Spring Break
Hysteria, Fear Drive Governor's Actions
Our Opinion
Issue date: 10/24/07 Section: Commentary
David Pollitt is a rapist. There can be no parsing of words on this issue. He served 24 years and seven months in prison for his crimes and on Oct. 11 he was released on five years' probation to live under electronic monitoring with his sister and her family. Having missed the hey-days of hair metal, the Monica Lewinsky affair and the new millennium celebrations, all events he deserved to be locked up during, he had paid his debt to society. To Governor M. Jodi Rell however, that debt was not paid enough.
Acting on pressure she received from the residents of the town of Southbury, an overwhelmingly white and wealthy Connecticut suburb which Pollitt was set to move into, Rell dropped all sense of jurisprudence and respect for process, rushing to intervene. Rell enlisted the help of Attorney General Richard Blumenthal - who has no authority in criminal matters - to stall the release of Pollitt, without substantial input from her trusted advisers and without any regard for the limitations of her elected position.
One cannot help but see this as a hysterical overreaction to the tragic Petit home invasion this past summer in Cheshire, where one woman and her two daughters were brutally murdered. Parole for violent offenders has been suspended in response to this incident. Several Southbury residents were confused, as was apparently Governor Rell.
The concept of thoroughly researching the issue and considering responsible options was thoroughly ignored by Rell and Blumenthal. In fact, so zealous was Blumenthal - perhaps seeking to appear tough on crime as he considers a 2010 gubernatorial campaign - that he later had to be informed later that the one of the remedies he was seeking, release into a halfway house for sexual offenders, does not exist in this state. So misguided was their philosophy that the chief state attorney Kevin Kane has strongly spoken out against Rell and Blumenthal's actions.
Without entering into the debate as to whether or not Pollitt had served enough time proportionate to the monstrous crimes he was incarcerated for, the bottom line is he served the full term of the sentence given to him by an honorable judge in the state of Connecticut. Rell was afraid of the political fallout in this heightened state of awareness toward crime and punishment in Connecticut, and she skittishly acted well beyond her means as governor. Pollitt is a convicted felon, and the residents of Southbury may be uncomfortable with the idea of him living in their community, but he has earned his right to no longer be an inmate. This is a fact that Rell and Blumenthal must accept so as to act more responsibly in the future.
Acting on pressure she received from the residents of the town of Southbury, an overwhelmingly white and wealthy Connecticut suburb which Pollitt was set to move into, Rell dropped all sense of jurisprudence and respect for process, rushing to intervene. Rell enlisted the help of Attorney General Richard Blumenthal - who has no authority in criminal matters - to stall the release of Pollitt, without substantial input from her trusted advisers and without any regard for the limitations of her elected position.
One cannot help but see this as a hysterical overreaction to the tragic Petit home invasion this past summer in Cheshire, where one woman and her two daughters were brutally murdered. Parole for violent offenders has been suspended in response to this incident. Several Southbury residents were confused, as was apparently Governor Rell.
The concept of thoroughly researching the issue and considering responsible options was thoroughly ignored by Rell and Blumenthal. In fact, so zealous was Blumenthal - perhaps seeking to appear tough on crime as he considers a 2010 gubernatorial campaign - that he later had to be informed later that the one of the remedies he was seeking, release into a halfway house for sexual offenders, does not exist in this state. So misguided was their philosophy that the chief state attorney Kevin Kane has strongly spoken out against Rell and Blumenthal's actions.
Without entering into the debate as to whether or not Pollitt had served enough time proportionate to the monstrous crimes he was incarcerated for, the bottom line is he served the full term of the sentence given to him by an honorable judge in the state of Connecticut. Rell was afraid of the political fallout in this heightened state of awareness toward crime and punishment in Connecticut, and she skittishly acted well beyond her means as governor. Pollitt is a convicted felon, and the residents of Southbury may be uncomfortable with the idea of him living in their community, but he has earned his right to no longer be an inmate. This is a fact that Rell and Blumenthal must accept so as to act more responsibly in the future.
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