Miranda Spivack

Tuesday's Washington Post devoted Metro section front-page real estate to the story of a Potomac, Md., homeowner clearing trees from his own property, painting the incident as a scandalous affront to the environment and to hikers on the nearby C&O Canal. Yet nowhere in Miranda Spivack's 22-paragraph article was any comment from property rights advocates who would argue that Lockheed Martin CEO Robert Stevens should not have to pay a fine for felling trees on his own property.

From the get-go, readers were treated to a thoroughly one-sided narrative in Spivack's October 9 article headlined "Lockheed CEO cited for tree-cutting." Here's her lead paragraph:

The Washington Post's Miranda Spivack downplayed all the irony in her report Friday on a top House Democrat on the tax-law-writing Ways and Means Committee trying to lower his taxes in Maryland by claiming the state as his residence – even as he represents a district in San Francisco. The congressman is long-time liberal loudmouth Pete Stark.

Stark's homestead exemption was first reported yesterday by Bloomberg News. The congressman is the second-ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee and chairs its health subcommittee, which writes tax legislation affecting health care.

Stark said yesterday that he expected Maryland to reject his application for a homestead exemption. "From what I hear from everybody, it will be denied and my taxes will go up," he said. He said he expects his $12,500 annual property tax bill to increase by about $3,000.