Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community

Romney's Hypocrisy

by BooMan
Tue Jun 19th, 2007 at 05:41:41 PM EST

Does this seem right?

When he was 13 years old, Anthony Circosta shot another kid in the arm with a BB gun, which was not a nice thing to do.
And even though Circosta's shot did not break the kid's skin, Circosta was convicted of assault.
Which did not matter much as Circosta worked his way through college, joined the Army National Guard, went to Iraq and led a platoon of soldiers in the Sunni Triangle.
In 2005, while still in Iraq, Circosta petitioned then-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for a pardon so that Circosta could become a police officer when he returned home. And the state Board of Pardons recommended that Circosta receive that pardon.
But Romney refused. Twice.

In fact, Romney never pardoned anyone when he was governor of Massachusetts. But, now, he is all for a pardon of Scooter Libby.

"This is one of those situations where I go back to my record as governor. I didn't pardon anybody as governor, because I didn't want to overturn a jury. But in this case, you have a prosecutor who clearly abused prosecutorial discretion by going after somebody when he already knew that the source of the leak was Richard Armitage. He'd been told that. So he went on a political vendetta."

Governor Deval Patrick should pardon Circosta today, if he hasn't already done so. But it may be too late for Circosta...he's 'now works as a project manager for a disaster restoration company in Massachusetts.'

If a man can fight in our armed forces then they can serve in the police department. Jesus.

Romney's Hypocrisy | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Romney's Hypocrisy (none / 0)

Evidently Romney doesn't know the difference between a prosecutor and a judge/jury. He'd make a worthy successor to Bush.

FDR's response to progressive demands: "I agree. Now go out and make me do it."

by DaveW on Tue Jun 19th, 2007 at 07:04:57 PM EST

Re: Romney's Hypocrisy (none / 0)

is there such a thing as a 'worthy successor to Bush'?

by BooMan on Tue Jun 19th, 2007 at 09:45:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Are you sure? (none / 1)

If a man can fight in our armed forces then they can serve in the police department.

I'm not sure I'd want folks from the MP Battalion at Abu Grahib serving in my local PD...

by northcountry on Tue Jun 19th, 2007 at 07:13:12 PM EST

Re: Are you sure? (none / 0)

No kidding. I agree that in this case, a pardon is warranted, and that there is no reason why this guy ought not to be allowed to enter a police academy.

That said, the military and the police are very, very different things, and membership in the former does not qualify one for membership in the latter. The way a soldier confronts the enemy is nothing at all like the way a police officer confronts (or should confront) a suspect. We hold the police to a much, much higher standard than we do soldiers for the simple reason that, unlike soldiers, the guns of the police are pointed at us. The degree of restraint required to be a good cop is orders of magnitude greater than the restraint required to be a good soldier.

---Cthulhu for President: Why vote for the lesser evil?

by eodell (eodell at naqada dot org) on Tue Jun 19th, 2007 at 08:53:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Romney's Hypocrisy (none / 0)

I don't believe Circosta ever should have been convicted of the criminal offense of assault as a 13 year old child in the first place.

Once he was petitioned, however, Romney failed in his duty to the people of the State of Massachusetts to grant a pardon to Circosta. If ever there was an appropriate and necessary case for doing so, it was that case.

I disagree, however, with the general statement that if a person has served in our armed forces, s/he should be able to serve as a peace officer. Blessings upon him, but my nephew was addicted to amphetamines and convicted of two felonies two years ago resulting from his actions to fund his addiction, before undergoing in-patient treatment. A year ago, while he was living with me, he was able to join the US Army. He has excelled in his military service, serving now in a very dangerous assignment in Afghanistan, but I could not even now give a blanket recommendation that he be able to serve in such a critical civilian occupation.

by Physh on Tue Jun 19th, 2007 at 10:52:14 PM EST

Re: Romney's Hypocrisy (none / 0)

Mitt Romney's history of speeches on the justice system can be found at: Mitt Romney's Record of Speeches

For more information on Mitt Romeny please visit: Mitt Romney's Project Vote Smart Page

For more information on the 2008 Presidential Election please visit Project Vote Smart or call our hotline at 1-888-VOTE-SMART.

Project Vote Smart http://www.votesmart.org 1-888-VOTE-SMART

by Project Vote Smart (mikew@votesmart.org) on Wed Jun 20th, 2007 at 06:19:11 PM EST

Romney's Hypocrisy | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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