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Ben Domenech

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Ben Domenech
Born
Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Alma materCollege of William & Mary
OccupationPolitical commentator
WebsiteOfficial Homepage, Personal Blog

Ben Domenech is an American conservative writer and blogger who co-founded the RedState group blog.[1] He is also the managing editor for health care policy at The Heartland Institute and editor-in-chief of The City, and hosts a daily free market podcast, "Coffee and Markets", at BigGovernment.[2][3][4] In addition, he authors a subscription-based daily email focused on politics and economics called The Transom. In 2006, he was involved in a plagiarism controversy.[5] He is co-founder of the web magazine The Federalist.[6]

Career

Ben Domenech's career in punditry began as a teenager when he began a column, "Any Given Sunday," for National Review Online, in addition to his personal blog.[7] The NRO column recapped political talk shows on television. "If there was a Top 10 list of young Loudoun County people to watch, he'd be on it," a Washington Post reporter wrote in a Loudoun County regional section of the paper. "Domenech is a sharp writer with an obvious command of his national politics beat — especially considering that this is the first year he is eligible to vote".[8]

He attended the College of William and Mary between 1999 and 2002. After receiving a job offer from the US Department of Health and Human Services, he left William and Mary before his senior year. Domenech was the youngest political appointee of the George W. Bush administration. He worked as a speechwriter for Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. He has also worked as contributing editor for National Review Online; two years as the chief speechwriter for Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX); and an editor at Regnery Publishing, where he worked on books by Michelle Malkin, Ramesh Ponnuru, and Hugh Hewitt.[9]

In March, 2006, Domenech was named as a blogger for the Washington Post, where he would write from the conservative point of view. But only three days after his appointment, on March 21, 2006, Domenech resigned his position, when evidence surfaced that he had earlier plagiarized work that had originally appeared in the New Yorker, the Washington Post, the National Review, and other publications. The Post said it did not know about his plagiarism when the newspaper hired him. Jim Brady, the-then executive editor of Washingtonpost.com, said he would have fired Domenech had he not first offered to quit, because the allegations of plagiarism made it necessary to "sever the relationship." [10]

During the 2008 election, Domenech wrote numerous columns for Human Events.com[11] and for The Washington Times.[12][13][14][15] During the 2012 election, Domenech commented extensively on social and economic issues related to Occupy Wallstreet for the Heritage Foundation.[16][17] He also took part in the American Enterprise Institute's roundtable "Fusion or Fissures" regarding the future of American Conservatism.[18] After Mitt Romney's failed campaign in the 2012 presidential election, Domenech was called upon to discuss the Republican Party's failure to breach the "Digital Divide" for Commentary as well as the Heritage Foundation.[19][20]

As the managing editor of healthcare policy at the Heartland Institute, Ben Domenech has had the opportunity to contribute his voice to debates on the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[21] Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein responded, prompting a public debate between Domenech and Klein.[22][23]

Ben Domenech continues to post on RedState[24] and has a personal blog, "this is an adventure". His favorite baseball star is Nate McLouth because of his intro song. He has over 15 jerseys of the player.

Controversies

Domenech was hired by the Washington Post's online arm to write a blog providing "a daily mix of commentary, analysis and cultural criticism".[25] Media Matters for America criticized the choice, claiming that "[t]here [were], however, no progressive bloggers -- and no one left of center with the credentials of a political operative -- on washingtonpost.com to provide balance to Domenech."[26] Instapundit founder Glenn Reynolds told the New York Times that Domenech's appointment attracted anger "because he was a conservative and he was given real estate at The Washington Post" and this spurred bloggers to find "something they could use to get rid of him."[27]

"Red America" launched on March 21, 2006, but Domenech resigned three days later after only six posts, after other bloggers posted evidence that Domenech had plagiarized work from the Washington Post, The New Yorker, humorist P. J. O'Rourke, and several other writers. O'Rourke denied Domenech's claim that the humorist had granted permission to use his words, adding that he could not recall ever meeting the college student.[10] Editors for Domenech's college newspaper, The Flat Hat, denied allegations by Domenech that one instance of plagiarism was because the editors had "inserted a passage from the New Yorker in an article without his knowledge," saying that "Mr. Domenech's actions, if true, [were] deeply offensive."[28] On March 24, 2006, the editors of National Review confirmed on its blog The Corner[29] that Domenech appeared to have plagiarized for at least one article he had written for that publication. Washington Post online editor Jim Brady announced Domenech's resignation saying "[a]n investigation into these allegations [of plagiarism] was ongoing, and in the interim, Domenech has resigned, effective immediately."[30]

After initially denying the plagiarism allegations, Domenech apolgized, writing in a RedState post entitled "Contrition," that "[t]here is no excuse for this.... I hope that nothing I've done as a teenager or in my professional life will reflect badly on the movement and principles I believe in."[31]

More recently, Domenech was involved in a journalism scandal that resulted in the removal of his work from The Washington Examiner and the Huffington Post when it was disclosed that Domenech received $36,000 from Joshua Trevino, a conservative pundit and lobbyist, to write favorable opinion pieces about the government of Malaysia without disclosing the relationship. The payments came to light when Trevino registered as a foreign agent of the Malaysian government.[32]

After disclosure of the payments, The Washington Examiner and San Francisco Examiner, removed Domenech's post from its website and replaced it with an editors’ note saying that “the author of this item presented content for which, unbeknownst to us, and in violation of our standards, had received payment from a third party mentioned therein — a payment which he also failed to disclose.” The Washington Examiner owned the San Francisco Examiner at the time and content was shared.[32]

The Federalist

Main article: The_Federalist_(website)

In September 2013, Domenech launched a web magazine called The Federalist, covering politics, policy, and culture.[6][33]

See also

References

  1. ^ "About". Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  2. ^ "Coffee and Markets"
  3. ^ The City website, About
  4. ^ The City, Winter 2011, p. 2
  5. ^ Washington Post online Post.com Blogger Quits Amid Furor, Howard Kurtz. March 25, 2006. According to Kurtz, Jim Brady "said he would have dismissed Domenech if the former Bush administration aide and Republican Senate staffer had not offered to quit first".
  6. ^ a b Domenech, Ben (2013-09-18). "Introducing The Federalist". thefederalist.com. Retrieved 2014-09-26.
  7. ^ http://www.bendomenech.com
  8. ^ [1]"An Early Eye for Political Punditry: Teenager's Pointed Views Play in Conservative Circles" feature article (no byline shown on Web page), The Washington Post, Loudoun County Extra (local supplement section), May 7, 2000, first three paragraphs appear on "Free article preview" page at Washington Post Web site, accessed August 30, 2007.
  9. ^ Red America blog bio on Domenech The bio states "After 9/11, he abandoned the journalism field for a taxpayer-funded life and was sworn in as the youngest political appointee of President George W. Bush".
  10. ^ a b New York Times online, Washington Post Blogger Quits After Plagiarism Accusations, Julie Bosman, March 25, 2006. The Times article quotes O'Rourke as saying, "I wouldn't want to swear in a court of law that I never met the guy," adding "but I didn't give him permission to use my words under his byline, no".
  11. ^ Ben Domenech archive on Human Events
  12. ^ "Sacrificing For Freedom" The Washington Times
  13. ^ "Conservative Seeds of Destruction" The Washington Times
  14. ^ "Conservatives to Obamacons" The Washington Times
  15. ^ "Evolving Standards" The Washington Times
  16. ^ Bluey, Rob. "The Occupy Movement: A Post-Mortem?". Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  17. ^ Bluey, Rob. "Occupy Wall Street: Why Conservatives Shouldn't Ignore the Persuadables". Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  18. ^ "Fusion or fissures: The future of a conservative governing coalition". Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  19. ^ Domenech, Ben. "The GOP's Broken Machine". Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  20. ^ Bluey, Rob. "Overcoming the Digital Divide: What Conservatives Must Do to Win". Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  21. ^ "The Media's "Republicans Have No Obamacare Replacement Myth"". Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  22. ^ "The Republican plan for replacing Obamacare doesn't replace Obamacare". The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 April 2013."Unlike ObamaCare, the Republican Plan Will Work". Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  23. ^ "WonkTalk: Epic Health Wonk Smackdown edition, with Ben Domenech". The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  24. ^ http://www.redstate.com/stories/5
  25. ^ Blog on Washington Post
  26. ^ Media Matters for America Wash. Post starts Red America conservative blog. March 21, 2006.
  27. ^ New York Times online, Washington Post Blogger Quits After Plagiarism Accusations, Julie Bosman, March 25, 2006.
  28. ^ New York Times online
  29. ^ National Review confirms plagiarism
  30. ^ [2] Ben Domenech Resigns
  31. ^ Contrition
  32. ^ a b Gray, Rosie (1 March 2013). "Covert Malaysian Campaign Touched A Wide Range Of American Media". www.buzzfeed.com. Retrieved 4 March 2013."Editor's Note- The search for moderate Muslims". Washington Examiner. 1 March 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2013.Weinger, Mcckenzie (1 March 2013). "Joshua Trevino's Malay payday". www.politico.com. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
  33. ^ Brinker, Luke (2014-04-02). "Introducing The Federalist, A New Web Magazine For Anti-LGBT Conservatives". mediamatters.org (Blog). Media Matters for America. Retrieved 2014-09-27.

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