Lara Jakes Jordan

Today, the Associated Press generally did what is supposed to do when reporting on scandal-plagued politicians. Here are the first five paragraphs of the AP's brief report on Indiana Congressman Mark Souder's resignation announcement (link is dynamic and will probably be updated; "where's the worst one we can find?" picture of Souder at top right is via AP):

Here's the opening of the coverage at the New York Times's Caucus Blog (also subject to possible updates):

In her story about pardon applications submitted to the Bush Justice Department before the President leaves office, the Associated Press's Lara Jakes Jordan made it seem as if pardon applicants appealing directly to the president is a new thing, and whitewashed the last-minute flurry of pardons granted by Bill Clinton in 2001.

Here are the key passages from Jordan's story:

Some high-profile convicts past and present are among more than 2,000 people asking President George W. Bush to pardon them or commute their prison sentences before he leaves office.

Junk-bond king Michael Milken, media mogul Conrad Black and American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh have applied to the Justice Department seeking official forgiveness.

But with Bush's term ending Jan. 20, some lawyers are lobbying the White House directly to pardon their clients. That raises the possibility that the president could excuse scores of people, including some who have not been charged, to protect them from future accusations, such as former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales or star baseball pitcher Roger Clemens.

AP Reporter Lara Jakes Jordan wrote about a letter that had "been sent" but not yet delivered to Attorney General Mike Mukasey. The reporter had a significant number of facts, including that the signers of the letter were Obama donors, that she did not disclose. Part of the story:

Six former Justice Department lawyers want Attorney General Michael Mukasey to make sure voter registration investigations don't keep eligible minority voters from the polls on Election Day.

The six attorneys formerly worked in the department's Civil Rights Division, which oversees ballot access issues as part of the Voting Rights Act.

The core of the letter concerned a policy at the DoJ that the Wall Street Journal has noticed is not being followed:

In a letter Friday to Mukasey, the attorneys noted that Justice Department policies generally discourage voter-related investigations until after elections to make sure the inquiries don't interfere with legitimate voters at the polls.

There are several problems with this story however. First, as noted above, the letter hadn't yet been delivered and no names were mentioned. Once I actually asked her for a copy of the letter, it turned out that 3 of the 6 signers of the letters were Obama donors. And she did not disclose that she herself is married to John Kerry's campaign manager Jim Jordan. And that's not the only problem.