Economy & Budget

DSCC Donates Madoff Money

On Wednesday, I wrote about the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) holding onto $100K in donations from Bernie Madoff while the media stood in silence.

Late yesterday afternoon, the DSCC announced that is was doing the right thing and donating the illicit money to a fund for Madoff victims.

It’s surprising it took so long for this to happen. As a prominent Democratic spokesman told me yesterday, “We give back smaller amounts of money with less reason all the time.” No doubt that’s true, on both sides of the aisle. Still, it was the right thing to do and smart politically — one of those instances where good policy equals smart politics — and since the DSCC having the money was noted, their decision to donate it to Madoff victims should be noted as well.

It is troubling, however, that the mainstream media essentially took a pass on this story. Republicans are always on the lookout for instances of media bias, which seems to be a daily occurrence, and here’s another example. Republicans were practically beaten over the head over Enron and yet when the Democrats hold onto stolen money, the media react with a collective yawn.