Libertarians + Twitter + Jake Tapper = Scoop!

Jake Tapper, the Twitter-addicted senior White House correspondent for ABC News, wrangles a frightening number of scoops and under-reported stories. He’s also, arguably, the mainstream media reporter most beloved by conservatives. One reason for that is that Tapper chases down stories that bubble up from the conservative media or establishment that other reporters might sit on.

Here’s an interesting example. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank with funding from the energy industry, filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Treasury documents that suggested a cap-and-trade program would cost taxpayers more than the Obama administration claimed. Earlier today, CEI’s communications director Christine Hall needled Tapper via Twitter to report on the think tank’s findings.

“did u see the updated docs Treasury released late Friday?” wrote Hall. “~$300~ bil cap-n-tax costs, prev. redacted.”

Tapper fired back: “i wrote about it on sunday at my blog abcnews.blogs.com.”

Sure enough, Hall tweeted about the original report on Friday. Tapper wrote it up on Sunday in a story titled “A Secret Cap and Trade Tax of $1,761 Per Family?”, keying off Mitt Romney’s statement that the proposal would cost that much. In it, Tapper concluded that the figure itself was produced by sloppy math. It was “possible to see as false the assertions by Romney and other Republicans that the president has been hiding a $1,761 tax from the American people while also wondering if the Treasury Department is being as forthcoming and transparent as President Obama’s campaign promises would suggest.” He quoted CEI’s “Chris Holder” making the point. Hall tweeted to correct him: “@jaketapper – Horner. Chris Horner.”