Maybe it’s a small thing… maybe a mere oversight in the rush to keep up with breaking news, but I find this Providence Journal staff article on fraud and tax evasion charges brought against former Pawtucket Senator James Doyle head-shaking.

Over the course of four paragraphs, the article tells readers about the charges and when he was elected, as well as his reference to issues with alcohol.  It also mentions that Doyle is “the son of a longtime Pawtucket mayor.”  The staff writer doesn’t tell us, however, that both the ex-senator and his father were Democrats.

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What makes that weird is the final paragraph:

In April, Democrat Sandra C. Cano won a special election to fill Doyle’s former seat.

So why is the party of the woman who replaced the alleged malefactor noteworthy, but the party of the alleged malefactor himself is not?  Forgive my cynicism, but I can’t discount the possibility that the conscious or subconscious reason is to put the labeled Democrat, who is currently running for reelection against a Republican challenger, in contrast with the unlabeled Democrat.

Or maybe it’s just in the Projo’s style guide that misbehaving Democrats should only be labeled when it’s absolutely critical to the story, while Democrats running for office must always be labeled so voters know where to look for their names.

ADDENDUM (9:18 p.m. 8/16/18):

The Associated Press played “hide the party, too.”  Meanwhile, kudos to Rhode Island Public Radio’s Scott Mackay for not doing so.