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Us Weekly West Coast executive editor – and, of late, our favorite punching bag – Ken Baker must be growing a bit nervous about his future tenure with Jann Wenner's tab. How else to explain his recent chats with the competition? We hear exclusively that Baker – who's Us contract is said to expire in the spring of '07 – has been making the inquiry rounds with People managing editor Larry Hackett. Baker phoned Hackett to let him know his services are available, should People need the West Coast help. Bragging about his ability to "rally the reporters" and get them to "break news on a regular basis," Baker spoke to Hackett as recently as August about a possible jump.

It wasn't until People staffers got wind of the conversations and confronted Hackett about fraternizing – and potentially hiring – Baker did the Time Inc. title chieftan back off from talks. (It's no secret People staffers don't look highly of Baker.) Hackett's excuse for taking Baker's calls? That he was merely conducting "investigative research" on the competition, using the Us editor to learn more about Janice Min's operations with no intention of actually hiring him. Which would make sense, theoretically, as this wouldn't be the first time Hackett has done it.

On Baker's end, meanwhile, a jump to People may not be what's he's actually after. He could be simply stirring up interest in his gossip brand name to ensure things go his way when it's time to renegotiate his contract in the spring. Or at least that's that excuse he can tell boss Janice when she reads this.

(Photo: Ken Baker, here with Christina Aguilera, at Us Weekly's Hot Hollywood party)

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With all this recent furor over gossips and free gifts, it'd be wise to remember gossip columns aren't the only place where free merch and services are the currency of the chatter mill: the tabloids survive on swag too. But the two sides do take a surprisingly different approach to serial offenders: Whereas gossip columns fire their offenders, the tabs prefer to defend the rank and file.

As we've so often done these past few weeks, let's use Us Weekly as a case file. While it's no secret beauty products don't end up in their "Get [Insert Celeb's Name]'s Look!" spreads without editors getting a gift-wrapped goodie bag with those very eyeliners and eyebrow pencils, Us Weekly's west coast executive editor Ken Baker is notorious for taking free merch to a whole new level. And Wenner Media brass don't seem to care — how else to explain his continued employment?

When Baker needed a quick getaway in August, we hear he turned to the always-accomodating Joe Francis of Girls Gone Wild. Francis escorted Baker on his private jet to the titty maestro's $25 million Casa Aramara compound in Puerta Vallarta. Sure, Page Six editor Richard Johnson was on the receiving end of Francis' gratis mood when he needed a $50,000 bachelor party before his nuptials to Sessa von Richthofen, but Baker's blend of editorial pay-for-play received an entirely different level of attention: Francis delivered the Jennifer Aniston-Vince Vaughn engagement scoop to Baker, in exchange for lavish plugs and photos in the magazine.

Jen and Vince stayed at Francis' estate in June — at least according to Us Weekly's August 21 issue, which included a shot of the mansion with the caption, "While in Mexico,
Vaughn and Aniston stayed in Punta de Mita at Casa Aramara, the $25 million, 14-bedroom mansion owned by adult entertainment entrepreneur Joe Francis."

In the end, Baker could certainly rationalize (to editrix Janice Min, at least) that his Puerta Vallarta excursion was required in order to get the scoop. Or, on the other hand, you can blame Joe Francis for making up the engagement, sending Janice on the Today show, and forcing Aniston to rebuff the engagement claim to People magazine.

It is time to put this Us Weekly-Ken Baker scandal to rest? Well, perhaps the Jessica Meisels portion of it — we'll leave the Kitson factor to another day. Today we spoke with Jessica of Fingerprint PR – who already denied the unpaid charity bill scandal – who was happy to report that there is no bad blood with the tabloid.

Last week we exclusively told you Meisels was on the receiving end of a firing squad from Us Weekly, where Janice Min & Co. threatened her client roster (which includes Geisha House and, interestingly, Kitson Footwear) with editorial blacklisting if she had anything to do with our report — or its perpetuation.

But word from Jessica is that there is no blacklisting — so much so, in fact, that Us will be on hand at tonight's Elizabeth Hurley/Polaroid/Breast Cancer Awareness Month event. And that means more than just a low-level staffer RSVPing for comp'ed champagne; they'll be there to report.

(Photos, L to R: Ken Baker and Carmen Electra at the June 3 poker event; Jessica Meisels at her birthday party with Nicky and Paris Hilton)

(This item was updated from its original version.)

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It wouldn't be proper to begin the week without more news on the Us Weekly-Ken Baker scandal front. After last week's merry-go-round with news of the magazine's west coast exec editor refusing to pay a measily three-figure bill from publicist Jessica Meisels for help with his June charity poker event – and gossip columns from Page Six to Lowdown trying to get their newspaper inches involved – the tabloid went after Meisels where it counts: their editorial. At the end of last week, Us' New York office was last seen making ominous phone calls to Meisels, threatening to end its support for any of her clients. They also told her if she had a problem with anyone at Us, she should've gone to the magazine first, not the media blog you're reading right now.

Which would make sense, if only Meisels was our source. But, hey, 1290 Sixth? She's not — and we only tell you that in hopes you two can become friends again. But that doesn't mean Meisels hasn't been talking to us. Under pressure from Us' editors, she's gone and denied our report.

Fingerprint Communications maintains a positive relationship with US Weekly and the magazine's staffers. … Fingerprint Communications has worked on two events for Head To Hollywood including the poker event in vegas. Our fee for the event was paid.

But Jessica is just about the only one willing to speak on the record. Us' editor Janice Min, meanwhile, refuses to speak to us for publication. We've asked her – over the course of regular email chats discussing these matters – to confirm or deny the allegations we've exclusively reported (from Kitson's legal claims to Baker's unethical payola scandals), and not once has she provided an on the record response.

She did, however, tell the name-misspelling New York Times the magazine "absolutely [does] not" blacklist merchants or demand free merch in exchange for editorial. Cue laughter from one block south at People.

(Photos, L to R: Ken Baker and Carmen Electra at the June 3 poker event; Jessica Meisels at her birthday party with Nicky and Paris Hilton)

Earlier: Breaking: Us Weekly Threatening Jessica Meisels Over Ken Baker's Unpaid Bills
Related: All Ken Baker, Us Weekly, and Jessica Meisels coverage

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The Us Weekly-Jessica Meisels feud is coming to a boil ever since we broke news this morning about the Fingerprint publicist's wage war with the tabloid's Ken Baker. As we told you exclusively today, Meisels is trying to recoup the fees she amassed doing PR work for Baker's Head To Hollywood poker tourney charity event in June. She's only looking for a few hundred dollars – opting to charge only the actual costs accrued, and not her labor, given her work was done for a charity – but five months later, the Us west coast executive editor refuses to respond to her invoice.

Now we're told exclusively that Us Weekly launched a flack attack just after our story ran this A.M.. Janice Min & Co. are furious with Meisels and are threatening the PR player, hounding her with threatening phone calls.

Meanwhile, the mainstream gossips are picking up on the story: Richard Johnson's Page Six put a call in to Meisels today, but we're told she denied our report to the Post column, fearing Us' wrath. (Though you still might want to expect an item from Page Six in tomorrow's paper.) Further, we hear the Daily News' Lloyd Grove is also trying to get in on the story, but Meisels is pleading with him not to run anything — again, at the cost of upsetting Jann Wenner's tabloid.

And that's not where the story even comes close to ending. With all the sour PR image debt Ken Baker has attracted, we're also hearing the masthead colonel is on the job hunt. With his contract up in the near future (, he's putting in calls to other pubs, hoping someone will accept his CV.

Earlier: Ken Baker's Unpaid Debts Continue: Us Weekly Exec Ed's Charity Shakedown
Related: All Ken Baker and Us Weekly coverage

(Photos, L to R: Ken Baker and Carmen Electra at the June 3 poker event; Jessica Meisels at her birthday party with Nicky and Paris Hilton)

• Anna Nicole Smith makes a fortune off her dead son. Props on this snag goes to the always classy tabloid In Touch.

• We imagine what it would be like to get it on with David Zinczenko. And then we stop, because we may have to do a TV spot with him someday.

• Michael Cooke gets his Chicago Sun-Times back. Keeps extremely obnoxious nick-name Cookie Monster.

• With Ken Baker around, the scandals just never stop.

• Head of Coutorture, Julie Fredrickson tells her fashion blogger peons to fuck off. But, at least she didn't stalk them all.

• An X17 paparazzo almost ran over Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake. But, unfortunately, he missed.

• Megu gets kinky in the kitchen — sexual harassment never tasted so good.

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Those owed by Ken Baker aren't swallowing their debts quietly. We've seen Ken, the west coast exec editor of Us Weekly, go down this road before. Just this month we told you exclusively about Ken's dealings with Kitson boutique owner Fraser Ross and how he and the magazine's alleged blacklisting of the L.A. shop have resulted in a lawsuit from Ross.

Now we've got Fingerprint PR looking to collect on a Baker debt. This one is for work that Fingerprint partner (and former Lizzie Grubman slag-cum-power player) Jessica Meisels did for Baker's Head To Hollywood charity – a non-profit that's landed Baker in trouble again and again (i.e. securing positive coverage in Us Weekly of charity co-founder Carmen Electra). Fingerprint handled H2H's charity poker tourney on June 3, 2006, at Las Vegas' Hard Rock Hotel. Now, five months since Meisels submitted an invoice, there's yet to be payment made — and the bill, we're told, is a measly three-figure sum.

Meisels was responsible for finding event sponsors and the not-so-glamorous job of rounding up celebs for the event, including David Spade, Krista Allen, Montell Williams, and Shannon Elizabeth. (Though, to be fair, Elizabeth will show up for the opening of an eye.) But knowing this was charity work, Fingerprint didn't bill Baker for the majority of the costs such legwork would've accrued a regular client; only phone, fax, and courier services were invoiced. And speaking of telecommunications, it's safe to say Baker doesn't understand how that tricky technology works. How else to explain his consistent dodging of Fingerprint's phones and emails inquiring about their dollars owed?

Meanwhile, according to Head To Hollywood's website, the June 3 poker event raised "close to $100,000" for brain tumor charity. No cash in the coffer to cover the minor expenses, Ken?

In true Baker fashion, the Us Weekly ed is handling the situation like he would any other: By banning Fingerprint clients from the magazine and purposefully not inviting the PR firm to its Sept. 20 Hot Hollywood Awards (where Carmen Electra received award No. 43378) — where it had been welcome in years past. If history tells us anything, we should expect Baker to continue to withhold funds, then wait for either Jann Wenner's check book or crack squad of crisis management PR gurus to take on the case. In the meantime, Meisels is still waiting for that check.

(Photos, L to R: Ken Baker and Carmen Electra at the June 3 poker event; Jessica Meisels at her birthday party with Nicky and Paris Hilton)

• Maxim continues to let staffers go (at their own free will this time) so they can make room for the beer guzzlin' party boys from Stuff.

• Graydon Carter lets us all down by starting to smoke in order to lose weight. Apparently he wasn't paying close enough attention to the whole Lindsay Lohan coke & bulimia diet he promoted.

• We hate Fashion Week because it sucks up all the gossip. And leaves us with far, far too much useless Anna Wintour gossip.

• Anna Nicole Smith has a girl, loses a boy. Really pretty tragic.

• Despite their huge falling out with Us Weekly, Kitson still sponsors their nasty ass tees. And the boutique sponsors People, too.

• Speaking of Us Weekly, Ken Baker wants to save the children with brain tumors. Just the good looking ones, though. Please.

Remember Us Weekly’s Head to Hollywood charity ball? The one where Paris Hilton had one margarita and then got pulled over? Well, if you do, you may remember that it was Ken Baker who was heading up that brain tumor charity. We’re not trying to be insensitive or anything… especially since we just realized Ken Baker himself battled a brain tumor for 12 years. But, the whole Hollywood charity thing is just so overplayed.

HELP “HEAD TO HOLLYWOOD” MAKE DREAMS COME TRUE

You too can make a difference. Be a part of this worthwhile program; creating opportunities and memories that will last a lifetime. Make a tax-deductible donation today to the PNA's "Head to Hollywood" program online: pituitary.org/donate/.

Be sure to add the words "Head to Hollywood" at the bottom of the donation form. Donations may also be made to the Head to Hollywood program by contacting Barbara Schriber at the Pituitary Network Association by phone: (805) 499 xxxx.

Press Contact:
Ken Baker
o 323-930-xxxx
c 323-359-xxxx

APPLICANTS OR ADVOCATE FOR APPLICANT:
Head to Hollywood is extended as an International Outreach. There is no age limit. Please send your patient story, and photo if possible, to: Head to Hollywood Staff, in the care of Ken Baker. ken@kenbaker.net

Oh, and if you want Baker’s charity to help you or someone you know cure their brain cancer, please send their photo and story. The charity prefers hot brain cancer patients to not-so-hot ones, so make sure you throw on some lip gloss and a wig.

You know Kitson as the L.A. boutique that counts Nicky Hilton as both a supplier and a customer. The shop gets regular shout outs from the likes of Lindsay, Nicole, Jessica, and Paris, sealing its cultural relevance. You also know Kitson as store owned by Fraser Ross, who decided to capitalize on all the celebrity foot traffic and jump into the paparazzi business with Sunset Photo and News LLC — flanked by Jill Ishkanian, the former Us Weekly staffer now at the center of a federal investigation looking into whether she hacked her former employer's computers.

So, as you can tell, there's already bad blood between Kitson and the Wenner Media tabloid. And, as of yesterday, there's even more: Kitson filed a lawsuit against the gossip rag, alleging Janice Min & Co. violated written and oral agreements not to badmouth each other. And look at that — we've exclusively got the court documents.

Back in February, the bad blood between Kitson and Us – stemming from Ross hosting a book party for west coast exec editor Ken Baker, who supposedly didn't give enough editorial play in return – was settled with a $13,620 payment and a signed agreement between Ross and Us that the neither side was "to make, or knowingly cause to be made any statement or communication written or oral with the intention of (a) disparaging or otherwise impugnin the business or management of any of the Paries … (b) damaging the personal or business reputation of any of the parties … or (c) interfering with, impairing or disrupting the normal business operations of any of the Parties."

Turns out that was all a bunch of hooey, at least according to Kitson's lawsuit. The store claims the magazine went out of its way to crop Kitson goods out of photos it used (like a blue Kitson bag in Issue 593); listed the store's phone number (a number Us "knew or should have known is not answered") instead of its website, as is common practice for other retailers; and did not credit Kitson as the location where photos were taken that the magazine published, when it credited locations in other photos.

And Ross isn't done yet. He's also claiming Us engages in unfair business practices, allowing editors to plug their own goods (like staffer Suzanne Marchese's Fleur de Lis clothing) for free (the horror!); allowing editors to plug their own causes (like, ahem, Ken Baker's Head To Hollywood charity) without mention of the conflict of interest (double horror!); and editors demanding free merchandise from retailers under the threat that, if they don't send the goods, they'll never appear in the magazine again (triple threat, booyah!).

In the end, Kitson is assessing damages (read: lost business) at $10,000 per week. Which means Jann is gonna have to bring out the checkbook again, or Janice will have to make a little room in its "Get Insert-Celebrity-Here's Look!" pages for Kitson. (It's worth noting, meanwhile, that Kitson remains an advertiser in Us, at least as recently as the Sept. 4 Issue 603.)

After the jump: All the legal docs you've been waiting for.

Related: LA Shop Owners Want a Hand in the Paparazzi Jar

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How will Us Weekly cover Paris Hilton's DUI? That's what gossip waggers – from Star, In Touch, and otherwise – are wondering since it was quickly learned Paris was pulled over last night after leaving a Head to Hollywood charity party at Dragonfly (headlined by the Suicide Girls' five-year anniversary concert) — hosted by charity founder Ken Baker. Yes, Ken Baker, as in Us Weekly's west coast executive editor. And yep, that's the same Ken Baker who is rumored to have secured favorable coverage (as we exclusively reported in July) for friend and Head to Hollywood co-founder Carmen Electra in the lead up to her split with Dave Navarro. (Interestingly, Navarro was the co-host of last night's event.) So will Paris' appearance at the Us event grant favor for her in Janice Min's pages? It's just a matter of time before we see how the editirix will treat the story — and anything less than fair (read: brutal) will certainly draw ire from the competition.

Earlier: Paris Hilton Can't Drive Sober, Totally Screwed When Drunk
Related: Ken Baker, Celebrity BFF: Did the Us Editor Ensure Favorable Coverage for Carmen Electra?

(Photo: X17)

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When Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro officially announced their split on Monday, the celeb press was quick to pick up on the story and self-reference their own stories – which we're unabashedly guilty of as well – about how they had hinted there was trouble all along. Except Us Weekly, which until Monday's PR rep-delivered announcement hasn't paid much mind at all to the growing chatter over trouble in Electraland. Now some insiders are saying Carmen got the royal treatment in Janice Min's pages thanks to her relationship with Us Weekly West Coast Editor Ken Baker. Those two aren't just good friends — last year they formed the brain tumor charity Head To Hollywood together, which gets plenty of play in the Wenner Media title.

Ken Baker, you'll remember, is also fingered as the missing link between those suspicious photos of Ryan Seacrest and Teri Hatcher sucking face and Us Weekly's ex-staffer hacking — and grand defender of Paris Hilton. Attempts to reach Baker for comment went unanswered.

Meanwhile, Us' coverage of Carmen and Dave amounted to little more than "marriage is great" soundbites, though Carmen's headlining of various Head To Hollywood celebrity poker tournaments has generated plenty of press, even in the pages of OK! and Life & Style. While we won't go so far to claim Baker had a steady hand in wrangling that coverage, it's worth noting the June 3 poker tourney at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas did land in Us Weekly — as a "Entourage Hot Spot." Not that the HBO show has filmed a single scene there.

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News broke in May that Us Weekly was working with the FBI to investigate a rash of hacking into its computer system. The suspect? Former staffer and current paparazzi agency head Jill Ishkanian, who was accused of stealing information about Charlie Sheen. Last month it was revealed Us' systems weren't so secure: not only could Ishkanian access the tabloid's email, but so could the very celebrities the mag writes about, thanks to rank abuse of staffer Amy Sultan username and password. But aside from being able to scoop Us at its own game – which, to be fair, is a pretty big deal – thus far the scurry to close the leak hasn't had a big item on which to pin Janice Min's fear. Thanks to the wide open net our inbox casts, we've got at least one rumor on which we can lay our suspicions.

I know exactly what Us Weekly is now terrified will eventually come out in the investigation. Do you remember the Ryan Seacrest/Teri Hatcher in Malibu kissing pictures taken on March 25, 2006, that ran EXCLUSIVELY in Us Weekly? No surprise to savy media watchers, but it seems the pix were a set up, (without poor Hatcher's knowledge) between Us' West Coast Editor Ken Baker and his longtime BFF Ryan Seacrest. There is serious concern that there are now copies of those incriminating e-mails now floating around cyberspace that prove the two were involved in setting up the Desperate Housewives star. With ABC owning half of Us Weekly, how will it look to the bigwigs there to have Hatcher, their biggest star, made an object of ridicule, or a temporary beard for the American Idol host?

Ken Baker involved in under-the-radar spin? Psshaw!

Related: Former Us Staffer Especially Didn't Steal Info on Charlie Sheen
Related: FBI to Stop Us Weekly From Handing Out Passwords to Former Employees

It's a good thing we didn't get past page three of Ken Baker's Hollywood Hussein, given that we would've been unnecessarily exposed to his unwavering lust for Paris Hilton. In the book, the Us Weekly west coast editor turned Paris into a one "London Marriot." But in the magazine, he's turning her into his pet.

Their overly ambitious relationship is unnerving fellow Us Weekly staffers (including, they say, editor Janice Min), who claim Paris' charm has turned Ken into her biggest defender, demanding stories about her receive a positive spin.

And their constant phone calls and texting has certainly benefited Ken's career, securing him scoops of all sizes. And Paris has plenty to gain as well:

What could the two possibly be talking about? According to a mag insider, “Paris uses Ken to plant negative items about her enemies, like Nicole Richie.” In fact, one of the memos found on Hilton’s pilfered Sidekick—“tell ken about jess trying to bone JT”—was widely deciphered as a reminder to tell Baker that Jessica Simpson was stalking the wild Timbersnake. (The phone’s address book, conveniently enough, contained Baker’s digits, too.)

We haven't lost all faith in Us Weekly just yet, but perhaps the gossip industry as a whole: It worries us when stars themselves have to plant items instead of their overcompensated talking heads with personal agendas to mount.

Paris Hilton’s Ken Doll [Radar]

Whenever there's something hot going on in Chicago – which, as you must know, is v. v. often .. ish – we turn to Jossip's Chitown correspondent The Model, otherwise known as Cory Bernstein.

He was on the scene last night for the Us Weekly's West Coast exec editor Ken Baker's book party for his Hollywood Hussein.

If you don't know Ken from his three books, you'll know him as the Us Weekly editor who didn't try to lay down a 13-year-old girl as well as the Us Weekly editor who didn't go to rehab.

Files Cory:

2:23am got home from the book signing party for my friend Ken Baker, the Executive West Coast Editor for US Magazine. The book he wrote which I need to read now is called " Hollywood Hussein ", and should be really interesting. Our party was at Le Passage tonight from 10:00pm- 1:00 am but I took a power nap and then got their late which was perfect timing for us to see each other and catch up. Ken Baker is an awesome guy, he has a gorgeous wife, and 2 really beautiful kids, and he has lived with a brain tumor for I think about the last 10 years, which most people don't know or realize but he is a great guy.

There was a party the night before for him in LA, which Carmen Electra and Paris were the guest of honors and supporters of Ken's new book.

Now, if only we could've gotten past the first three pages (that's an exact figure, mind you) of Hollywood Hussein, we'd have something to share with you. But the cute illustrations of President Bush and Saddam were just too lavish for us to pay attention to the text.

Whewps. Even though we'd never claim to be a blind item sleuth, the dots weren't so hard to connect between last week's Page Six blind item about a soon-to-be fired celebrity weekly editor and today's Radar report on People magazine's sexual harasser Todd Gold.

Not exactly so for our sisters in snark at Gawker, who identified the departing editor as Us Weekly's Ken Baker, who's guilty of nothing more than Devil Wears Prada'ing Bonnie Fuller and Gold.

Screengrab after the jump, should they edit their misguided jump to conclusions.

(Note: There should be lots of "allegedly" usage here, so please insert when necessary. We'd like to stave off legal papers this week.)

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