Friday, April 20, 2012 — The following item ran in our “Admiral Fowle’s Piscataqua River Tidal Guide (Not for Navigational Purposes)” for this date:
“1971 — Maryland building contractor Lester Matz pays a $2,500 bribe to Vice President and freelance media critic Spiro ‘Ted’ Agnew.”
Agnew began blazing the GOP’s anti-media trail in 1968. Confronted with proof he’d accepted bribes, he would not confess but pled nolo contendre. Though he was forced to resign in 1973, his Party still follows the trail he pioneered.
At right: The Gazette’s reference copy of Where he Stands: The Life and Convictions of Spiro T. Agnew. From page 114: “When people embark upon a course of action that’s deliberately calculated to inflame and provoke other action in response to it, there’s no end to how far they can go.” — press conference, April 4, 1968