unethical campaign finance practices”,references to his ties with Tom DeLay, and other unflattering details),
* David Dreier (removing unflattering information about his 2004 campaign),
* Jerry Weller (adding self promoting crap and removing questions of a conflict of interest),
* Podcasting (This past summer, the House Republican Conference, under Chairman Deborah Pryce, began PodCasting all their press events.),
* Bob Taft (removing ties to Abramoff),
* List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States,
* Ward Connerly (adding libelous comment),
* Ralph Neas (attempting to categorize him as “socialist”),
* MoveOn (changing liberal to “left-wing”),
* 2003 Invasion of Iraq (Suggesting a link between Iraq and al Qaeda),
* Eric Burns (political strategist) (blanking article),
* Randy Kuhl (removing scandal related information),
* Jim Sensenbrenner (removing information in “Controversy” section),
* Nancy Pelosi (entering libelous statements),
There’s also an even longer list of page edits from U.S. Senate IP addresses, here.
According to the Lowell Sun, which first broke this story in the old media, more than 1,000 changes to Wikipedia entries have been made by House staffers in the past six months. In November and December, the paper reports, “users of the House’s IP address were temporarily blocked from changing content because of violations described by the site as a ‘deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of the encyclopedia.'”
Lots more details here, on the “talk page” assigned by Wikipedia to the controversy. “Potential staffers involved” include people connected to Phil Crane, Jim Ramstad, Jose Serrano, Roy Blunt, Darrell Issa and Fred Upton.
Welcome to the new world of transparency, Congress! We’re here, we’re watching you, get used to it!
(Now, if only we could get the same level of transparency for when they stick riders on bills, earmark pork to contributors and intervene with regulators!)