Howard Dean's Anti-Constitution Message
Howard Dean’s Anti-Constitution Messageby scott huminski
Thursday November 06, 2003 at 08:56 AM
Dean's Disdain for the Bill of Rights
Another in this series of articles where Dean attacks judges that dare to follow the law and the Bill of Rights in a State where he pledged that it was his ‘mission’ to appoint judges that would ignore legal technicalities, the Bill of Rights. Dean’s shoot from the ‘lip’ style is noted below. It’s important to note that these spontaneous verbal gems depict Dean’s true feelings on an issue and foretell his future conduct. His damage-control statements belie his true beliefs.
At the end of Freyne’s below article he poses the question of whether William Sorrell (the next US Attorney General if Dean elected, Dean’s favorite appointee) would follow the same legal policies enunciated by Dean. Without a doubt, yes. See,
Cronies v. Qualifications, Dean’s Dilemma & Is Howard Dean a Criminal Too?
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2003/9/prweb80286.htm
http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2003/08/8011.php
Howard Dean Worse than Ashcroft and the Patriot Act
http://wmass.indymedia.org/newswire/display/1642/index.php
The Freyne article is followed by the recent TIME flip-flop article on Dean’s law and order policies. – Scott Huminski
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seven Days 8/7/96 Burlington, Vermont
* * * * HO-HO AND THE 'HOODS'
By Peter Freyne
Ask Governor Howard Dean a question and more often than not, you'll get a Howard Dean answer. There are times he'll actually say, "I'd rather not comment on that" or "That's the first I've heard of that," but hit the right button and the guy with the 68- percent approval rating and certain re-election staring him in the face will shoot from the lip with blazing accuracy.
Such was the case recently when the subject of State Auditor Ed Flanagan was waved in front of Dean like a red cape in front of a big, bad bull. And The Lip showed itself again the other day when the Gov was asked if he had any thoughts on the decision by Chittenden County States Attorney Scot Kline to drop charges against the Free Mumia protesters arrested during last summer's NGA spectacular. Judge Dean Pineles ruled on June 12, over the prosecutor's objection, that the defendants could present a "necessity defense" -- in a tradition made famous over a decade ago by the Winooski 44 who invaded U.S. Sen. Robert Stafford's Winooski office and refused to leave.
Six protesters were arrested outside the Sheraton last summer for playing "catch us if you can" as they streaked for the hotel's front door in a long-shot attempt to reach Gov. Ridge of Pennsylvania and persuade him to commute the death sentence of cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. They didn't have a chance and were quickly tackled by an all-star team of cops from local communities as well as state troopers. They were charged with unlawful trespass.
Howard Dean could have let this one slide. He could have said, "I really don't want to comment on that. It was the prosecutor's call." But he didn't. Ho-Ho couldn't resist. Firmly mounted on the state's largest bully pulpit, Howard Brush Dean opened up with both barrels. His first shot was aimed squarely at the judge.
"The error was by the judge not the prosecutor," replied Ho-Ho. "The decision to allow the necessity defense to be used was a mistake." Brilliant legal mind, our governor, eh?
"I thought it was very disappointing and unfortunate," said The Lip, "that Judge Pineles made the decision he did about the use of the necessity defense in a case where there was significant damage done to public property such as the Ethan Allen Homestead and $25,000 of police overtime. I don't regard those as trivial. I was very disappointed."
It's certainly comforting to know just where the guy who appoints judges to the Vermont bench stands on matters of law. This only embellishes Ho-Ho's law and order reputation. Remember he's the guy who once said 95 percent of people charged with crimes are guilty anyway so why should the state spend money on providing them with lawyers?
"These guys defaced the Ethan Allen Homestead," continued Field Marshall Howard Von Dean. "These guys are a bunch of hoods running around our streets. I don't think this has anything to do with the necessity offense --imported hoods I might add. People who spray paint and deface public property are hoodlums not protesters with some higher purpose. I have no patience for that."
Never mind that no one has ever been charged with a crime for spray painting "Free Mumia" on the walls of the Ethan Allen Homestead where the governors gathered for breakfast. Can't let the facts get in your way.
Judge Pineles told Inside Track that he "respects the Governor's opinion," but noted his ruling allowing the necessity defense was "legally sound." Pineles carefully applied the four-pronged standard established in case law by the Vermont Supreme Court. He followed the law, not the whims of the state's most successful politician. The prosecution appealed to the high court but the Supremes refused to hear it. They let Pineles' ruling stand for one reason and one reason only -- it was the right decision.
You've got to wonder if Ho-Ho's King George III views on the law reflect at all the views of his right hand man -- Administration Secretary Bill Sorrell, our Supreme Court justice in waiting. Blaming the judge for going by the book might make Ho-Ho feel good, but one would expect a little more class from one so well bred.
http://www.prisonactivist.org/pipermail/prisonact-list/1996-September/000600.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Huminski Comment - This judge merely ruled that the defendants could assert a specific defense to the charges when it came before trial. In response, the prosecutor dropped the charges when he knew he would be facing a strong defense in a very public trial. The prosecutor realized that this case would not be the usual railroad job that Vermont prosecutors have become accustomed to under Dean regime appointed judges. Dean, a fan of prosecutors, blames the judge because a prosecutor realized his case was too weak to overcome a valid defense. Dr. Dean what other legal defenses should we eliminate to satisfy your zeal to convict at all costs? Dean was born to wealthy nobility, but unfortunately, in the wrong era. Historically, rulers like Dean could have been the law unto themselves. It must be very frustrating to Dean that he wasn’t in power several hundred years ago where he could have really called the shots unconstrained by the technicalities of the law. Use of the trespass statute as a tool to silence dissent has become commonplace in Dean’s tenure in Vermont and that practice is currently before the federal courts as an unconstitutionally over-broad restriction on First Amendment rights. This federal ruling is expected within the next several weeks and it will hopefully be the start of the un-doing of what Dean did to justice and the Bill of Rights in Vermont.
Vermont Public Radio, Bob Kinzel:
“It's likely that Howard Dean's tenure in office will also have a long term effect on the state's criminal justice system. In his first years as Governor, Dean was often critical of judges who Dean thought did not hand down tough enough sentences. Over the last 10 years, Dean has appointed more judges than any previous governor and Dean describes his appointees as "law and order" judges. Dean's judicial philosophy appears to be having a significant impact - during his tenure as governor the average sentence handed down in Vermont has doubled - a situation that has led to an overcrowding of the state's prison system.” (Huminski note, In the rural and sparsely poulated State of Vermont, much of the crime and resulting incarceration arises from offenses that urban prosecutors would pass on.)
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Dean's Law and Order Views [already reprinted in a different entry]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A detailed look at Dean’s ‘justice’ policies from a 1997 Vermont Press Bureau piece at the below link.
http://nolaimc.stopcafta.org/news/2003/10/543.php
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