There isn’t a single mention, for instance, that Stanford lobbied Congress for expanded tax rules spending over $5 million in lobbying fees. There was also no mention that he donated $28,300 to Charlie Rangel’s campaign (D, NY), that he donated heavily to Democratic New York Representative Gregory Meeks, and that he sponsored multiple trips to the Caribbean for Democrat members of Congress. (Details can be found at the Wall Street Journal)

The Antigua Sun newspaper even published a 2008 photo of a beaming Barack Obama standing next to Mr. Stanford.

One has to wonder if this accused swindler had long-standing ties to Republicans if Reuters would have so easily forgotten to mention the cozy relationship to GOP officials in a story on the fellow?

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Yes, it’s another episode of “Name That Party,” where our contestant is a criminal Democrat in the news that somehow, mysteriously finds the Old Media conveniently forgetting to mention that he is, indeed, a Democrat. This time it’s former Starr County, Texas Sheriff Reymundo Guerra who was handed a five-year sentence for drug trafficking this week. Guerra is the second Starr County Sheriff in a row to go to jail for corruption.

The Old Media dutifully reported this conviction, to be sure. It was reported that Guerra was up on harsher charges, how he had those reduced, it was also reported what criminal drug cartel figures from Mexico he was involved with and that Guerra was sorry for what he’d done.

Only one tiny, little part of the story was left out. Guerra was a Democrat official in a Texas county that has been controlled by Democrats for about 100 years. I guess the fact that a Democrat Law Official turned into a drug dealer isn’t news? Of course, if it should have been a Republican Sheriff turned drug dealer, why the Old Media would have led with that news.

As is always the case in these name-that-party stories, the AP had a short story on Guerra without mentioning he’s a Democrat. It made no stronger effort to set the record straight in its longer story, either.

Not to miss out on the fun, the San Antonio Express didn’t bother to mention the criminal’s party.

Likewise, KRGV TV somehow forgot to mention he was a Democrat and neither did KGBT TV.

So, another criminal Democrat goes to jail yet all the news accounts just happened to miss the fact that he’s a Democrat.

This covering for criminal Democrats happens nearly every week in the Old Media, but it still amazes me every time. The pure arrogance that the Media refuses to identify a criminal Democrat is amazing. In fact, it was just making a hero out of a criminal Democrat… you know, the murderer that just died in Massachusetts? Yeah, that criminal Democrat.

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North Carolina State Senator R.C. Soles is a long time fixture in the state house in Raleigh. He is also the subject of many years of rumors and innuendo about child molesting. Recently he’s been accused of just such a crime by a young man that was 15 when Soles supposedly accosted him.

The news is full of all the relevant details of the case. The long whispered history, the warnings given local authorities and the name of the latest accuser. There is something about Senator Soles, though, that didn’t seem to make the news upon the allegations, however. The fact that Soles is a Democrat seems to have missed the attention of the NC media.

In fact, a Google search of the story finds that the media forget to mention that Soles is a Democrat about half the time.

There are also some stories of Soles’ purchase of a house to hush up one victim and allegations of all sorts of wrong doing. Unfortunately, his party seems to be left out quite a lot in these stories.

Of course, if it were a child molesting Republican in question, each story would have led with “Republican Senator accused of child molestation.”

Typical.

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And now another episode of Name That Party where the news customer reads a story and tries his darndest to discern from what party a scandal plagued politician hails. We have many times said that one of the main rules of the Name That Party parlor game is that if the Old Media is talking about a troubled Democrat, often times the pol’s party is either not mentioned at all or is buried way down in the story. On the other hand, if it is a troubled Republican, why the party affiliation often leads the story if it isn’t right in the headline itself. Today we have a pair of stories that proves this axiom well.

First up is the mysterious case of Detroit City Council Member Monica Conyers (wife of Representative John Conyers) who the Associated Press reports is “snarled in bribes probe.” All the sordid details about the tale are laid out for us… except one. It seems the AP somehow forgot to mention that Monica Conyers is a Democrat.

Curiously, the AP does give a hint of our Mrs. Conyers’ affiliation by mentioning that her hubby is a Democrat. I guess we are supposed to extrapolate that she is also a Dem?

The AP alerts us to the fact that the feds have fingered Monica Conyers as “Council Member A” in a bribes case involving cash bribes handed over in the parking lots of fast-food outlets around Detroit. Still, no mention that we are dealing with a Democrat here.

In fact, this story mentions nearly half a dozen convicted or indicted Detroit politicians without ever once mentioning that any of them are Democrats. Curious that.

In typical tiresome fashion, Monica Conyers asked for prayers to God to help her in these troubled times. There are no atheists in foxholes, eh?

And now for story two:

Once again we find an AP treatment of a troubled politician in theirs headlined, “Sen. Ensign admits affair with ex-campaign staffer.”

So, how do you think the AP handles to which party our friend Mr. Ensign is affiliated? Well, let us check the very first sentence of the story to see…

LAS VEGAS – Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, a leading Republican mentioned as a potential presidential candidate, admitted Tuesday he had an extramarital affair with a woman who was a member of his campaign staff.

Gosh. It took them all the way until the eighth word of the story to peg Ensign as a Republican.

The AP must be slipping!

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“I am not beholden to any party.”
California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, candidate for governor

That must be true given Steve Poizner’s history of political donations. Poizner has given, and generously at that, to both Republican and Democrat candidates for office in addition to several Democrat controlled committees, this based on he and his wife’s publicly reported accounts, anyway. Oddly, Poizner’s wife happens to be a registered Democrat who Poizner has “blamed” for many of the Democrat contributions that have his signature affixed. Such donations include: a $10,000 contribution to the Democratic National Committee on 10/02/00; $1,000 to John Forbes Kerry on 02/15/01; and a $10,000 donation he made to the ‘00 Gore/Lieberman Recount Committee.

In fact, there is quite a lot of chatter out there that seems to point to Poizner’s less than stellar Republican credentials. He has been termed everything but a conservative for the last 5 years.

Poizner himself has been eager to play down his Republican designation. For instance, Poizner once told the San Mateo County Times, “I am a frustrated moderate Republican.” Poizner seems to be a RINO poster child who is frustrated because his billion dollar fortune can’t buy him the stature, no pun intended, of the current Governor. Poizner ran for the State Assembly in a liberal Bay Area district, spent millions of dollars of his own money and still lost. He ran that race as the “model of a liberal GOPer” according to press accounts then. “Poizner’s major donations have gone to candidates who oppose equal pay for women. He has donated thousands of dollars to candidates endorsed by the National Pro-Life Council and then he sends out tons of literature pretending to be pro-choice,” wrote the San Mateo County Times (San Mateo, CA), October 22, 2004.

These days, now that he’s running for governor, he’s suddenly trying to sound more “Republican.” But past associates and his own past statements don’t seem to square well with his new rhetoric.

Here are a few examples:

• Former deputy mayor of Los Angeles and candidate for Insurance Commissioner Gary Mendoza, a moderate and a decent guy, said, “Less than one-one-hundredth of Republican primary voters supported the 2000 Gore-Lieberman recount, as did Steve Poizner, who is really a Democrat.” (The Hotline, September 16, 2005, The Daily News of Los Angeles, June 26, 2005)
• Poizner has been called an “Arnold Republican,” a label that implies moderate social policies compared to the traditional party platform. (The Stanford Daily October 28, 2004)
• “I don’t think either party in Sacramento does a very good job of representing people like me.” (The Stanford Daily October 28, 2004)

All this explains why he has supported several “open primary” proposals (which he now conveniently opposes) in the past. Perhaps he felt there weren’t enough people like him in the party? Does California need more people like him in the GOP? After all, it’s the Republican party – not the RINO party!

California needs a real Republican alternative to Democrats and the Arnold Republicans. Is Steve Poizner a real Republican?

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It’s been a little while since we had a good “Name that Party” story, but leave it to corruption plagued Democrats and their willing accomplices in the Old Media to always find some time in their busy schedules to give us an opportunity to play our favorite game. This time it is a former Speaker of the House in Massachusetts who, along with a cadre of his pals, was indicted on corruption charges. Naturally, the party affiliation is mysteriously absent from many of the stories.

It seems that ex-Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, who resigned from the House back in January at the outset of this scandal, and three “Beacon Hill power brokers” have been indicted on corruption charges involving mishandled software contracts. Of course, DiMasi is a leading Democrat in the state, but you sure wouldn’t know that from any of the reports.

Starting out with one of the AP’s short treatments, we find out about the federal indictment, those who are involved, the fact that an email was damning evidence, even that DiMasi sported the nickname “Coach.” But nothing concerning his party is offered. (To be fair, I did find a longer AP story where his party was mentioned but only once.)

UPI also seemed to miss the party mention, just as The New York Times did. Not surprisingly, WBUR, a Mass. NPR station, along with News Channel 10 also missed the party mention.

The Boston Herald did a fairly long story without once finding room to publish DiMasi’s party affiliation. The Herald also had a shorter piece that also neglected to inform readers of the party to which DiMasi belongs.

NECN.com (New England Cable News) also did a few posts without mentioning the fact that DiMasi is a Democrat. (Here is one, and a second.)

The one in the Boston Globe is somewhat ingenious in that it does mention the word Democrat, but never applies it to those indicted. The ingenious thing is that the Globe story uses the word Democrat by connecting it to a Democrat that is saying how he hopes that corruption will soon be eliminated and how his fellows are “95 percent” clean of corruption. As we know it is a Democrat scandal, yet here is the Globe making Democrats out to be the “concerned” party and the party of reform. And when the Globe mentions the Republicans it is to say that they are but trying to make political hay over the issue.

So, according to the Globe, Republicans are just playing politics while a Democrat is positioning himself as the aggrieved party. It’s a pretty outrageous sleight of hand I think!

Finally, kudos to The Wall Street Journal that was able to find room to mention that DiMasi is a Democrat even in its small four paragraph story. If the Journal can fit it into such a small story, why can’t the others?

(Photo credit: masslive.com)

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Convicted ex-lawmaker cries, grateful to Sparkman crowd

The people started rolling into Sparkman Middle School and getting in line Sunday at 1:45 p.m. in the school’s gymnasium.

The tears soon followed – many of them from former state Rep. Sue Schmitz of Toney.

The people – and the tears – kept coming for the next two hours during Sue Schmitz Day.

The former Sparkman High School teacher of 17 years (1986-2002) and Columbia High School (2003-2006) was convicted in February of fraud in a case in which federal prosecutors said she used political connections to get a job in the two-year college system and then didn’t do the work. She will be sentenced at a later date.

Isn’t that wonderful? They gave her a rousing sendoff before jail time, just to let her know they support her, and thank her for being such a great teacher, legislator, and friend of the community. Despite having hosed the community to get a job she never did. Did I mention she was nailed on 7 of 8 felony fraud counts? ‘Cause the story sure doesn’t. That couldn’t have anything to do with

State Sen. Tom Butler, D-Madison, was there. So was state Rep. Randy Hinshaw, D-Meridianville, state Rep. Butch Taylor, D-New Hope, and County Commissioner Roger Jones. Harvest Volunteer Chief Tim Westwick was there…

I’m still missing the Party identification

Tuesday’s felony convictions automatically remove Schmitz from the Legislature. She was a Democrat representing Toney, in Madison County.

Ah, there it is. Let’s play “Imagine If She Was A Republican.” Of course, she would be identified as such. That is a given. Second, Republicans would not throw her a going away to the big house party, unlike Democrats, who treat going to jail as a time to celebrate, like the mafia does. Third, imagine the outcy from Democrats and their compliant Credentialed Media if Republicans were to do the unthinkable and have a going away to jail party.

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I think it is finally getting to the point that when an Old Media story goes out over the wires without mentioning the party affiliation of troubled politicians, people naturally assume that all the criminal actions in said story are being perpetrated by Democrats. But, that assumption aside, we are still seeing reports nearly every day that omit the “Democrat” in any story involving criminal Democrats. Here is yet another one.

The Associated Press posted a story on the FBI’s probe of questionable campaign donations to Senator Patty Murray and Representative Norm Dicks of Washington state. The possibly worrisome donations were from PMA Group, a lobbying firm founded by an aide of Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania. With all these politician’s names being thrown around in the AP report, though, it is curious that not a one of them were ever identified as Democrats. Not once.

The AP does report that Senator Murray has donated her $3,500 contribution to a charity while Dicks told reporters that he was going to wait until the FBI was done to decide what he’d do with the cash. The AP also tells us that the two “reportedly received thousands of dollars from a wine steward, or sommelier, and a golf club employee who were identified as PMA officials on campaign finance reports.” We learn of the John Murtha connection, too. But nowhere is the word “Democrat” mentioned.

A larger treatment of the story appears in the Seattle Times on March 23. In that story, David Heath reporting for the Times waits until the 9th paragraph to mention that Dicks and Murray are Democrats. But after that first mention, the word is used several times.

In any case, what we see if the Associated Press once again omitting the Democratic affiliation of troubled politicians.

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Manny Aragon was one of New Mexico’s most powerful law makers and power brokers. A former Senate president, Aragon was this week convicted and given a 67 month sentence for lining his pockets and that of his co-conspirators with millions in fraudulently billed state contracting money.

While his “iconic” status is mentioned and his long standing position as a “Senate leader” is dutifully chronicled, his status as a Democrat doesn’t seem to make the cut of a large portion of the stories on his sentencing.

The Associated Press misses the fact in two versions of the story (here and here), so does the New Mexico Independent. KRQE News 13 doesn’t mention the party of Agagon or his co-conspiritor Raul Parra. The Albuquerque Journal also skips party mention in this story of reactions to the sentencing.

And, in an amusing side note, the supposedly non-partisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) also do not mention Aragon’s party affiliation. This, of course, is hardly surprising because the folks that run CREW are a little less “non-partisan” than they claim with board members and operations staff rich with Democrat Party activism, ACLU experience and one with a past job history with the left-wing group Media Matters — a group funded in part by George Soros. One of its board members is well-known left-wing legal activist, law school dean and radio guest Erwin Chemerinsky. There isn’t a single Republican oriented member of this “non-partisan” group to be found.

In any case, we have one of New Mexico’s most powerful Democrat lawmakers headed for the hooskow, yet his party seems to go un-indicted by the Old Media. Imagine that?

(Photo credit: mgbralley-whatswrongwiththispicture.blogspot.com)

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We have for a few years now been chronicling the constant failure of the media to label a criminal or troubled politician with his party affiliation when that politician is a Democrat, we all know. Every couple of days we detail a new “name that party” story where an Old Media outlet reports on a Democrat politician arrested, convicted, or accused of a crime though he seems never to be labeled as such. We’ve also noted many times the opposite tale where a recalcitrant pol that happens to be a Republican finds his party receiving top billing in the Old Media. We have dozens and dozens of examples.

Well, it appears that at least one member of Congress has noticed the same thing and has mentioned the media’s penchant for Democrat Party passing on the floor of the House of Representatives. The Hill’s Briefing Room blog gives us the story.

But, I just had to laugh at The Hill’s headline. It went a little something like this:

GOP Leader Blasts Media Bias in House Floor Speech

You got it… The Hill made darn sure that party affiliation was first up in the headline.

Sigh.

An alleged liberal bias by journalists covering recent scandals was enough “breaking news” to House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who took to the floor of the House yesterday to complain.

“The national media spells scandal without the ‘D,’” Smith alleged during one-minute speeches by members on the House floor Monday.

“Two weeks ago the Governor of Illinois was removed from office,” he added. “All three television networks ran full reports on the story the same night and again the following morning. Not one report mentioned that he is a Democrat.”

Smith asserted the media failed to similarly include the party affiliation of indicted Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon and convicted Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, as well as sex scandal-plagued former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer — all of whom are Democrats.

“Americans need and deserve balanced reporting from the media, not selective omissions,” Smith added.

So, Lamar Smith (did we mention he’s an R- Texas) has noticed the media’s practice of conveniently forgetting the party of a Democratic Party troublemaker, eh? Well, good for Rep. Smith (did we mention he’s an R- Texas).

Our message about this partisan practice by the Old Media might be getting through.

(Photo credit: USA Today)

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