Bieling Denies Being Source Of Hackney Beating Rumor

Earlier today in our Friday in the Sun column we included a section about the odd circumstances and political machinations resulting from the attack on political consultant Art Hackney earlier in the week.

That section read in part:

“I have been told by several sources that there is a whisper campaign underway from Ross Bieling himself to attempt to lay blame for the attack at the feet of Jennifer Johnston’s son Ross.”

In response to that passage and a phone discussion this afternoon,  Mr. Bieling sent TMS this statement.

“The Alaskansforbieling Campaign and principals reject any and all claims that it has knowledge of the names of any individuals that may have been associated with the recent attack upon Mr. Art Hackney, nor has the organization or it’s associates offered any names of potential suspects to any third party at any time.”

That is a pretty strong denial.

At this point, I need to come clean about something. The section of the Friday in the Sun column today that Mr. Bieling is upset about did not precisely reflect the information I intended to publish.

Mr. Bieling is not the only person to whom the rumor concerning Mr. Johnston’s involvement in Mr. Hackney’s attack has been widely attributed. The other individual is a prominent lobbyist in our state.

Early in the creation of the piece I chose to eliminate the names of those many are citing together as the sources of that whisper campaign. Yet, during the editing process Mr. Bieling’s name, and his alone, made it into the published text.

I want to make clear the text, as published is accurate, however, it did not reflect the precise scope and structure of the information I wished to present. For that oversight and the resulting imprecision, I take full responsibility.

As a result, I have edited the text to say:

“I have been told by several sources that there is a whisper campaign attempting to lay blame for the attack at the feet of Jennifer Johnston’s son Ross.”