FBI: LA State Senator is Money Laundering — Did AP Mention He’s a Democrat?

October 27, 2007 | Filed Under Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Media Bias, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston |

-By Warner Todd Huston

Today it’s being reported that Louisiana State Senator Derrick Shepherd stands accused by the FBI of money laundering. The AP duly reported the messy story surrounding this charge, of course. Their story was long and exhaustive for an AP report. Only one tiny, little thing seems to have been forgotten by the AP. They seem to have forgotten to mention that Shepherd is a Democrat. I know… shocking, eh?

This is just another in a long, long line of MSM reports — and AP reports in particular — where a report on criminal activity by an elected official seems to lack party identification… IF that criminal activity is perpetrated by a Democrat, of course.

The AP begins with:

State Sen. Derrick Shepherd helped a felon launder nearly $141,000 in bogus construction bond fees last year, keeping nearly half the money, an FBI agent said.

So, what was it that this State Senator did to assist this felon launder money?

According to an account of the hearing by The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, Smith testified that Shepherd, an attorney who often handles personal injury cases, wrote “settlement proceeds” on memo lines of checks to Moyo, but there is no evidence that he did any legal work for her.

Smith said Moyo signed five checks totaling $140,686 - two bearing notes that they were for bond fees - to Shepherd’s account. Shepherd kept about $65,000 of Moyo’s money and returned the remaining amount, the agent testified.

Nice scam, eh?

Now, this time another news source does mention the party of our erstwhile Senator Shepherd. The Times-Picayune didn’t forget to mention Shepherd’s Party affiliation, so, props to the TP.

It is interesting, though, to note that calling a corrupt Democrat a Democrat didn’t bother the local paper much. But the AP? Well, they have a “policy” ya see. They only mention party affiliation when it is “germane” to the story, I hear.

And it all begs the question: when exactly WILL being a Democrat become “germane” to the AP’s coverage of corruption in our public officials?
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Warner Todd Huston’s thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, men’snewsdaily.com and americandaily.com among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a guest on several radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston