Dear David Broder,

You sir, are a role model.  You are widely known and well-regarded as both "the dean of political journalists" and as a Pulitzer-prize winning author.  I'm sure you agree this status compels you to follow the highest ethical standards of your profession.  

As a member of The Society of Professional Journalists, you also know you are obligated to follow their Code of Ethics.  It is with dismay I note you apparently violated many of these important ethical principles in your recent column, A Way Back to the High Road?  

After reviewing the attached list of particulars, I hope you will promptly correct these mistakes, thereby avoiding permanent damage to your reputation and credibility.

Two articles from the Thursday, May 11 opinion section of The Seattle Times demonstrate the path that the mainstream media is pursuing toward the 2006 and 2008 political cycles.  The mainstream media seeks to define what is "moderate" and hence electable, hoping that voters will buy into their arguments.

The article on top by Seattle Times syndicated columnist Joni Balter, appearing just below a cartoon humorously lampooning Cheney's secret meetings with oil executives in connection with spiraling gas prices, criticizes Dwight Pelz, the recently elected state chairman of the Washington Democratic Party.  

The focus of the criticism is in a familiar area, seeking to depict Pelz as outside the mainstream of Washington voters.

Balter perceives Pelz as "an old-time, Seattle lefty who often sees issues in black and white."  The columnist is agitated by Pelz's criticisms of Senator Maria Cantwell's support of the Iraq War, along with a comment that he expects many party activists to refuse to sign up for her upcoming reelection campaign due to her position regarding that bloody continuing conflict.