AP Fires Third Staffer in Terry McAuliffe Fallout

Norm Gomlak was an editor on AP’s South Desk

The Associated Press has fired a third staffer in the fallout of an erroneous report about gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe.

Norm Gomlak, an editor on the AP’s South Desk in Atlanta, was the first staffer outside the Richmond, Va., bureau to lose his job. Employees in the Atlanta office were given the news in a staff meeting Monday.

Also read: AP Fires 2 Journalists Responsible for Mistaken Terry McAuliffe Report

An AP spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The AP has also fired Bob Lewis, a Virginia politics reporter, and Dena Potter, a news editor. Domestic AP stories are typically sent to one of four regional desks — including the South Desk — for a final edit and publication on the AP wire.

Lewis filed a story alleging that McAuliffe lied to a federal official investigating a death benefits claim. It was published on Oct. 9 and the AP retracted the story less than two hours later.

Lewis, who was well-regarded by colleagues, had covered Virginia government for about two decades. Sen. Mark Warner, a former Virgina governor, was among those who took to Twitter to wish him well.

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