Milwaukee Should Have Tried Sister Agnes’ Method

 
Remember those happy-go-lucky Democratic tire slashers in Milwaukee during the last presidential election?

Son of a gun, if they didn’t just wrap things up. Who says justice isn’t swift? According to The Milwaukee Sentinel Journal Online, things are finally winding down now, more than fifteen months after the incidents:

After a two-week felony trial culminating with notes from a conflicted jury, four Kerry-Edwards campaign workers - including the sons of U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) and former Acting Mayor Marvin Pratt - had their charges in the Election Day 2004 tire-slashing reduced to misdemeanors and accepted the deal.

And who says justice isn’t fair? A dumbed-down charge from felony to misdemeanor, now that’s fair for a practicing Democrat just trying to make the playing field a bit more level. One brave soul held out and got off:

The fifth Democratic staffer accused of crippling Republican vans won a jury acquittal by sticking with a fight against the felony charge.

There's a close call for you: this one must have nerves of steel. All that's left to do is for the boys to pool their money and pay restitution — a total of $5,317.45 — and they can forget the individual $10,000.00 fines that can accompany misdemeanors of this sort. They don’t have to serve the recommended nine month jail time, either:

	All five defendants had been charged with damaging 40 tires on 25 rented vans parked outside Republican Party offices on W. Capitol Drive, hours before they were to be deployed for electioneering. The repair costs easily exceeded the felony threshold of $2,500, yet there was little evidence about what each man had allegedly done.
	Prosecutors built most of their case on testimony from out-of-state Democratic operatives who had come to work on the Wisconsin campaign alongside the defendants - Michael Pratt, 33, Lewis G. Caldwell, 29, Lavelle Mohammad, 36, Justin Howell, 21, and Sowande Omokunde, 26. The witnesses said the local men boasted about their crippling attack on the Republican vehicles.

Dear, dear. “Boasting,” were they? That’s so Michael Moore.

Well, at least they’re free and ready for getting out the vote in 2006. Or are they planning to keep the voters at home again? That's one way to win elections in Milwaukee, especially if you're afraid you'd lose otherwise.

Good poll workers don't let other poll workers vandalize the competition.

Perhaps the boys could be "sentenced" to write that out a thousand times. Hearts and minds were certainly changed when Sister Agnes employed this method. Perhaps the court could try it.

It also has the advantage of being a cheaper form of punishment than having the taxpayers of Milwaukee pay to house five thugs.


Hat tip: The Common Room