From the Baltimore Sun (HT Taranto at Best of the Web):
Democrats accuse Steele of 'political identity theft'
No, Maryland voters, the printer did not make an error. Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele's new campaign signs seem to identify him as a Democrat.
A "Steele Democrat," they read.
..... The group and accompanying signs appear to be the latest Steele effort to distance himself from an unpopular White House and a Republican Party struggling to maintain its hold on Congress. The state Democratic Party chairman immediately accused him of "identity theft."
What short memories everyone thinks we have:
- The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) staffers committed ACTUAL identity theft against one Michael Steele about a year ago by obtaining his credit report.
- DSCC head and New York Senator Charles Schumer, who is sooooo worried about identity theft that he boasted of introducing a comprehensive ID theft bill in April of 2005, has, as far as I know, said nothing about the incident.
- This past March, one of the two staffers received a very light community-service sentence, with charges dropped in a year on good behavior. The important question, namely "What did Chuck Schumer know, and when did he know it?" has gone unanswered.
A commenter at the Captain's Quarters blog at the time of the original report reminded us that this was a serious matter:
To obtain a report legally, a signature authorization is required and information is required to obtain the report.
The access of the report is a crime. The distribution of the report is a crime. The acceptance and READING of the report is a crime.
If someone gave the people accessing the report personal information required to obtain the report, they also committed a crime.
In other words, stealing an identity and distributing the information are crimes in and of themselves, even if no financial or other crimes are committed as a result of obtaining the stolen information.
Though she must be aware of last year's DSCC crime (if she isn't, her editors are), Sun reporter Jennifer Skalka "somehow" managed not to make the obvious connection between last year's REAL identity theft by the DSCC and this year's allegedly political one.
How convenient.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
