Sunday, June 25, 2006

Why Might Pete King Cry Out for Media Prosecution?

(AP) Rep. Pete King of New York is gunning after his hometown newspaper after it published a story on international financial screening to root out terrorists. He is urging the Bush administration, particularly Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to investigate and prosecute the Times, “particularly the reporters, the editors and the publishers.”

Does Pete King have another agenda in his outcry for action? Might he be trying to shelter some of his major donors from an angry customer response? People with large sums of money moving it around internationally, might not want Uncle Sam nosing into their business.

Three of Rep. King’s top lifetime donors are banks, JP Morgan Chase & Co stands at number 1 having given over $62,000 to Pete. Coming in at 18 and 19 are Citigroup at almost $30,000 and Bank of America giving $28,000. For $120,000 in banking PAC donations, what might Rep. King do? Might he blame the media to take some of the heat away from the financial institutions?

Why can’t we aim the Treasury Department/CIA probing software at our elected officials, their donations and subsequent legislation/actions? That would actually be a good use of our taxpayer dollars, much better than suing media companies.

P.S. The AP at the beginning of the post represents the author’s initials

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