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Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper

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Too good to check

February 15, 2007 2:09 PM

Turns out the story about Rep. Keith Ellison, D-MN, calling the cops on Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo, as told by The Hill is a little bit more complex than first reported…

Ellison spokesman Rick Jauert says he's the one who was bothered by the smoke, which was "coming throught he walls." He called the House superintendent's office "since that's what you do when these issues arise," he says. "They connected me to the Capitol Hill police."

Ellison, Jauert says, did not know he was making that call, though he later went over to Tancredo's office to explain to them that he (Ellison) has asthma. "But by that time the call had been made and the officer had stopped by," Jauert says, who acknowldeges that he (Jauert) "handled it probably improperly" by not simply going over to Tancredo's office to ask personally if he would snuff out the offending stogie.

"Frankly I just returned from giving the eulogy at my uncle's funeral who died of lung cancer," Jauert says, "I'm not exactly high on second-hand smoke."

Apologies.

-- jpt

February 15, 2007 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (3)

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Jake: A pleasure to see a journalist acknowledge that his story had some holes in it and then go ahead and plug those holes. I'm still waiting for the mea culpas from across the media spectrum on the completely bogus Nancy Pelosi/Airplane scandal. Kudos to you.

Posted by: DKNY | Feb 15, 2007 3:26:18 PM

It just goes to show that there are two sides to every story. But I now wonder what kind of industrial-strength cigars those were that produced smoke which could seep through walls, and what kind of thin walls the Senate office buildings have that smoke could penetrate them so easily. Both questions need answers, Jake!

Posted by: chuck | Feb 15, 2007 2:49:57 PM

Actually, that's exactly how the story was first reported. You just forgot to include the last two paragraphs when copying The Hill's week old story.

Posted by: proud southern democrat | Feb 15, 2007 2:34:48 PM

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