Dorie Turner/AP ignores Teodoro Maus affiliation (Georgia, Perdue)

Last week, Georgia governor Sonny Perdue said the following:

"It is simply unacceptable for people to sneak into this country illegally on Thursday, obtain a government-issued ID on Friday, head for the welfare office on Monday and cast a vote on Tuesday."

You're probably thinking that few could raise objections with such comments, and you'd be right. But, the few, loud and proud supporters of illegal immigration are outraged ("Groups demand Perdue retract immigration statements" by Dorie Turner of the AP):

...The Coordinating Council of Community Leaders, who organized the rally at the Capitol, delivered to the governor's office Monday a letter blasting Perdue's comments.

"We are distraught that ... statements made last week will only increase the climate of suspicion around Latino immigrants and increase racial profiling," says the letter, signed by council members Teodoro Maus and Adelina Nicholls.

Dorie Turner fails to note the highly material fact that Maus is a former Mexican consul general. The AP has done this at least once before: Tim Molloy's story at the previous link. And, they've failed to note Peter Schey's Mexico links at least three times. What else aren't they telling us?

Thankfully, Perdue (so far) won't give in to the far-lefties: "I won't apologize for criminal activity."

Note also that Rev. Joseph Lowery, the former head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was at the rally and he's definitely on the wrong side of things. From this:

"Many of these brothers and sisters are better citizens than some of those who are engaging in ridicule and demeaning," said Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery of the Coalition for the People's Agenda.

On the more favorable side of things, both Vicky Eckenrode of the Morris News Service and Toraine Norris of the Birmingham News noted Maus' previous affiliation, the last in regard to a different protest in Birmingham Alabama. In a related story in the AJC - the same paper that ran the AP article at the first link - Mary Lou Pickel noted the affiliation.

I guess those sources ignored the part of the "AP Style Guide" that tells reporters not to tell the whole truth. Write feedback *at* ap.org with your thoughts. Better yet, choose some of the papers that ran the AP report and suggest they review AP articles before running them to make sure they aren't missing material facts.

UPDATE: AP has mentioned the affiliation in another report.

Immigration · Tue, 09/19/2006 - 03:42 · Importance: 1