The Tale of the Hidden Recording

Election Day is right around the corner, so Republican Joanie Mahoney and Democrat Bill Magnarelli, the candidates for the Onondaga County Executive, held a mediated debate at today's Thursday Morning Roundtable. I'm really glad I got to hear/see them debate because to be honest, I knew more about who is endorsing them than what their plans are. Some things you wouldn't know from my story, you probably know from Matt's. Matt discussed how the overall tone of the meeting was light and subdued. There were some minor mud-slinging comments (like when Magnarelli called one of Mahoney's comments "naive") but other than that, Magnarelli was really funny and put the whole room, including Mahoney, at ease. He cracked jokes about how she uses some of the same phrases over and over again, like "the best and the brightest" and "cool."

Some other things you wouldn't know from my story is that Mahoney arrived late to the debate. While she was arriving and settling in, my recorder already started picking up sound from Magnarelli and the mediator, Syracuse University Professor Grant Reeher. It wasn't until I played my tape back later that I realized Magnarelli was talking in a low whisper to Reeher about his thoughts on today's front page of The Post-Standard. He said didn't like it and asked, "But how they could be that far off?" with a somewhat defeated tone of voice. He then told Reeher that he wasn't going to change any of his plans for the rest of the election, not with only five days left. (The article said that Mahoney was ahead of Magnarelli by 22 percentage points based on phone calls The Post-Standard made to Onondaga locals.)

I couldn't believe I had accidentally caught all that on tape! I couldn't use it in my story because it was too muffled and was not meant for public hearing, but I'm sharing it with you anyway. Oh, how I love modern technology!