Democrat to Challenge Traffic Ticket as Racist, AP Writer Ignores Party Affiliation

You know the drill. An elected Democrat gets in trouble with the law, and the party label might as well be in the witness protection program when it comes to some reporters at the AP. Now, in this particular case the infraction is minor --a traffic violation bearing a $75 fine -- but all the same writer Carla K. Johnson left out a Chicago congressman's party label in her November 23 story:

CHICAGO (AP) — An Illinois congressman said he was a victim of racial profiling when police gave him a traffic ticket alleging he swerved over the center line.

U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, who is black, said he will go to traffic court to challenge the $75 ticket given to him early Monday by two white officers.

"I'm not one of these people who cry racism," Davis told The Associated Press on Friday. "I'm a person who believes in hard work and follows the rules."

Yet oddly enough a November 22 blurb by the AP announced Davis's party affiliation in the lead paragraph. Likewise, Davis's hometown paper, the Chicago Tribune, mentioned his party affiliation in the second paragraph of a November 22 story.