Mr. Snyder offered up the following response via e-mail:
You write: “It was nice of Metro to provide this information to Snyder so he could put it out there for him” (I assume you meant “for them,” meaning “for Metro.”) The implication is that they spoon-fed this to me because they were confident, since I’m a PR shill for Metro and all, that I would report it in the most favorable way from their point of view.
What actually happened is that I reported, which is what reporters do. I knew that Metro’s response to the Buy America investigation (a story that I broke, by the way) was due by Friday. I asked them EVERY DAY last week to provide it to me as soon as it was ready. Friday afternoon they called me and said it had been sent to the FTA, and I went to their headquarters and picked up a copy of the letter and the supporting exhibits. I interviewed two Metro board members and got a statement from the FTA which I included in the story.
Thank you Mr. Snyder for filling us in on the leg-work that led to this information being printed. HCA appreciates the response.
Mea Culpa time: It's no secret that I'm no fan of Chronblog, but my displeasure typically lies with the members of the masthead, the decision-making editorial staff and opinion writers. I very seldom intend to write posts that reflect negatively on the reporter in question, not knowing the editorial decisions that led to any story appearing in the newspaper or on the site. After re-reading the original blog-post it was phrased in a manner that was more personal toward Mr. Snyder than I had originally intended. My beef is not with him, but with a newspaper who's entire editorial process regarding Metro is called into question by the presence of the oft-discussed 'rail memo', something I feel has never been adequately addressed by the editorial leadership at ChronBlog. (In fact, their response was the old "internal memo" cop-out).
For that I do apologize. And no, I'm not saying that just to avoid a libel suit. Mr. Snyder e-mailed me and the discussion surrounding the post was very professional. Whatever other disagreements we may have (and they are many) his interaction with me regarding my blog has always been professional.
As I've stated before: The purpose of HCA is to present my opinion on matters. If facts come up that prove my opinion wrong then I will gladly correct them rapidly and prominently in an open manner. Thank you to Mr. Snyder for providing additional detail which shed further light on this story.
