From a formatting standpoint, the fake press release that hit reporters inboxes at 11:40 p.m. on Tuesday claiming that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was withdrawing its endorsement of President Barack Obama looked pretty convincing. The premise? Not so much.
But it started a quick flurry of activity on the web, where a few reporters were taken in by the hoax email and others scrambled to verify or debunk what would have been a blockbuster story.
The email came from “Mark McCullough,” a familiar name to journalists on the SEIU press list. It appeared to have been sent from his email address, but it was only when you looked closely that you’d notice it was missing one “c.”
Mark McCullough — the real Mark McCullough — spent his evening telling reporters the press release was a hoax. “Someone is playing a prank and using my email address,” he told my TPM colleague Evan McMorris-Santoro.
By just after 1 a.m., the whole episode was over and the faux story definitively confirmed as a hoax.
“We stand by our endorsement of President Obama as part of a broader ’99 percent strategy’ to create good jobs now; and end devastating cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and other critical programs and to require everyone to pay their fair share in taxes to invest in our country,” the real Mark McCullough said in a statement. “Any reports to the contrary are simply false.”
Before that happened, but after it was pretty clear the initial press release was a ruse, I gave faux “Mark McCullough” a ring at his Google Voice number listed on the press release. The guy on the other end — whoever he really was — refused to drop the act.
“Basically, I said what needed to be said there, basically there was a backlash amongst our members, this is all on background, it was basically voiced internally that it was a little bit too soon to be endorsing Obama at this point in the game,” the man impersonating McCullough told me.
“He obviously hasn’t given us a whole lot of what we expected, so we’re trying to hold out, be a little difficult, and basically see if we can’t get him to represent the 99 percent more than he has been,” fake McCullough said.
I pressed “McCullough” to tell me who was behind the hoax and what their agenda was, but he wouldn’t bite.
“I’m verifying the legitimacy of this press release and I have a reporter here telling me it’s a hoax, so I’m not sure how to really proceed in this conversation,” fake McCullough told me.
Then pointed out that replying to the email address the press release was sent from gets you a bounce back from the server.
“Uh, did you have the dot in my name? You’re too busy typing to be listening huh? I hear you vigorously typing, this conversation is on background, correct?”
Sure, I said, on the condition he was an actual SEIU person.
“And this is an actual SEIU person,” fake McCullough said.
As the call wrapped up, I gave it one more try. “So you’re not going to drop the act?”
“Ryan, please. You’ve spent a lot of my time,” the man impersonating McCullough told me. “I will send you an email.”
And with that, fake McCullough was gone.
The full fake press release is reprinted below.
SEIU Withdraws 2012 Presidential Endorsement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Published 7:49 AM Eastern – Wednesday, December 7, 2011Mark McCullough, [redacted]
Working people deserve a candidate that represents their interests, not just Wall Street’s.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The 2.1 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU) voted last night to withdraw its endorsement of President Barack Obama for re-election in 2012.
The vote by SEIU’s Committee on Political Education (COPE) came after rank-and-file members of the nation’s fastest growing union expressed concerns it was much too early to be endorsing any candidate in the 2012 race. It does not mean SEIU is endorsing any of President Obama’s rivals.
“We remain hopeful that President Obama will do more than just talk about standing up for the interests of hard-working Americans,” said SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry. “Our members gave $60.7 million dollars to the Obama campaign in 2008 and fought hard for his election because we were promised change. We’re still waiting.”
“The Republican Party is in shambles because voters are tired of politicians putting the interests of Wall Street ahead of the working class,” added Henry. “President Obama still needs to show he is different.”
