In Case You Didn’t Have Enough Reasons

…to want to see Coakley lose, consider the evil travesty of misjustice she was responsible for in the Amirault case.

Attorney General Martha Coakley—who had proven so dedicated a representative of the system that had brought the Amirault family to ruin, and who had fought so relentlessly to preserve their case—has recently expressed her view of this episode. Questioned about the Amiraults in the course of her current race for the U.S. Senate, she told reporters of her firm belief that the evidence against the Amiraults was “formidable” and that she was entirely convinced “those children were abused at day care center by the three defendants.”

What does this say about her candidacy? (Ms. Coakley declined to be interviewed.) If the current attorney general of Massachusetts actually believes, as no serious citizen does, the preposterous charges that caused the Amiraults to be thrown into prison—the butcher knife rape with no blood, the public tree-tying episode, the mutilated squirrel and the rest—that is powerful testimony to the mind and capacities of this aspirant to a Senate seat. It is little short of wonderful to hear now of Ms. Coakley’s concern for the rights of terror suspects at Guantanamo—her urgent call for the protection of the right to the presumption of innocence.

If the sound of ghostly laughter is heard in Massachusetts these days as this campaign rolls on, with Martha Coakley self-portrayed as the guardian of justice and civil liberties, there is good reason.

Rabinowitz’ Pulitzer was well deserved.

8 thoughts on “In Case You Didn’t Have Enough Reasons”

  1. The science fiction novel I will never finish writing contains three impossibilities: Artificial Gravity, Faster-Than-Light Travel, and a criminal justice ‘meta-system’ that would take a person like this woman is described to be out behind the courthouse and put a bullet through her head.

    Fiction, of course, is much more satisfying than reality. I don’t actually advocate capital punishment for being a political hack willing to ruin people’s lives for their own gain, but I’d have a hard time arguing against it.

  2. …What other kind of politican did any of you expect the Democratic Party would hand-select to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat?

    “By their works ye shall know them…”

  3. I would support an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Kansas establishing term limits on all elective and appointed prosecutorial positions, and prohibiting anyone who has ever been a prosecuting lawyer from running for non-prosecutorial elective office.

    We have to keep ambitious people away from the job of prosecutor.

    Of course I am probably entirely wrong about this idea. It just seems to me that the incentives for prosecutors are not good for promoting justice.

    Somebody come along and tell me why I’m wrong.

    Yours,
    Tom

  4. Wow, that’s pretty nasty. I’m surprised she did as well as she did to pick up the party nomination.

  5. Somebody come along and tell me why I’m wrong.

    I would get yourself some chips and beer and settle in. It’s going to be a long wait.

  6. We have to keep ambitious people away from the job of prosecutor.

    I’ve read that the real meaning of the acronym NAAG isn’t the “National Association of Attorney’s General” but the “National Association of Aspiring Governors.” There are many attorneys general whose actions seem more driven by aspiration to higher elected office than to justice or serving the public.

  7. Larry J.,
    you hit it on the head!!

    Here in NC, our last Governor, Mike Easley, was AG prior to getting the statehouse. Although his efforts are put to shame by Mad Marta’s, he’s guilty of screwing every tax payer in the state while AG. Yeah, tall order huh?

    While AG, he was tied up in a case in federal court over the state’s having taxed former state and federal employees retirement payments, for years, after setting up a system where that wasn’t supposed to happen. The then workers paid higher taxes while working, so as to defray the expenses during retirement.

    Even though the law was clearly violated by collecting and demanding the taxes, Easley assured the Legislature and his predecessor that he had the chops and rules to win his case. Ultimately he lost the case, the federal judge reamed him, and the Legislature, in the findings for attempting this, and the payback and fines cost the state [taxpayers] $750 million. That wiped out any money we had in the bank before, and to the best of my knowledge we’ve been behind ever since.

    NOW, he’s being investigated for problems during his days as the Guv.

    Personally I think the AG should be blocked from running for those offices back to back.

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