The New York Times editorial board is now calling on Congress to investigate the allegations made about Bush Justice Department manipulation of justice in the Jill Simpson affidavit. The editorial page even refers to it as the “Bush Justice Department.”

This is a first, and signals some kind of major sea change at the Times (from my old copy editor, now an editorial writer).

I tried to get the New York Times to show some skepticism of the Bush Justice Department in its handling of the case of HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy back in the winter of 2005.

Instead, U.S. Attorney Alice Martin referred to one of the Times business reporters as her “little buddy.” Every correspondent I worked for covering that case demonstrated that all they were interested in was throwing Scrushy in jail for the rest of his life and taking all his money away.

The Times editors in the Business section did not back me up when I was harassed by certain U.S. Marshals at the federal courthouse in Birmingham – simply because I was working for the New York Times and the Times had failed to obtain press credentials in advance of the trial.

The paper also never included in ANY story ANY of my reporting showing that the Scrushy case was in some ways politically motivated.

I have no way of knowing if there has been a major personnel change at the Times or why they have changed their minds. Maybe we can chalk that up to Jill Simpson and her sworn affidavit.

Now if only the House and Senate Judiciary Committees would heed what the “new” Times is saying and call for a full investigation, perhaps we can get to the bottom of this once and for all.

In any event, the reporting on this is not over…

NYT: Questions About a Governor’s Fall

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