AP Buries Party Label of Dem Politician Accused of Sexual Advance

June 4th, 2008 9:40 AM

James Marzilli, a Democratic Massachusetts state senator and board member of the liberal Americans for Democratic Action* was arrested yesterday.

The Associated Press has an 11-paragraph story that dutifully buries Marzilli's party affiliation in the very last paragraph.:

Corey Welford, a spokesman for Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone, said Marzilli is accused of approaching a woman who was sitting on a park bench, making an "inappropriate comment" and attempting to touch her in a sexual manner, which she forcibly resisted.

Welford said when Marzilli was approached by Lowell police he allegedly gave them a false name. He was arrested after a police chase.

[...]

Marzilli, a Democrat, spent 17 years in the House before winning a special election in December to fill a vacant seat in the Senate.

*N.B.: Although Marzilli's official state senate bio says he serves on ADA's board of directors and has since 1990, the ADA Web site does not list his name among the directors on the Officers & Staff page.