EchoDitto

First off, I'd like to commend you all for being open about what's happening and taking a step back rather than, say, immediately shoving Nicco out the door.

IMO, this shouldn't be a big issue. It's good to be up front about it -- explain the company's position and make it clear where the difference between the company and individual position is drawn.

That said, I'm well aware of the unfortunate tendency of the left to expose their closest allies to grueling, impossible purity tests. They don't care that their UPS gal/guy voted for Bush, supports the war, and wishes the FBI would do racial profiling -- hey, at least s/he's a Teamster -- but the *progressive* political tech company they hire can't have a single employee whose candidate of choice for a single (albeit, important) position doesn't meet the purity test? Is this really a big deal? How many consultants and contractors and services to political campaigns and orgs buy? Are they all run by vegan, bicycle-only ex-Deaniacs?

It's not about "purity." No firms do work for both Dems and Republicans. It's about maintaining the privacy of confidential communications.

And before you bring up the issue of Nicco-the-person vs. EchoDitto-the-company, let me pose this question: If Nicco were hired by McCain, and learned some substantive secrets about a Democratic campaign, how would he avoid telling the McCain people? And even if he didn't tell them anything, he would necessarily conform his actions based on his knowledge about the Dem campaign.

No matter how you slice this, your CEO just did damage to echoditto. By agreeing to follow his "heart" and support John McCain, Nicco has agreed to sacrifice his progressive principles. I am sure that there are many ways Nicco, echoditto and his close friends can parse his support of McCain, the reality is that John McCain stands as the republicans best chance to continue the policies of the Bush Administration. This is not a litmus test by the progressive community, but rather a choice that Nicco is making for himself where a "leave of absence" from his own company is just a first step in his effort to help elect a conservative republican president.

While it may be impossible to separate the intellectual property that Nicco will be taking with him in his effort to support McCain, ecchoditto can take corrective actions toward separating itself from beyond Nicco's leave of absense. Specifically, it is probably in the best interest of echoditto to begin some type of opposition research clearing house regarding John McCain. I would also recommend putting some teeth behind this effort including full-time headcount, possible Open Source of information, tracking of McCain PAC activities. Obviously these are all business decisions for echoditto, but I would guess that there are significant PR implications for your firm in the democratic and progressive community that could be alleviated by taking an active role as opposed to just hoping this blows over.

It's this simple: We're Democrats. Period. We expect media money to go to firms that do work for and in support of Democrats.

If your firm helps Republicans or if your management does so, expect to be jettisoned from any work with Democrats.

This whole notion of Republicans bemoaning how unfair we are to other Democrats is just a bunch of 'angry Democrat' spin.

Nicco ceased being a Democrat, at least on the national level when he announced he supports McCain. So it's quite reasonable for EchoDitto to say: Goodbye and good luck with your future endeavors. When we are in the market for supporting Rick Santorum and his party, do give us a call.

Hey Scott,

In the first place, the modern Democratic party is moderate to slightly right of center. Progressives are trying to alter this.

In the second place, explain what's happening to Lincoln Chaffee before you spew crap about leftist 'purity tests'. And what happened to Arlen Specter in 2004.

And explain to me how right of center rich white males managed to be duly nominated Dem presidential candidates for the last five presidential contests.

Harish, you should not tolerate paid GOP trolls on your site.

I have known Nicco since he worked with the Dean campaign and I was a volunteer. I have been a client of EchoDitto. I consider Nicco a friend and EchoDitto a firm that I respect. How Nicco and EchoDitto address his support of Sen. McCain is not a simple issue.

Individuals have a responsibility to think about whom they will support and then to show their support. Nicco has said that he supports John McCain. I applaud him for standing up for what he believes. Personally, I do not support Sen. McCain. I don’t see how people can. But that is politics and I hope there will be a vigorous debate.

Corporations have a responsibility to their stakeholders. They need to act in such away as to maintain profits, treat employees fairly and not alienate clients. Unfortunately, too many corporations do not act responsible in all these ways. Political campaigns have responsibilities to the candidates and their supporters. One responsibility is to find the best services, and using a firm that has a CEO supporting a candidate from an opposing party may not be in the best interest of the campaign.

I believe that Nicco and EchoDitto have acted responsibly in confronting the clash that has occurred. I applaud both, yet I still hope that someone can get Nicco to look beyond McCain’s work on campaign finance reform and question whether or not, in the big picture, Sen. McCain is someone that should lead our country.

Hi folks,

I'm sure the damage all this has done to the reputation of your company is probably clear to you by now, but just in case it isn't please take this into account: I never heard of your company or anyone associated with it before this, and I now have a decidedly negative opinion of you. I'm in no way a large player in politics, but I've been involved in a few things here and there and will be again in the future. And when it comes to finding a company to provide the services you provide, I'll probably look elsewhere.

This isn't a purity test, and anyone who claims that it is a) doesn't understand the current political environment, and b) does not have progressive goals in mind. McCain is not only a Republican, he is far, far from being a centrist. Except for a few high profile issues he is in fact extremely far to the right. Not wanting to work with a a firm whose CEO supports an extremely reactionary politician is not a purity test. Its a matter of holding people accountable for their acctions. Actions have consequences, you know, and one of the consequences of aligning yourself with a reactionary is that progressives are not going to want to give you their money.

You gotta can the traitor. And, yes: he is a traitor.

Deep confusion over private vs. public life?

Employment is traditionally in the realm of private life, while political opinions fall into the public realm.

Nicco's blog is public, and political, while the operations of Nicco's company are private and apolitical, even if the company has clients that operate in the political realm - it's really all about business.

Thus, forcing him to take a leave of absence, you've effectively demonstrated how you have it all bass ackwards.

You exile Nicco, you essentially destroy politics, and the distinction between public and private life, as it's really supposed to function.

McCain is pro-life and will continue the assault on the federal judiciary with more right-wing nutjobs. Today he said he would consider speaking at, where, Bob Jones University, or whatever that crazy wacko place is called. He must placate the Right Wing and he will do so, for 4 (8?) years.

Lose the idiot. For good. For good. For good.

Or follow that nobody's decision and do right-wing work.

i am pretty sure that no one who has ever met nicco would have referred to him as a "traitor" or an "idiot".

harish - i think you all have handled this extremely well, and as a former client, I wouldn't have any problem working with y'all again.

finally, for folks that are worried about nicco bringing "insider information" to the republicans, what is he going to do, rat out the open rates on the emails from the World Food Programme? Tell Red State the weekly unique visits to the Chris Bell site? At the very worst, he may have seen some polling on the 2006 races that y'all are working on - and that info will be next to useless for mccain in 2008. relax, people.

Can we move on now?

An individual of the company was let go after voicing a personal opinion on his personal blog that was not aligned with the company's ideals and political beliefs?

Wow. I don't assume this was an easy choice to make for EchoDitto, but I hope they truly realize they're not just losing a CEO here, but quite possibly very, very disappointed readers such as myself.

But here's something I'd like to know. Honestly, I don't mean to troll but I think it's related to this decision. According to a WHOIS search, the EchoDitto.com domain is registered under GoDaddy.com. GoDaddy's CEO, Bob Parsons, is notably pro-war, Republican, and in 2005 said in his blog that the interrogation practices at Gitmo may be "too weak."

So if EchoDitto is releasing employees that voice support for Republicans, why is the company itself giving business to this conversative company, GoDaddy?

>So if EchoDitto is releasing employees that voice support for >Republicans, why is the company itself giving business to >this conversative company, GoDaddy?

Easy enough to fix with Register.com or Network Solutions.

Spending money with companies that use those same dollars to defeat us is dumb and should be avoided as much as possible.

Not always avoidable (say The Simpsons & Rupert Murdoch) but you should at least be aware who you fund with your hard earned dollars.

Harish,

Perhaps those of you who know Nicco ought to present him with McCain's voting record. It's abysmal. He is a garden variety hard-right GOP tool.

Might be interesting to see Nicco's reaction to the truth....

I am a progressive who's worked my ass off along with the rest of you, we have battled long and hard to finally have a little power for the 2006 & 2008 elections... this comes after bitter battles against conservatives with bottomless pockets of cash to throw at us, we have watched good men be pummeled by the press. We were all in the trenches together working on the Dean campaign, that blood - sweat - and tears we shared was a bond and today that bond has been broken... and the sickest part, it's been broken for money... none of us are stupid enough to believe Nicco has changed his core values and now agrees with John McCains world view. It's as frustrating as having Hillary Clinton try to convince us that she actually believes the war in Iraq was a good idea. No, she's just not that stupid

There is no room on this train for traitors. Bury Niccos firm, isolate him from the blogisphere and offer those he has abandoned in his company employment elsewhere. We all thought we knew who McCain was when he ran against Bush... that "straight talk express McCain" was one I could imagine some progressives having sympathy for especially after Bush dragged him and his family through the dirt... but this "ass kissing", speaking at Bob Jones University Graduation, the "I stand with the president for this war", the "I do not regret my vote for this war" this "i think the president is doing a good job, the "no abortions" the "keep the vegetable woman alive", "the stay the course", no, this John McCain is not a man that anyone can trust.

the "straight talk express" has been turned into the "I want to be president so badly I'll sell my soul to get there Express". Bon Voyage Nicco.

News of Nicco's support for Sen. McCain's campaign shouldn't be intrepretted as an abrupt departure from his previously held views or fundamental philosophy. Nicco, like many of us, was receptive to the administration's early arguments about invading Iraq, he supports/supported the Unity 08 campaign, and he has long believed that neither party is sufficiently representative of his views. I think a lot of people feel similarly disaffected, particularly those of Nicco's generation.

The trouble -- at least in my view -- is that instead of working within the parties (as Dean is doing) to bring about change, too many idealistic and bright young people seem to be sympathetic to the purism of third parties and perfect candidates that seem fundamentally undemocratic, at least to me. Alternatively, because they perceive something artificial and too simple about parties' bright-line distinctions, they conclude, as Nicco has here, that parties are fundamentally unimportant and effectively interchangeable.

If there is a surprise for me in Nicco's announcement it is that he didn't anticipate that his support for McCain's campaign would violate Washington's rigourous observation of the distinction between parties. I would have expected that someone who was so intimately involved in a presidential campaign would have had a more keen appreciation of politics as a team sport.

A person's employment, like family, is in the realm of private life, while political opinions fall into the public realm.

Nicco's blog is public, and political, while the operations of EchoDitto as a company are apolitical, even if the company has clients that operate in the political realm - it's really all about business, no matter the client, as Michael Silberman can attest to.

Forcing Nicco to take a leave of absence, you've effectively demonstrated how you have it all bass ackwards.

You force out Nicco, you essentially void the proper political space.

This isn't about political purity, it's about making a real politic life impossible.

Wrap your head around that.

>You force out Nicco, you essentially void the proper >political space.

Horse dung.

However much Ralph Reed wants to write for the Advocate... well it's just not possible if he wants to run with his current crowd.

There's our team, and there's their team.

You play for one or the other and you can only switch teams once. Just ask Dick Morris. All this wailing by Republicans lamenting our poor choices on our behalf is to believed only by the stupid.

I second your post, Steve. Nicco is a very talented guy who definitely dances to the beat of his own drummer. I might not agree with his decision, but the notion that he's an idiot, a traitor or otherwise a bad person is ridicuolus.

Steve, I couldn't have said it better. All this traitor talk is just plain disturbing to me. It reminds me of an old episode of star trek, where you would get put in prison for having "violent" thoughts. It is the clearest indication of why the left is getting its ass kicked that I've ever seen.

Wake up people. Look around you. Our political system is broken. And it is not because of smart, dedicated people like Nicco Mele trying to come to terms with how to support a politician who he thinks has a lot of personal integrity.

It's because of the internal war-like mentality dividing this country into pieces.

If Nicco made one mistake here, it was underestimating the character assasination tendencies of the likes of Kos and the rest of you "traitor" wielding accusors who have one goal in mind – take the man down.

The left is notorious for it's canibalistic tendencies, and it hurts no one but us.

If our politics are not grounded in compassion, creative problem solving, looking at ways to unite instead of divide, and questioning before flaming (hello, everyone, he is NOT WORKING FOR MCCAIN), we will NEVER see the kind of change we want to see in this country, or in the world.

And as far as exposing all that sacred leftist intellectual property. "Relax, people" is the only appropriate response. If you all think these kinds of fear-based, FBI like tactics are actually what matters when it comes to turning this country around, we're really in trouble.

It starts with how we treat each other, build community, and build bridges where least expected.

Thank you Leda for a sane and sensible post -- I let this thread stew for a few days before returning to see the replies to my first comment and am glad you saved me the time of writing a reply.

I'm not saying that this wasn't something that potential and actual clients of Echoditto should be concerned about, but rather that it was wise to temper the knee-jerk reaction of pushing him out. All this "traitor" talk just shores up my point. Anyone who sees the reality of politics so black and white is deluded and dangerous.

>Anyone who sees the reality of politics so black and white is >deluded and dangerous.

And any Democrat who doesn't think the Republicans see things in just such black & white terms is being a fool.

We can be community minded and reach out a hand to those on the other side... right after we whip their behinds and retake the White House.

"And any Democrat who doesn't think the Republicans see things in just such black & white terms is being a fool."

So Democrats should act and think like Republicans? I think the demand of ultimate loyalty by the current administration's inner circle has been a great weakness, not a strength. Tolerating a diversity of opinion in government is crucial. Cliche for a reason: "nobody has a monopoly on the truth."

I'm not saying "yay McCain." I'm saying somebody who likes McCain may still be effective toward achieving progressive goals and electing progressive candidates.

like some here, i respect nicco for following his conscience even though I'm not a mccain fan.

others are asking how he could do something they view as traitorous.

actually, i think he's true blue as it gets. i think he could be the exact opposite of a traitor. here's why.

i think nicco is representing a new culture by being vocal, open, vulnerable, and saying his piece and letting the chips fall where the may. i think the old culture is all about image control, spin, calculated messages, rigid tribalism, exclusivity where nicco represents an ascending culture where authenticity, spontaneity, integrity, truth telling, inclusiveness, linked communities, and transparency rule.

this is a culture where you come as you are, some will love you, some won't - oh well. and if you lose your job because of this - oh well. if you're talented, you can get a new job or start a company if you have to. it's never been easier to do.

think of this, it takes too much energy to always be on, to always be thinking, "what will people think of me," especially when we've got some important stuff to do, you know like saving the world from the global warming that al gore invented with the internet, which al gore also invented. there isn't time for the old culture's plotting, egocentrism, neurosis and anxiety.

if you're a leader, it isn't about you anymore. it isn't about you outward image. the number one quality of a leader in the new culture is integrity. the number one skill is facilitation. find your essence and help individuals and organizations find their essence. it is wasteful to do otherwise. besides, there is no hiding who you are in this new culture anyway. you're gonna get called out, so you might as well come out.

from this perspective, nicco is acting completely consistent with the culture he represents and is actively creating. perhaps there should be no surprise that he is following his conscience, being open about his beliefs no matter how inconvenient.

so what i see on this discussion is a divide between two cultures. those who label nicco a traitor represent the old, those who applaud him for following his heart the new.

this divide evokes a huge cultural shift getting underway enabled by web 2.0, a set of technologies that nicco helped usher into prominence in the test bed of politics.

and i see the success of web 2.0 as a manifestation of how left out people feel in the real world. we live in these structures that we know are doomed, that exhaust us, that waste our human and other resources, and that we do not believe in but do not have much power to change or anywhere else to go, whereas you go on web 2.0 and geez, folks really want to hear what i have to say! i can actually be myself and have friends too! super neato!

anyway, web 2.0 seems like a giant habitrail right now, you know, game-like and trivial, but the cultural implications are HUGE. people's minds are being totally reoriented, totally reshaped down to the cellular level. the connections, the network, the new culture starts in the brain first and will be lived out in the world soon enough. web 2.0 is literally shifting the very ground that all of these doomed institutions we live in are built on.

this cultural shift will change politics forever, and is way more important in terms of influence on the course of events than what candidate nicco supports in '08.

so thanks nicco for help making this happen, you've helped give us all a bigger place to play, room to become ourselves, so it's fine with me if you do your thing even if ain't my thing.

The two party system is a "dead man walking" so backing someone from the right has increasingly less meaning. what I'm taken with is the individual he chosses to back.

Six years ago McCain looked like he might have character. Since that time he has spoken at Bob Jones University(which he vowed not to do) and has appeased the smae machine that disparaged him with precedent setting sliminess.

Imagine having the character to survive the Vietnamese torture camps and then cave on such points of honor.

Bizarre. I think McCain has taken a very sad turn, one that has left his personal honor behind him.

What about this...parties aside, warrants support?

Wow. First I'd like to commend EchoDitto for being so open and tackling this tempest head on. That's a solid sign of a healthy organization. I'm an EchoDitto client and author of a book, "ResoNation," that describes how to transform our current form of government from one that represents "Big Money" and special interests to one that represents We-the-People. I chose EchoDitto to build my Website based on its expertise in community building and on what I perceived to be a progressive-yet-nonpartisan mindset that is more concerned with what's good for America rather than what's good for a particular political party -- Dems included.

Nicco's mistake was not that he personally supports John McCain but rather that he did so knowing that it would be perceived as coming from EchoDitto. Ill-advised? Yes. Unforgivable or "traitorous? "Let he who is without sin (or dumb mistake) cast the first stone." Lay this one transgression alongside all the good that he and his team have done. All he needs to do is what Nixon, Clinton, and Bush did not do: 'fess up to having made a mistake and get back to work instead of denying or hiding in the Rose Garden like Jimmy Carter did.

Native American Indians have a saying: "No tree has branches so foolish as to fight among themselves." We Americans have a big job ahead of us: to remove those who are screwing up our country regardless of party affiliation. Let's focus on getting EchoDitto and Nicco back to work doing what they do best for all of us. How about a little, "Don't ask don't tell" sensibility? What Nicco or any of us do in the voting booth is our business.

I agree with every single comment posted above...You're a loyal traitor you liberal conservative backstabbing honest free thinking brainwashed loving bastard with a heart of black gold pond scum inspiring visionary old school political hack.

Blah blah blah

Rock on Nicco, I'll see you in Memphis...

Hey, this is a great website by the way. First time I've seen it, but now I'm hooked.