Labor reporter Mike Elk barely lasted a year in Politico‘s suburban Virginia newsroom. After he began trying to unionize his colleagues, which, for some, included what felt like a barrage of emails, managers insisted that he stay home. They blamed his PTSD, which he formally acknowledged in a statement.
Curiously enough, in the time he worked there, Politico published just seven of his stories even though he attempted far more. But in late August, things came to a head when the Allbritton-owned pub suddenly announced that it had parted ways with Elk.
Only Elk didn’t, wouldn’t agree.
Eventually he did acknowledge via a wayward video that he’d quit Politico.
The topsy turvy story now grows even more intense as the mother of a Politico Pro reporter speaks out about how much she can’t stand Elk and what he stood for in her daughter’s newsroom.
“The Politico mom email is wild,” Elk told The Mirror. “Do you see why they had to settle? They used locking me out of the newsroom and not publishing me to make look bad. I mean I didn’t even know who this coworker was and yet her mother had all these awful ideas about me.”
See the letter from Terri Hayes, mother of Politico reporter Kelsey Hayes, below. The letter was initially directed to Colete Shade of the Pacific Standard.
I recently read your article on the Pacific Standard website sent to me by my daughter, the senior copy editor for POLITICOPro. She shared with me her irritation at the incorrect statements made by Mike Elk in your piece, but does not know I am writing to you and probably would not be happy about it.
Having worked for POLITICOPro for three years she has seen a lot of people come and go but none more irritating than Mr. Elk. While I do not want to get in the personal aspect of why he was “let go”, it was not because of his efforts to try to unionize POLITICO employees. He would send emails to employees about forming a union but few of them were interested and most found this intrusion unwelcome at best. From my daughter’s viewpoint and interpretation from statements made by other employees, it was difficult to view him as a “leader” when he was more interested in trying to form a union than he was in actually working. As I said, the statements he made within your piece were incorrect. Employees do get comp time and non-salaried get overtime pay (my daughter was paid hourly and is now salaried but receives comp time for every hour worked over her 40 per week). The newsletters Mr. Elk refers to go out at 5:00 AM not midnight and reporters have adequate time to make sure their stories are uploaded prior to publishing. They also have an editor and do not edit their own material. The hours are not “unpredictable” and the reporter knows that upfront. Reporters working on newsletters do just that and no other tasks. The “revenue model” Mr. Elk speaks of is based on page views and subscriptions, not being “first”. POLITICO employees sometimes work odd or long hours depending on what is going on but as trained journalists and dedicated employees they realize that this is part of the job.
I have read several articles about Mr. Elk and I get so irritated when he is presented as the “done wrong” hero trying to “save” lowly employees working in a sweat shop. He was rarely in the office (brand new and beautiful, by the way) and did not have a lot of friends within those confines. He got away with a lot more that any other employee would have and lasted way longer than was good for morale. His implied persona as the victim is ludicrous. His statements made in your article prove he doesn’t have a clue what goes on the POLITICO newsroom.
I appreciate your interest in my letter. Thank you.
Terri C. Hayes
UPDATE: Politico Pro reporter Kelsey Hayes insists that her mother never wrote the email about Elk to the Pacific Standard. The Mirror will address the matter in a new post. It must be noted, however, that Hayes insists that the email was sent from her mother’s actual email address. Stay tuned…