An excerpt from next week’s Independent:
State Senator Kevin Coughlin carried on a not-so-secret extra-marital affair with a young Republican named Andrea Wlaszyn at the same time his wife was pregnant with their little girl. He took her to Ohio State games using tickets purchased by his campaign. Their physical trysts occurred inside Wlaszyn’s bedroom at the Village Green apartments and their loud sex was overheard by the woman’s roommate, who relayed the story to me several months ago. The roommate requested to remain anonymous for two reasons; 1. Because she works with the movers-and-shakers of Akron and doesn’t want her name tarnished by her relationship to Coughlin’s mistress, and 2. Coughlin, she believes, threatened her with violence is she blabbed on-the-record.
Coughlin’s words to my source: “my friend told me that the only way to shut you up would be a bullet in the head.”
After the affair ended, Coughlin used his influence to help Wlaszyn land a job at the county engineer’s office for which she was under-qualified.
Is this news?
If it is, why is this the first time you’re reading it?
There’s a cliché about the newspaper business: news is like sausage; no one cares to know how it’s made.
It certainly is a disgusting business at times. I recently got the opportunity to see the worst, first-hand.
I reported on Coughlin’s affair for Cleveland Scene. When Coughlin discovered I had the goods, he had his lawyer, Ron Kopp, send threatening letters to Scene. Coughlin also sent letters to my sources, stating that if the article was ever published, he would sue me and force me to give up the names of the people who ratted him out; he had reason to be extra-concerned about his image—he had just announced plans to run for governor. Scene decided not to publish the piece. I complained. I was fired. I sued Coughlin and Scene. The story was published in its entirety at BloggerInterrupted.com Coughlin dropped out of the race and announced plans to retire from politics.
If you read the Beacon Journal last week, you might have noticed this headline: “Judge dismisses state senator as defendant in reporter’s case.” It appeared next to a picture of Coughlin smiling. Problem is, the headline wasn’t true. While my lawyer and I were in court with Scene the day that story was being reported, Coughlin contacted ABJ reporter Phil Trexler with his version of why he was no longer part of the lawsuit. He led Trexler to believe the judge dismissed him from the case because his inclusion was fraudulent.
In truth, I dismissed Coughlin from the suit because he had already given me everything I was after; though his lawyer, and in court filings, Coughlin admitted my story about his affair was not defamatory and that he had no intention of ever suing me. Kopp’s biggest concern in conversations with my attorney was whether we were going to depose his client and ask him questions about the affair under oath.
When the incorrect headline and the misleading story appeared in the Beacon, without comment from our side, we asked for a correction. Didn’t get one. Why? I wonder.
Coughlin always flaunted his relationship with the Beacon Journal. In his threatening letters to my sources, he let them know that he was represented by Kopp, who has “represented the Akron Beacon Journal for over a decade”. Here’s another fun connect-the-dots FYI about Kopp. Kopp works for Roetzel & Andress, the same firm who lobbies for pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly to the state senate’s Health, Human Services, and Aging committee. The chairman of that committee is…wait for it…Kevin Coughlin.
Now, I don’t believe Trexler is involved in some conspiracy between Coughlin, Eli Lilly, Kopp, and the Reptilian Agenda. Trexler is this city’s best crime reporter in a decade. He’s a good man. I trust him.
But did Coughlin use an opportunity to spin his dismissal and pull the wool over Trexler’s eyes for a moment? I think the sleazy dude did. Did Kopp’s relationship with the ABJ help? It didn’t hurt. Is all this incestual intertwining of public figures and the media and lobbyists cause for alarm? You tell me.
And answer me something else: if this was news, why are you only reading about it now?
