Blogger Bat One, posting on Pennywit.com, has noticed an item in the Bennington (Vt.) Banner which reports that  Socialist Congressman Bernie Sanders

used campaign donations to pay his wife and stepdaughter more than $150,000 for campaign—related work since 2000, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Jane O'Meara Sanders, his wife, received $91,020 between 2002 and 2004 for "consultation" and for negotiating the purchase of television and radio time—slots for Sanders' advertisements, according to records and interviews.

Approximately $61,000 of that was "pass through" money that was used to pay media outlets for advertising time, Jane O'Meara Sanders said in an interview. The rest, about $30,000, she kept as payment for her services, she said.

Carina Driscoll, daughter to Jane O'Meara Sanders and stepdaughter to the lawmaker, earned $65,002 in "wages" between 2000 and 2004, campaign records show.

Neither Bat One nor I is going to hold our breaths waiting for the MSM to demand the same sort of invetsigations and punishment they have demanded of Tom DeLay, accused of the same "crimes." In fact, I doubt that either the New York Times or the Washington Post will find space on their front page (or anywhere else) for this news, even though DeLay rated front page treatment.

Thomas Lifson   4 13 05