They Noticed But Did Not Name

The Tribune-Review editorial board lets slip that it reads at least one local blog (but still gets the story wrong).

Take a look:

BUT HE CAN'T DENY THE CAT CARTOONS ARE CUTE. Cancel U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle's subscription to The New Yorker.

Doyle, D-Forest Hills, is disputing the magazine's account of his participation in unsuccessful interventions designed to get his former roommate, U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., to end an extramarital affair.

Doyle contacted a local blog to deny that he was actively involved in attempts to persuade Ensign to stop seeing the wife of his former top aide. The interventions occurred in the controversial Capitol Hill townhouse they used to rent with several other lawmakers.

The living arrangement sparked an ethics complaint against the lawmakers in April by a government watchdog group that claimed they were paying below-market rents to stay at the house. Doyle said he moved out of the house, which is owned by a Christian prayer group, before the complaint was filed. [emphasis in original]

Notice that the third paragraph starts with:

Doyle contacted a local blog...

Um, that "local blog" would be this local blog right here. But as this is Scaife's braintrust we're talking about it's not overly difficult to find the spin. See how they less-than casually mention the ethics complaint without ever saying that that ethics probe has been dropped.

From Roll Call:

The Office of Congressional Ethics has dropped its investigation into whether several Members of Congress received an improper gift in the form of below-market rent at a Capitol Hill townhouse, five of the lawmakers’ offices have confirmed.

TPM has a little more from the Roll Call piece (the rest of the Roll Call piece is behind a subscription wall)

Aides to Reps. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) said Friday that each lawmaker received a letter from the OCE informing him that it closed the investigation.

This was back in June. You'd think a responsible editorial page would close the circle and point out all the relevant facts.

But this is the Tribune-Review editorial board we're talking about here.