There's a saying that when one takes a shot at someone in a high position, he needs to hit the mark the first time. Unfortunately, the Boston Globe may have misdirected its shot at Massachusetts governor and potential GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The Globe recently published an article suggesting that Romney's political action committee was working with prominent members of the LDS Church, including Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve, on drumming up Mormon support for a Romney presidential campaign.

The Globe described how Romney's son Josh, along with a paid consultant for Romney's PAC and one of his donors met with Elder Holland at church headquarters in September to discuss backing Romney if he runs. The story said that "documents" indicate that Elder Holland was handling the initiative for building support for Romney among the LDS faithful.

And that's where the Globe's story falls apart. It just cites "documents" without explaining what the documents are or whence they came. Not even a general description. Were they e-mailsfi Handwritten minutes of meetingsfi Letters from a Deep Throat contact inside church headquartersfi Surely there was something the newspaper could have given readers to help them judge the credibility of the information.

Without some description, it is hard to take the charges in the story seriously. The vague statement that "documents indicate" sounds official but conveys little.

While there is a need to protect confidential sources of information, the evidence forming the basis of a story of this nature ought to be laid out in as much detail as possible to show enough substance to refute charges of a hatchet job.

When San Francisco Chronicle reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada wrote about a Bay Area laboratory supplying steroids to Barry Bonds and other athletes, they cited transcripts of federal grand jury proceedings. The reporters didn't disclose who gave them the documents, but they identified the general nature of the documentation that formed the foundation of their account.

While the disclosure has earned the reporters a possible trip to jail for refusing to divulge who leaked the secret documents, it gave the story credibility enough to force Major League Baseball to enact serious reforms on steroid use.

So far, the only thing that the Globe has proved is that two deans at the Marriott School of Management used a BYU e-mail account to send a message, signed with their titles, asking for support for a possible Romney campaign. The professors have been reprimanded by the university. But that's hardly a smoking gun for a case that the LDS Church is throwing its long-held political neutrality policy out the window to help Romney become the first church member to serve as U.S. president.

Indeed, the LDS Church refuted the charge by doing something the Globe didn't: It produced an actual document. In this case, it was a transcript of the exchange between church spokesman Michael Otterson and Globe reporters showing that Otterson's comments were ignored or misstated in the Globe's account. The transcript showed that Globe reporters were told that Elder Holland advised Romney's people that the church, BYU or any organization associated with the church could not publicly support any candidate. Elder Holland also said that any alumni groups joining the campaign would have to get permission from BYU first.

Until the Globe puts its cards on the table, its story may be taken as an unsubstantiated attack on Romney and the church.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A6.