On Wednesday, Fox News covered a scandal amongst five Toledo, Ohio, city council members this way: “Tyrone Riley, Yvonne Harper, Garrick ‘Gary’ Johnson, Larry Sykes and Keith Mitchell were charged with bribery and extortion in a federal criminal complaint after a two-year investigation, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).”

The Toledo Blade covered it this way: “For years, Democrats have been the dominant political machine in Toledo. But that dynamic is poised for a shakeup after four Democratic Toledo City Council members were charged in a bribery scheme that has rocked the local Democratic Party and the city’s majority-Democrat legislative body.” The difference is striking.

In fact, nowhere in the Fox News online coverage is it mentioned that the allegedly corrupt council members are Democrats—all of them. Fox News completely ignores the glaring substance of the charges as they relate to politics, even though the allegations stem directly from political corruption. And The Toledo Blade is not considered a Republican paper in the slightest. It is just a publication that reports the facts.

As reported by the Blade and other media outlets, the scandal shakes out this way: “As alleged in the Complaint, four Toledo City Council members and a local attorney have been engaged in a pay-to-play scheme involving bribes for Council votes,” U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said in a statement. “Maintaining the public’s trust in its elected officials is one of the Department of Justice’s core responsibilities.”

Councilwoman Yvonne Harper walked out of the court house. “I don’t know anything.” “I don’t know how this came about.”
She would not address the accusations of soliciting bribes, nor would she say if she will step down. @toledonews

— Sarah Elms ⚔️ (@BySarahElms) June 30, 2020

“The residents of Toledo should know, as should every other resident of the Northern District of Ohio, that where there are allegations of public corruption and kickbacks, we and our federal partners will be there every time,” said Herdman. He said the charges for bribery carry a 10-year max stint and that extortion carries another 20-year sentence. Both charges also carry a $250,000 fine. City Council President Matt Cherry and Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz have called for the council member’s resignations.

According to the DOJ, a source approached the FBI with info relating to the scheme Democrat members of the city council were allegedly participating in at that time and had been engaging in for some time. The source was a former business owner with knowledge of the bribery and extortion plans of the Democrats.

“Elected officials are elected by the people, to serve the people, not to serve their own financial self-interest,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric B. Smith. “The FBI will continue efforts to root out public corruption so citizens can have faith and trust in their public officials.”

All of these facts and quotes were easily gleaned from standard research. The Blade did it, this publication did it, other media outlets also found these basic facts of the case and reported them. But Fox News, in its relatively new campaign to skew left, chose to ignore certain facts that implicated members of the Democratic Party in this affair. Sadly, this is not the first time (nor likely the last) Fox News indulged in this kind of journalistic malpractice.

This piece was written by PoliZette Staff on July 2, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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