Two NJ Mayors Arrested in Major Bust, Party ID Ignored By AP

This morning, some 30 people were arrested in New Jersey, the fruit of a two-year federal investigation into a international money laundering scandal. Among those arrested were Democratic Mayors Peter Cammarano III (Hoboken) and Dennis Elwell (Secaucus), as well as Democratic deputy mayor of Jersey City Leona Beldini and Republican state Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt.

But if you only got your news of this mass arrest from the Associated Press, you would not learn the party affiliation of these politicians. To their credit, other news outlets readily accessible to New Jerseyans such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal noted the party affiliations of these allegedly crooked pols.

Indeed, the party association of each politician is no secret, especially Mayor Cammarano, elected June 9 and sworn in on July 1.

 More local papers reported on the scandal but NBC New York detailed no party affiliation from any of the politicians while NJ.com only reported the political denomination of the Republican politician involved.

 So why are some media outlets leaving out the party affiliation?

Could it be because in order to tell the story, reporters must admit that not just one or two, but at least three Democrats were stung in this federal money laundering bust, in the middle of a gubernatorial election year where incumbent liberal Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine is already hurting in the polls?