AP Once Again Neglects Party Label for Phony Soldier Mayor

Democratic mayor Robert Levy, accused of being a phony soldier of sorts, went AWOL on September 26, failing to report to work on behalf of the citizens of Atlantic City, New Jersey. Reported the AP in an October 9 article:

Levy has been mired in scandal for nearly a year.

Last fall, the Press of Atlantic City reported that the Vietnam veteran's claims that he was a member of the Green Berets were untrue. He apologized.

But federal authorities have been looking into whether the 64-year-old Levy made that claim to increase his veteran's benefit payments.

Hmm, no party label? Even though this is not just resume embellishment but a possible case of veterans benefits fraud?

On October 6, NewsBusters contributor Warner Todd Huston noticed the AP left out Atlantic City Mayor Levy's Democratic Party affiliation. Levy is in trouble for collecting military veterans benefits he was not eligible for and that he was collecting on the basis of his exaggerated claims regarding his Army service during Vietnam.

Levy's been missing and unaccounted for since September 26, although he has not formally resigned his mayoral post, and now at least one lawmaker wants his office declared vacant, the AP reported in an update on Tuesday:

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - After the scandal-plagued mayor of this seaside gambling resort town took a mysterious leave of absence last month, fed-up city officials want his office declared vacant.

A judge was scheduled Tuesday to hear arguments from City Councilman Bruce Ward, who is seeking to have Mayor Robert Levy's seat rendered officially vacant, clearing the way for the council to name a replacement.

Ward has called Levy's disappearance "a national embarrassment."

A national embarrassment indeed, so why the lack of a party affiliation label?

After all, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) is also a national political embarrassment and like Levy, relatively unknown before his guilty plea in an airport bathroom sex sting was made public.

His party affiliation was, to my knowledge, rarely if ever left unmentioned in major print and broadcast news reads.