IFF: Never Planned Journo Outing

Wayne Hoffman, the head of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, says his group has never planned to research track whether — or how — reporters vote in the May 15 party primaries. On Wednesday, Hoffman took issue with an Idaho Press Club newsletter column written by Betsy Russell of the Spokane Spokesman-Review — and my subsequent Saturday column — which said that Hoffman had hinted at looking at reporters’ votes. Hoffman said he has said the voting information could be valuable “from a news organization transparency standpoint,” and could have informational value to readers. But he said his conservative but nonpartisan lobbying group has never planned to look for the data. “We don’t do primary election stuff,” Hoffman said in a voicemail/ Kevin Richert , Idaho Statesman. More here.

Thoughts?