1) Hey BHDC, maybe you can do a new post about the threats and harassment that Free Republic and many other Web sites are getting over Larry Sinclair’s story: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2055994/posts

2) How Gawker Media screens its interns.

3) Any news on Leola McConnell? I hope she is alive and doing well. I believe her and find her “stories” to be credible. What is the latest on her? Where can I get a copy of her books if she had time to write them?

4) John Cusack to appear in Hustler: “Actor and producer John Cusack finally unleashes his outrage at the Bush Administration and their disastrous failures: ‘The right-wing uses the aesthetics of authoritarianism. American patriotism is the cover for what they do.” In the context of his most recent movie, War, Inc., a dark comedy that skewers the Iraq War and American capitalism and greed, Cusack discusses with Hustler the goals, motivations and stresses of writing and producing such a film. The controversial War, Inc. was an international success starring Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsley, Joan Cusack, Hilary Duff and Cusack himself. War, Inc. will be available on DVD October 14 at retailers nationwide.” Related: recent interview.

5) Seriously. You had DCist and Wonkette on the ropes and now you’re doing weekly posts about Larry fucking Sinclair? Are you going to relaunch the blog, or is it going to stay like this?

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Disgruntled politicos, envious bloggers, and rich Late Night Shots-ers, rejoice. Wonkette has been sold, and is no longer part of the stable of popular Gawker Media blogs. Gawker overlord Nick Denton has transfered ownership to current editor Ken Layne, citing low traffic and lacking advertising dollars as key reasons to unload. The site has been in upheaval for months now, experiencing a rotating menagerie of top editors and suspicious staff firings.

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And Big Head DC has obtained the resignation e-mail:

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: joshua stein <josh@gawker.com>
Date: Jan 30, 2008 9:10 AM
To: joshua stein [REDACTED]

Dear all,

After nearly two years of glorious service to Gawker Media LLC, I am returning to civilian life. As such, I shall be relinquishing my Gawker email address.

Please send all love letters, advice, hate mail, personal correspondence and massively lucrative writing assignments to [REDACTED]

I’m also reachable via IM at [REDACTED] and as always, by phone at [REDACTED].

Yours,

JDS

Earlier: Should Ken Layne Have Fired Megan Carpentier?

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Whom did Gawker Empire owner Nick Denton pay for this glowing review?

Enough about Hillary: How’d things work out in New Hampshire for D.C.’s other It Girl — yoga-teacher-by-day, celebrity-stalker-by-night Liz Glover? Some weeks ago, we told you about her charming habit of asking VIPs to pose with her for a picture snapped by her pink-and-green plastic Barbie Polaroid — a great conversation-starter, it seems, with New York and Los Angeles types, but somehow a skunk-at-the-garden-party moment for high-powered Washingtonians. (Tim Russert shrank from her in horror at a “Meet the Press” gala.)

But on assignment in the Granite State as a videorazza for the political blog Wonkette, Glover’s had much better luck with the same sort of folks who cold-shoulder her here, scoring cute pix with Bill Kristol, Chris Matthews and Sean Hannity. What gives?

“There are a lot of people around asking to have their pictures taken with them,” she told us. “Maybe they think I might be a voter.” You know, just one of those earnest heartland types toting a pink-and-green plastic Barbie Polaroid.

Glover, the owner of Bikram Yoga Capitol Hill, had less luck with the candidates, getting closeups only with Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul – the latter one of the most viewed items on Wonkette this week, for some reason.

Related: Juleanna Glover’s Embarrassing Baby Sister

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…which is kind of ironic, no:

Maybe those Gawker Empire editors are the old and senile ones — not Andy Rooney.

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With much fanfare, including a widely-circulated item in Page 6, John Clarke Jr. was poised only a few short weeks ago to become the next fabled editor of the snarky Wonkette blog. It was the same “dream” job that had led to a career at TIME for Ana Marie Cox, the first Wonkette (the one without a penis, we think) — and Clarke seemed quite ready to transform his past unsuccessful career in politics into a new political blogging career. 

But, as we confirmed via a subtle change on the Gawker Media blog’s masthead this morning, Clarke has parted ways with owner Nick Denton in record time. Even David Lat stayed at the blog longer in 2006 when he exited after a few months of reportedly very little pay and even less prestige.

The change is not exactly shocking, as Big Head DC recently noted (twice) that Clarke had started freelancing for Radar, a chief competitor to Denton’s blogs. Within days of those revelations, Clarke was out at Wonkette. That a second editor has left Denton to work for Radar (the first was Alex Balk) surely must be a stinging slap in Denton’s face, especially considering the mass quitting of three of his top editors at Gawker in December. Each of those editors took jabs on the Gawker blog about Denton’s poor management style in the weeks prior to their departures.

Interestingly, Ken Layne, who had run the Wonkette blog with Alex Pareene for a majority of 2006 and 2007 - and who was asked to leave the blog by Denton when Clarke signed up - has temporarily filled the open position. Pareene left to join Gawker’s NYC-focused blog soon after Big Head DC revealed his involvement in a Washington sex scandal.

As for Clarke, problems started soon into his tenure. A source close to the situation says Clarke didn’t realize the amount of posting he’d be expected to do, nor did he understand the extent of Denton’s desire for fresh and original scoops to be broken via the blog. Denton’s demands for scoops similar to mainstream media outlets have become much more intense as of late as some of his blogs, including Wonkette, have lost audience share and ad revenue to competing outlets such as Big Head DC.

Related: Our Xmas Present to Wonkette: Words of Wisdom

BHDC Continues to Dramatically Outpace Wonkette

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John Clarke Jr., editor of the snark-filled Wonkette Web site (according to its current masthead), has apparently developed some Deep Throat-like sources withing the Hillary Clinton campaign for president.

Writing for Wonkette competitor, Radar magazine, yesterday, Clarke reported that “a source close with” James Carville told him that the Democratic political guru plans to join Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Interestingly, the piece is titled “Radar Exclusive,” yet Big Head DC revealed the same information over sixteen days earlier. More interestingly, why is someone close to Hillary Clinton leaking information to a Wonkette editor? Also interesting: why is an editor on the Wonkette masthead currently freelancing for Radar when the owner of Wonkette, Nick Denton, and the owner of Radar, Maer Roshan, reportedly hate each other? Why didn’t Clarke’s regurgitated BHDC scoop appear on Wonkette instead of Radar?

We digress. Our original report on Carville follows:

Various campaign insiders are leaking to press outlets that Bill Clinton is peeved big time that campaign leaders for Hillary Clinton have allowed Barack Obama to take so many potshots at his wife without receiving a similarly negative response.

Several staff members may be fired and replaced, Big Head DC hears, with the likes of James Carville — someone who definitely knows how to play dirty politics. And a close Bill pal still.

Although Carville’s wife, Mary Matalin, is actively advising Fred Thompson’s GOP presidential campaign, Carville has rarely been involved in political campaigns as a principal adviser to a candidate since Clinton’s 1992 presidential victory.

Earlier: Does Nick Denton Know His Top Wonkette Editor Is Freelancing For Radar?

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Gawker empire owner Nick Denton has never much been fond of Maer Roshan’s Radar publication, so you just gotta wonder how he’s going to feel when he finds out that John Clarke Jr., the recently installed editor of Denton’s Wonkette, has taken to writing Washington-focused stories for Radar’s online column “Fresh Intelligence.” Alex Balk, a top editor at Denton’s flagship Gawker publication, recently left Denton to join Radar as its chief online editor. Is this a sign of Balk’s plans to poach more of Denton’s staffers in the coming days?

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“Did you hear the exciting news from the Congressional Budget Office?” asks exiting Gawker editor Choire Sicha today. “As the Times puts it: ‘The increase in incomes of the top 1 percent of Americans from 2003 to 2005 exceeded the total income of the poorest 20 percent of Americans.’”

He continues: “This time around, though, the rich have arranged this by taking jobs themselves that could go to the less rich, even though they are incapable of updating their personal blogs.”

And then he links to the news that his soon-to-be ex boss, Wonkette owner Nick Denton, is taking over at Gawker.

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In a developing story, Matt Drudge is reporting that Nick Denton can’t find anyone lead his Gawker flagship NYC media and gossip blog, so he’s tapped himself for the position. The Wonkette owner has been desperately trying to find a managing editor for the title since three of his top editors recently jumped ship, citing poor work conditions among other grievances. Speculators are speculating that Denton is worried about declining traffic, and he doesn’t trust anyone else at this point to implement his vision of a more newsy style at the multi-million snark enterprise.

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