We have seen over and over again how the MSM (and the AP in particular) can't seem to force themselves to mention the party affiliation of some elected official accused and/or convicted of a crime if that official happens to be a Democrat. Now the MSM has expanded that from elected officials even to party workers. The AP reports a story on two Democrat election officials convicted of recount rigging and neglect of official duties for their actions during the 2004 elections but, for some hard to determine reason, few if any news sources are mentioning that these two are Democrats. Jacqueline Maiden and Kathleen Dreamer have pleaded guilty to the charges after an aborted conviction from last January, the original trial having been granted a retrial on grounds not connected with the pair's actions. Their crime is a bit hard to explain, but what it comes down to is that they committed fraud with the 2004 ballot recount procedures that amounted to their attempt to get out of following the proper procedure to conduct the recount. Most of the news reports take great pains to say that the convicted operatives' actions "weren't for political purposes," but even if that were true does that make legitimate not mentioning that they are Democrat Party election officials in Cuyahoga County, one of Ohio's most Democratic counties? Again, we have to ask, what would these news sources do if these two guilty officials were Republican election workers? Who can doubt that the party affiliation would have led the reportage of this crime? So, no party affiliation for Maiden and Dreamer from either UPI, the AP, or the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The closest we get is an oblique reference to the claim that the pair's actions didn't help John Kerry in 2004.
Special prosecutor Kevin Baxter did not claim the actions affected the outcome of the election. Democratic Sen. John Kerry Kerry gained 17 votes and President Bush lost six in the county recount.
The fact that Kerry gained 17 votes in the recount would not have been mentioned had these two not been Democrat Poll workers, the suspicion being that they fraudulently created Kerry's gain out of thin air. But surmising this point takes some thought and is not obvious on its surface. So, even the recitation of this point does not explain in a straightforward manner that these two women were Democrats. No, what we have here is another game of hide-the-Democrat from the readers. Another in a long list of stories that will seemingly never end. **Update- 12/21/07** I find that I was misinformed about Kathleen Dreamer's party affiliation. She is a Republican as can be found in this AP story. This is the first story I have seen that mentions the party affiliation specifically of Dreamer. An earlier story I saw misidentified both as Democrats.
