WaPo's Cheap Shot at a Thompson Supporter

The Washington Post ran a front page story on a supporter of Fred Thompson who had two drug convictions 25 years ago:

Republican presidential candidate Fred D. Thompson has been crisscrossing the country since early this summer on a private jet lent to him by a businessman and close adviser who has a criminal record for drug dealing.

Thompson selected the businessman, Philip Martin, to raise seed money for his White House bid. Martin is one of four campaign co-chairmen and the head of a group called the "first day founders." Campaign aides jokingly began to refer to Martin, who has been friends with Thompson since the early 1990s, as the head of "Thompson's Airforce."

Thompson's frequent flights aboard Martin's twin-engine Cessna 560 Citation have saved him more than $100,000, because until the law changed in September, campaign-finance rules allowed presidential candidates to reimburse private jet owners for just a fraction of the true cost of flights.

Martin entered a plea of guilty to the sale of 11 pounds of marijuana in 1979; the court withheld judgment pending completion of his probation. He was charged in 1983 with violating his probation and with multiple counts of felony bookmaking, cocaine trafficking and conspiracy. He pleaded no contest to the cocaine-trafficking and conspiracy charges, which stemmed from a plan to sell $30,000 worth of the drug, and was continued on probation.

The reason I refer to this as a cheap shot is that the guy in question clearly got his act together and has apparently lived an exemplary life since then, building a significant legitimate fortune in the process. There really is no real newsworthy value in this story - it's just being used to hurt the candidate.

I'm sure if the backgrounds of many significant Dem supporters were examined for their activities 25 or more years ago we'd find a lot of unfortunate skeletons over there as well. Chances are, we'd find the same thing in many of the Dem candidates lives as well.