Ex-Md. Legislator Gets Seven Years for Bribery, AP Ignores Party Affiliation

November 16th, 2007 2:34 PM

Veteran Maryland political commentator, radio show host and White House correspondent Les Kinsolving often calls Maryland "The Land of Political Enchantment," and indeed the Old Line State never fails to enchant natives and outsiders alike with its bizarre --William Donald Schaefer comes to mind-- and often corrupt politicos.

Yet although the state is famously blue-hued with an overwhelmingly Democratic General Assembly, you can count on the media to ignore the party affiliation of Democratic state legislators who run afoul of the law.

Such was the case with the Associated Press today ignoring former state senator Thomas Bromwell's Democratic Party affiliation. AP follows the Washington Post's lead (see my July 24 article) in ignoring Bromwell's party connections.

To its credit the Baltimore Sun -- which Baltimore-based radio host Tom Marr refers to as "The Calvert and Centre Street Democrat Club" -- noted Bromwell's Democratic party affiliation in its November 16 article:

Today's sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Baltimore wraps up a long federal racketeering case filed in October 2005, which became one of the state's largest public corruption investigations. It ended with guilty pleas from both defendants. Bromwell, a Democrat, was accused of using his political power to help Baltimore-based Poole and Kent in exchange for more than $200,000 in cash, bogus salary and discounted home-improvement materials.