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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It’s somewhat known in D.C. journalism circles that TIME’s Ana Marie Cox simply adores Choire Sicha — because he, much more so than her former Gawker boss Nick Denton, worked tirelessly to help her find the Wonkette voice that ultimately launched her from obscurity (yes, it took a gay man to really make those ass fucking jokes work, kids — sorry to spoil the illusion), but that doesn’t explain why New York newspapers think Sicha has the authority to do election journalism. No, it wasn’t his recent lackluster coverage of the Barack Obama campaign that made us seriously question Sicha’s credentials, but, rather, his poorly-constructed, almost incomprehensible piece today on why single people should sleep with marrieds. His main point, that married people tend not to have time for their single friends is an old, tired one. It was boring when Carrie Bradshaw overplayed the topic years ago — now it’s just stale. Can’t single people have any fun by themselves? Why does Sicha fall so easily into the notion that marrieds are having such a great time changing diapers? His rambling diatribe ultimately comes off as jealously. Hell, if he wants to change diapers so badly, why doesn’t he just shack up with Denton and adopt a trendy foreign baby already? Yes, we’re calling Sicha a bore — and this exciting election season simply doesn’t need to be cumbered.

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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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Wonkette editor Ken Layne continues to take some amazing heat for firing Megan Carpentier, one of the most popular writers the site has seen since Ana Marie Cox left in 2006. Commenters have been outright rude to him on his own site (calling him “a sexist anti-gay pig” in one instance), and he’s received dozens of letters from readers expressing their outrage. In response to a query from one of Carpentier’s most ardent fans, Jason Cox, Layne wrote the following message:

Hello Jason,

There have been a half-dozen editors of Wonkette over its five years, plus scores of guest editors and contributors and fill-ins and try-outs and columnists and interns, etc. It’s just a website, part of a chain of websites employing a hundred-plus writers who come and go, myself included.

Megan was given the opportunity to say goodbye to Wonkette readers after her short stint as an associate editor, and exercised her own judgment in her farewell post. I certainly don’t speak for the company, but I can’t imagine a publisher using its own publications to provide continuous updates on a disgruntled ex-contractor.

Ken

Layne’s labeling Carpentier as “disgruntled” has not sat well with many who are still watching the admittedly insider-y media drama play out — especially with Carpentier herself, who says she is now “mad” and that she has tried to take the high road throughout.

“When I got tons of emails and comments asking why it happened, I contemplated what to say and how to say it, and went the high road, describing Ken as ‘not a dick’ and the decision as not motivated by sexism, Nick Denton or anything besides my ill-suitedness for the direction Ken wanted to take the site and even added that I agreed with his decision,” she shares on her personal blog. “When I was contacted for comment by HuffPo, the New York Times, Page 6 and BigHeadRob [Big Head DC was formerly published under that banner], I all but killed the story in every single instance when I could by saying that over and over again. I didn’t encourage my readers or supporters to engage in the boycott or drive up particular comment threads, suggested that people should simply do what they thought best and spent the vast majority of my time attempting to find a new job while continuing to do a little writing.”

Still, the Wonkette boycott has continued. The site’s numbers continue to slide. And many are questioning whether Layne made the appropriate decision. And why he made the decision he did. To date, he has not responded to requests for comment from Big Head DC.

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The first female Wonkette editor since Ana Marie Cox left Wonkette in 2006 has been unceremoniously let go from her position — and she’s hurt, claiming that her former bosses are “morons.” Meanwhile, some Big Head DC spies close to the situation claim that sexism may be involved.

Megan Carpentier, a D.C.-based lobbyist, recently left her lucrative lobbying position to write for Wonkette after anonymously freelancing for the site for several months. Along the way, she has burned several bridges (by her own admission) in the lobbying community, and she is not likely able to go back to that profession for work. In a plea on her personal Web site, she claims she needs to get drunk badly.

Many Wonkette commenters are outraged by her unexpected dismissal. They seem to agree with our earlier assessment that Carpentier had become the new soul of the site in her few months on the job. However, Gawker Media millionaire Nick Denton, in the midst of high-profile news stories alleging his blog empire has jumped the shark, apparently did not agree.

Behind the scenes, tongues are wagging that Gawker Media has become a hostile workplace for female employees. “If you’re not a gay man at Gawker, you’re screwed,” one former editor who asked to remain anonymous told us this morning. “And if you are a gay male at Gawker, you’re screwed, too. By Nick Denton’s penis. Literally.”

While Denton did not respond to our requests for comment on this matter, our tip box has been flooded with questions today asking whether we’d consider hiring Carpentier to write for Big Head DC. Honestly, she’s a good writer, but we definitely can’t afford to pay Denton dollars at this point. Still, we’d love to help her land on her feet — if our readers would like to see that happen. So, like the good people of South Carolina, it’s time for you to vote:

Earlier: Wonkette Editor Exits Gracelessly After Only Few Weeks; Gawker Empire Again In Shambles

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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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