Remember the Sarasota woman who published an op/ed in the local paper defending the Proud Boys?  Well, it turns out Melissa Radovich forgot to mention a few pertinent things in her submission.  When Radovich wrote, “When I think about the Proud Boys, I think of fathers, business owners and veterans,” it turns out she neglected to mention that when she thinks of “the Proud Boys,” she also thinks about her husband, who’s an active member of the group.  It was a huge oversight, given that the Sarasota Herald-Tribune published a different op/ed just three weeks ago noting they were married and that Nicholas Radovich was a member of the Proud Boys.

The Herald-Tribune pulled the op/ed overnight. “Our editorial process failed to keep this column from being published as it appeared, which did not meet our standards. We are adding additional, higher level review of the process for accepting and editing guest columns for publication,” the newspaper said in a statement.

As a former “real” journalist–and now a quasi-journalist–this type of mistake is inexcusable to me.  Op/ed writers are supposed to be vetted far more than a traditional “Letter to the Editor” writer.  A simple search of their website should have uncovered the connection to an intern, not even a fact checker.  I mean, wouldn’t commonsense dictate that a piece in which someone defends the ultra-right-wing, violent Proud Boys deserves scrutiny?

But this also highlights another issue hitting the headlines now:  How conservatives use their spouses to push their agenda.  From Ginni Thomas/Clarence Thomas to Mercedes Schlapp/Matt Schlapp, conservative “power couples” will use their spouses to try to legitimize their radical views by trying surreptitiously to sway public opinion.