Today's Seattle Times published an appalling front-page hit piece on Dino Rossi. The Times trashes Dino for having worked in the same firms as a man who was later convicted of investment fraud, even though the Times itself acknowledged that "Rossi was never accused of wrongdoing in the scheme". Nor was the Times able to come up with any other suggestion of wrongdoing by Rossi.

A source familiar with the Seattle real estate business points out that the companies that Rossi worked for were among the largest commercial real estate firms in the city. They employed many agents who, like Dino, conducted their business honestly and weren't involved in the side of the business that was implicated in the fraud.

Nevertheless, the Times lets stick the guilt by association. This descent into yellow journalism isn't all that surprising. The Times has already all but endorsed Rossi's Democrat opponent, who, by the way, is still proud of her service as president of a college sorority that excluded blacks and Jews.