KOA Morning News anchors failed to fully ID economist, left his misleading attack on Udall unquestioned

Summary: In interviewing Barry Poulson, identified as a "CU-Boulder economics professor" and "one of 300 economists who supports John McCain's jobs plan," Colorado's Morning News co-anchors April Zesbaugh and Steffan Tubbs of Newsradio 850 KOA did not mention that Poulson is a senior fellow at the Independence Institute. Additionally, they allowed him to attribute exclusively to U.S. Rep. Mark Udall (D) a proposal "to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a bridge over I-70 for elk"; in fact, Sen. Wayne Allard (R) also backed the project and issued a press release taking credit for an earmark to conduct a study for it.

On the July 8 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's Colorado's Morning News, co-anchor April Zesbaugh identified guest Barry Poulson as a "CU-Boulder economics professor" and "one of 300 economists who supports John McCain's jobs plan," but omitted that Poulson is a self-proclaimed conservative economist and a senior fellow at the "free-market" Independence Institute. Zesbaugh and co-host Steffan Tubbs also allowed Poulson to state that U.S. Rep. Mark Udall (D) "wants to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for a bridge over I-70 for elk" without noting that Republican U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard also supported and even took credit for a federal earmark supporting the project.

Poulson's July 8 interview on Colorado's Morning News followed McCain's July 7 Denver campaign appearance. In a sidebar to a July 8 article about McCain's visit, the Rocky Mountain News reported that "[t]he McCain campaign invited three local economists to hear his talk on the economy, including Barry Poulson and Jane Lillydahl, professors at the University of Colorado," and quoted Poulson as remarking, "You've stumbled on the only two conservative economists at CU."

An Independence Institute senior fellow since 1996, Poulson most recently published on the organization's website a June 16 editorial on Colorado labor law. As Colorado Media Matters has noted, Colorado media outlets frequently disseminate the views of Independence Institute personnel without disclosing their ties to the organization and its ideological agenda.

In criticizing federal earmarks, which he called "the most wasteful type of spending," Poulson attributed exclusively to Udall, the Democratic candidate for the Senate seat Allard is vacating, a proposal "to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for a bridge over I-70 for elk." Zesbaugh and Tubbs did not note that, as The Wall Street Journal reported in December 2006, Allard issued a press release taking credit for an earmark to conduct a study for such a bridge, stating that the project would "make Vail Pass a safer place for both drivers and wildlife":

VAIL PASS, Colo. -- More than 10,000 feet up in the Rocky Mountains, planning is under way for a multimillion-dollar bridge that will be as wide as a football field and covered with grass and shrubs. Dirt berms along its edges will reduce noise and lights from vehicles whizzing below on Interstate 70.

The overpass isn't for cars or people. It's designed to help elk, coyote and other wildlife cross the four-lane highway over the Continental Divide without becoming roadkill.

Colorado Republican Sen. Wayne Allard and Democratic Rep. Mark Udall snagged the first chunk of funding for the bridge using a popular tactic for home-state projects: the congressional spending earmark. They got a stipulation tacked onto last year's federal transportation-spending bill directing $500,000 of federal money to the project, delighting the local environmental group that had championed it.

[...]

In November 2005, a provision was added to that year's $66 billion federal transportation-funding bill requiring $500,000 to be spent conducting a study on building the Colorado wildlife overpass. Mr. Allard took credit in a press release. The project, he said, would "make Vail Pass a safer place for both drivers and wildlife." [emphasis added]

From the July 8 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's Colorado's Morning News:

ZESBAUGH: CU-Boulder economics professor Barry Poulson is one of 300 economists who supports John McCain's jobs plan. He joins us live now to talk about why. Good morning.

POULSON: Good morning.

ZESBAUGH: Are tax cuts the cornerstone of this plan?

POULSON: Absolutely. I think what Senator McCain will do at the federal level is enact tax reforms that we successfully introduced here in Colorado. As you know, we've cut the personal income tax rate in half. And we've cut a variety of other taxes and fees. We broadened the base, introduced a more generous standard deduction and personal exemption. And in the process we've created one of the most competitive business climates in the country, and our economy has outgrown most other states. And that's basically what Senator McCain wants to do at the federal level. Basically, what he'll do is eliminate the ATM [alternative minimum tax]. He would give taxpayers the choice between the current complex personal income tax system and a simple flat-rate system with two rates. Most importantly, he would cut the corporate income tax rate to 25 percent. We now have one of the highest corporate income tax rates in the industrialized world. And I think that that's one of the most crucial parts of his platform -- to create a competitive environment for this country and competing with other industrialized countries. He would also introduce a more generous personal exemption. So I think he would create a more efficient and equitable tax system at the federal level just as we have here in Colorado, and promote economic growth and job creation in the process.

TUBBS: As you know, Obama supporters, on the flip side, say that's exactly what Obama would do, would be create jobs and that kind of thing. What do you say, though, to those Obama supporters who follow what the senator himself has said, that a vote for John McCain is basically giving President Bush a third term? Obviously you're coming at it from an economic perspective.

POULSON: Well, not only, I think, are his tax policies a very important direction the university, excuse me, the country should go at this point. I think that Senator McCain would also address the spending side, which certainly has not been addressed. And there again, Colorado is one of the most successful countries -- states in the country now. We limit the growth of state and local spending to inflation and population growth; we've learned how to balance the budget and use priority budgeting, and that's essentially what McCain would do at the federal level. He would first of all freeze non-defense spending and then, after a year, allow it to grow at roughly the rate of inflation. He would balance the budget, and in the process this would require an entirely different approach to federal budgeting similar to what we've been able to do in the states. And most importantly, he would eliminate a lot of these earmarks. And essentially, he says he will veto every single earmark and identify the legislator proposing that. And we certainly have that problem here in Colorado. You've heard of the "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska.

ZESBAUGH: Sure.

POULSON: In Colorado we have a bridge to nowhere and a bridge for no one, over there south of Glenwood Springs. One of the earmarks is to build a bridge that, on the other side of the bridge there's not even a road to connect it to. And then Mark Udall wants to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for a bridge over I-70 for elk. We already have 10 tunnels under I-70 for elk. And here's the most wasteful type of spending, simply to generate money for that district and to identify with some groups that would support that type of policy. What McCain is saying, that is a waste of money. We need to eliminate that type of earmark spending, and wasteful spending. We need to enact priority budgeting where we say, "These are the highest priorities for federal spending. Here's our budget constraint. Anything below that budget line, we can't afford."

ZESBAUGH: Mmm-hmm. McCain also repeating his call yesterday to build at least 45 new nuclear plants. He says that'll create over 700,000 jobs. Barry, unfortunately, we gotta run at that. But we'd love to have you back.

POULSON: OK.

ZESBAUGH : Barry Poulson is one of more than 300 economists supporting John McCain's Jobs for America plan.

—E.B. & J.F.B.