On March 29th of last year, then-Representative Cynthia McKinney had a run-in with Capitol Police in Washington DC.
On July 19th of this year Representative Christopher Shays had a run-in with Capitol Police in Washington D.C.
Each member of Congress subsequently apologized and despite each having made physical contact with the officer they were angry at in the two incidents neither was or will be criminally prosecuted.
On July 20th I asked the question: Rep. Shays (R-CT) scuffles with Police – Will this be handled like McKinney’s (D-GA) scuffle?
About a week and a half has passed and I did parallel Google searchs “Representative McKinney Police” and “Representative Shays Police”. In each instance I did not use quotation marks for the search.
Focusing on the major national news outlets and ignoring blogs and local news in each case for the most part, here is what I found in the McKinney search:
MSNBC-March 29th, 2006 (Same Day)
Ga. congresswoman scuffles with Capitol police
Fox News-March 30th, 2006 (Day 1)
Capitol Police Probe Rep. McKinney Incident
Washington Post-March 30th, 2006 (Day 1)
A Lawmaker Confronts the Long Arm of the Law
CBS-March 31st, 2006 (Day 2)
Lawyer: Rep. McKinney Victim Of Racism
Washington Post-April 1st, 2006 (Day 3)
McKinney Says Police Officer Touched Her ‘Inappropriately’
Fox News-April 1st, 2006 (Day 3)
McKinney Decries ‘Inappropriate Touching’ by Capitol Police
CNN-April 5, 2006 (Day 7)
Sources: McKinney case heading to grand jury
CNN-April 6, 2006 (Day Eight)
McKinney apologizes for scuffle with officer
CBS-April 6, 2006 (Day Eight)
McKinney Apologizes For Scuffle
Here is what has turned up in the Shays search:
The Hill-July 20th, 2007 (Day 4)
Shays apologizes for scuffle with Capitol Police officer
Fox News-July 20th, 2007 (Day 4)
Rep. Christopher Shays Apologizes for Capitol Hill Confrontation
CNN-July 21st, 2007 (Day 5)
Congressman clashes with police
When the Grand Jury exonerated McKinney, the news was nowhere to be found in the major, corporate news outlets, the only mention was on this blog:
The Smoking Gun-June 16th, 2006 (2 1/2 months later)
No Charges For Rep. McKinney
McKinney is black, Shays is white.
McKinney is a Democrat. Shays is a Republican.
McKiney is a woman. Shays is a man.
Are they being treated equally by the press?