Goodling hit piece

Today on LAT's front page, reporter Rick Schmitt takes several swipes at former Justice Department official Monica Goodling, whom he describes as "a 33-year-old graduate of a little-known law school that teaches courses on the philosophy of punishing and controlling 'sin'." As usual, the piece is based primarily on anonymous sources. Even if all the rumors reported in the piece were true, there would be no proof that Goodling did anything illegal or unethical. It could be argued that she sometimes used poor judgment but that would be true of almost everyone on earth. The fact that Goodling is religious, which Schmitt emphasizes, has no significance with regard to her job. Even to suggest that, as Schmitt does, is unethical, both for the reporter and the newspaper.