Secret Service releases Gannon records

A conservative reporter who quit his job covering President Bush amid criticism for his pointedly partisan questions in the White House pressroom made 196 trips to the White House in two years, the Secret Service has disclosed. James D. Guckert, who wrote under the name Jeff Gannon, was Washington bureau chief for Talon News, a conservative online news outlet associated with another Web site, GOPUSA. Guckert, who is currently the subject of an Advocate cover story, posed questions with conservative overtones, attracting scrutiny from liberal bloggers who then linked Guckert to online domain addresses suggestive of gay prostitution. Guckert resigned as Talon correspondent in February. Two Democrats in U.S. Congress, representatives Louise Slaughter of New York and John Conyers of Michigan, filed a Freedom of Information Act request and were given Secret Service records of Guckert's visits to the White House.