Patterico's Pontifications

10/15/2006

L.A. Times Endorses Arnold

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General — Patterico @ 2:44 pm



In perhaps the surest sign of the political emasculation of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the L.A. Times has endorsed him for Governor.

Oh, well. He ain’t great, but he’s better than Angelides.

Scalia and Strossen on Civil Liberties: Fire Up Your TiVo NOW!

Filed under: Civil Liberties,General,Judiciary — Patterico @ 1:42 pm



Why God made TiVo:

“U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and America Civil Liberties Union president Nadine Strossen discuss civil liberties at the ACLU Convention.”

It’s on C-SPAN at 5 p.m. Eastern, in just a few minutes. Run, don’t walk, to your DVR.

L.A. Times Barely Mentions Reid Ethics Issue

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General,Politics — Patterico @ 12:16 pm



With an election approaching, the L.A. Times appears to be covering for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid — which is disappointing, because the paper has done a good job covering him in the past.

By now, everyone except L.A. Times readers knows that Reid may have violated Senate ethics rules. Reid failed to report a land transfer to a partnership controlled by Reid and a controversial lobbyist “whose name surfaced in a major political bribery trial this summer and in other prior organized crime investigations,” according to the Associated Press. Reid’s company later sold the land at a $700,000 profit, but Reid never reported the initial transfer or his ties to the lobbyist.

All of this occurs against a backdrop of Reid doing favors for Nevada land developers, at least one of whom has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Reid, and has advanced the careers of two of his sons.

The L.A. Times has done good work reporting Reid’s history of doing favors for land developers. But Reid’s latest potential ethical lapse — which has been reported by virtually every news organization out there — has been all but ignored by the L.A. Times.

Several news organizations consider it news that Reid may have violated Senate ethics rules with respect to the reporting of the land transfer. The revelation of Reid’s incomplete accounting has been reported in the Washington Post here and here, and in the New York Times here. The Chicago Tribune has also done an article on the issue.

Moreover, many news outlets have criticized Reid for his incomplete reporting. The Philadelphia Inquirer has called on Reid to resign if he can’t provide a better explanation than he has to date. Reid’s hometown paper says today that Reid is “ankle deep in the manure pit.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has called for a full ethics committee investigation of the matter, saying: “Reid’s ethics meter only seems to work when it’s too late.” The Washington Post has also been critical, saying that the AP story

doesn’t cast the senator in an attractive light. Neither does his response to the AP story, which indicates a casual disregard for the importance of accurate reporting of lawmakers’ financial affairs.

Yet, despite all of this coverage, the Reid ethics issue has not been the subject of a story in the L.A. Times. Indeed, it has barely been whispered about in the paper’s pages — as part of a defensive statement by a GOP defender, buried in an article about work that conservative organizations have done for Jack Abramoff.

Details in the extended entry.

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