Nice Headline on the front page of the NY Times today:

Companies Seeking Immunity Donate to Senator

Now that wasn’t so hard. I know, I know. Nothing sexy here, nothing that keeps eyeballs glued to the screen and pays those advertisers. Still, it seems like it might be a story worth telling.

Maybe they googled “rockefeller and fisa”? Maybe then they googled “rockefeller and quid pro quo”? Who knows?

How is the reporting? The lede:

Executives at the two biggest phone companies contributed more than $42,000 in political donations to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV this year while seeking his support for legal immunity for businesses participating in National Security Agency eavesdropping.

Concise summary of the facts in play, I’d say. Any response from the good Senator?

Mr. Rockefeller’s office said Monday that the sharp increases in contributions from the telecommunications executives had no influence on his support for the immunity provision.

“Any suggestion that Senator Rockefeller would make policy decisions based on campaign contributions is patently false,” Wendy Morigi, a spokeswoman for him, said.

They reported, we decide. Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?

Hat tip to the reporters on this, Eric Lichtblau (who’s been extensively covering the wiretapping debacle) and Scott Shane (wiretapping guru, but also into the CIA torture game).