I’ve had a lot of questions following yesterdays announcement, and I’ve tried to respond to all of them where I can (the direct ones anyway, haven’t worked through the comments yet). Ed Sutherland at Problogging News wanted to interview me so I responded to his questions; there was a slightly odd angle but I never gave it a second though, and it resulted in this post.

I’m don’t hate it, but his angle seems to be trying to whip up some scandal or controversy where there really isn’t one.

For the record here’s my actual responses to Ed, you’d note the how the full response wasn’t used and instead bits were picked: fair call I guess reporting wise.

Hi Duncan,

Since you’ve left TC, I had a few questions for a piece I’m writing at PBN.

Michael Arrington kiddingly said Inquistr will compete with TC – will it? Or, do TC bloggers agree to some sort of non-compete?

He was joking. Only completely insane people think they can compete with TC, besides that the site isn’t strictly tech, it’s pop culture and odd/ funny stories as well. I was essentially a contractor as opposed to an employee, so no, I’ve never signed a non-compete, the full time staff may have non-competes, to be honest I don’t know.

Do you know who will fill your shoes at TC? Schonfeld is the most recent addition, but Arrington and a few other bloggers are writing there now.

Jason Kincaid started just before I tendered my resignation a month ago, he’s young and still a little raw but he has a lot of potential. I’m not sure what Michael’s plans are in terms of hiring someone else: when I started I was the only f/t writer besides Michael (Nick Gonzales did write, but he also did tech/ coding for TC as well), and now there’s Mark, Jason and Erick, and a couple of occasional guest writers (including me).

Is TC like Gawker in that there is base pay plus advances based on traffic bloggers generate?
Not at all. I was always paid a flat rate per month irrespective of the traffic. There’s obviously a culture that encourages success, be that with traffic, Digg mentions, Techmeme, even Yahoo Buzz and Yahoo itself (I managed a story on the front page of Yahoo once, insane). Michael has always had a strong emphasis on quality and originality: sure, the site covers major news that others are covering, but if you watch it carefully you’ll see it still covers startups other people haven’t covered, it still covers funding announcements first, and it still breaks a lot of news.

I’ve been watching the whole Troy Buswell, chair sniffing scandal from afar, having left WA in February.

For those not familiar with the story, WA Liberal leader Troy Buswell, having managed to become party leader last year despite a “bra-snapping” scandal, was exposed as a chair sniffer. The short version is that Troy apparently sniffed the chair of a female staffer, then apparently crawled around on the floor, all while completely sober.

I’ve met Troy, his wife, his family, even been to his house. She who must be obeyed helped Troy roll the sitting member for Vasse a couple of years back so he could enter Parliament.

Troy would be one of the most talented politicians I’ve ever seen speak, and I’ve seen a bloody lot during my time in politics, including even Clinton back in 96 and William Hague in 98. His ability to capture an audience has always been first class, and as the record shows much of his rise to the leadership was off the back of his stellar parliamentary performances.

But there was always a dark side to Troy. We learnt very early on that his ambition and greed for power were unfortunately his overwhelming driver. He slowly turned on or failed to support those who had supported him along the way. Over time my opinion of him diminished significantly, from one of awe and deep respect to one of disgust. They say loyalty means nothing in politics, but in my experience good politicians remain true to their base, and never forget those who helped them along the way.

So today, in Perth, probably by the time you read this (I’ll update the post later) Troy is facing a spill in the party room. He claims that he still has the numbers and he will live on. Even in political death, Troy has once again shown that his lust for power and position is more powerful than honour and doing the right thing.

The right thing is that Troy should resign.

Imagine the 2009 WA election campaign with the Opposition being headed up by Troy Buswell. Imagine the fun the Labor Party will have with chair sniffing attack ads. Here’s the key: the bra-snapping might have been a drunken lark, but chair sniffing is down right creepy and the people of WA will know that. More importantly female voters en-masse will flock to the ALP when presented with a creepy chair sniffer as the alternative Premier of the State. Simply Troy is now tarnished goods, and there is absolutely no amount of spin that can save him in the eyes of the electorate.

Of course the alternative Liberal Leader is a rather interesting choice: Steve Thomas, the vet from Donnybrook. I thought he was an awful candidate for the seat of Capel, but much to the surprise of many in the South West he’s worked extremely hard and actually turned out to be a really good, honest hard working member of Parliament. But there are Skeletons in his closet as well, no chair sniffing incidents that I’m aware of, but lets just say Steve on the piss is one of the more interesting things I’ve seen in my life. Having said that hard drinking is a badge of honour in WA, if and when the stories come out they’ll probably help give him a boost in the polls.