It really goes without saying that holding important press conferences or releasing breaking news late Friday afternoon won’t win you any plaudits from the press. But if there was any questions I think this DDN story puts that to rest:
Who needs Hollywood when over at the Statehouse, we’ve already got the “5 O’Clock Follies,” produced by Gov. Ted Strickland?
Last Tuesday, Aug. 4, it actually was the 5:24 p.m. follies.
Previous shows started a little earlier in the afternoon and performances usually have been on Fridays.
Last week’s production came in the form of an e-mail.
It was 5:24 p.m. when notice showed up in the Dayton Daily News’ inbox that Strickland had accepted the resignation of Michael Dolan as chairman of the Ohio Lottery Commission.
This is the kind of news that Strickland, a Democrat, probably wanted to draw as little attention to as possible.
[...]
The e-mail was the finale of a “5 O’Clock Follies” trilogy involving video slots.
Strickland kicked things off when he used an afternoon press conference on Friday, June 19, announcing that he was abandoning his long-stated opposition to expanded gambling by proposing slots-at-the-tracks to help balance the budget.
He followed up with another Friday afternoon announcement July 10 that the governor and legislative leaders had reached agreement on the slots plan.
I am sure it is, as Amanda Wurst insists, just a coincidence that Strickland is releasing bad news late Friday. But it seems clear the media isn’t a fan.
