Reporter files complaint over Edwards

A retired Maine reporter filed a grievance with the N.C. State Bar over former Sen. John Edwards' law license.

Ted Cohen, a longtime reporter for the Portland Press Herald who now drives long-haul trucks, filed the complaint in August.

In it, he argued that Edwards' statements to the press about his affair with former campaign staffer Rielle Hunter were "unbecoming" to the legal profession.

"He has brought shame and dishonor to the bar," he wrote.

A spokeswoman for the bar would not confirm the complaint as a matter of policy, but a letter sent to Cohen by Deputy Counsel Jennifer Porter said they would investigate the matter.

Edwards' license was put on inactive status on April 14, 2000. He does not have any public record of disciplinary actions.

More after the jump.

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Cohen, 58, said he filed the complaint because he felt Edwards was not truthful about his affair during interviews with the press.

"After taking in all of this discussion about Edwards, I thought, 'To heck with it, I'm going to file a complaint,'" he said.

It's not his first run-in with a presidential candidate. Before the 2000 elections, Cohen was the first reporter to dig up information about George W. Bush's drunk-driving arrest, though an editor held the story.

After leaving the paper, Cohen got a commercial truck driver's license and now hauls general freight around Maine.

He contacted Dome after seeing Elizabeth Edwards on television talking about her new book, saying he thinks the former senator has not atoned.

"I think he needs to account for this somehow," he said, arguing losing his law license "might be the only language someone of his ilk understands."