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Wilkerson to stay in race
By adamg on Wed, 10/29/2008 - 4:07pm
Will make U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, who brought the charges against her, an issue, the Globe reports.
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Comments
Odd use of the term "stay in the race"
So, you don't even have to be on the ballot to be considered "in the race?" That settles it, then. I'm staying in the race too!
The scorched earth path has been chosen.
Amazing - she's going to drag this out as long as possible.
There goes any hope of dignity for her, or an orderly transition for her successor.
A good time?
From DW:
When is a good time to get indicted?
This issue?
I guess that's an attempt by Wilkerson to spin this - talking about "This issue" makes it sound like a political disagreement, or some minor problem, not an indictment on bribery charges!
If she cared about the people in her district, she would drop out of the race and let them move on with new representation by someone who will not be distracted by a trial or a jail sentence!
Wilkerson's statement
Here:
Well I guess its his fault
Well I guess its his fault that she took all that money.
SO now we have an unidentified councilor who she wanted to have 1,000 sent to, I wonder who that would be?
What? No trigonometry?
That statement really reaches the limits.
Could be the differential in this campaign
The whole thing is like a delta blues song.
Wilerson looks as guilty as sin
Wilkerson looks as guilty as sin, no?
There is one thing about this indictment that runs counter to DOJ rules, US Attorneys are not supposed to indict politicians in the months prior to an election.
It is one of the DOJ's long standing rules to avoid any appearance of politicization by the justice department of our elections.
It is also part of the special counsel's investigation into the US Attorney firing back in 2006 that is still ongoing.
Why is US Attorney Sullivan and not AG Martha Coakley prosecuting this case?
Possibly to help out McCain in NH
This could have been brought now for two reasons:
1. The voters of the Second Suffolk needed to know that the incumbent was indicted; or
2. Somehow this would help McCain in NH, at least the parts of NH where the Boston media spreads to.
Kind of a stretch?
Why would NH voters care that a Boston area state senator was caught in a bribery situation? Not like she visited a near-border city to take her bribes. Why would that be an FBI motive anyway?
It is also entirely possible that they feared that she or others involved would be or were tipped off. In any case, I suspect that it came up now because they could catch her easily, she isn't on the ballot, and this isn't a campaign finance issue. If they waited until November 5, she could flee the country with her remaining campaign funds ahead of the indictment.
Not that I buy the theory for a second
For all the reasons already enumerated here, but ...
New Hampshire only has one (I think) commercial TV station. A LOT of New Hampsterites get their evening news from Boston (and that's why we get all those frickin' Mean Jean Shaheen the Tax Spending Queen and Mutant Zombie Sununu ads). So last night, all these people in Nashua and Derry got a steady diet of bust photos and live shots from Tremont Street.
Im sick of hearing about a
Im sick of hearing about a Sununu or a Shaheen, generally against each other, every 2 to 4 years. Its like Popeye and Bluto, they will be fighting each other for decades it seems.
Only in the most marginal way
such as peeling off a few people to stay in MA to campaign for Sonia instead of going to NH to stump for Obama. I really doubt this thought ever entered Sullivan's mind.
Sullivan is prosecuting
Sullivan is prosecuting because it is a federal indictment, not a state indictment. The laws invoked are U.S. laws, not Mass.
If you're right about the DoJ's courtesy policy for campaigning politicians, I wonder if the fact that Wilkerson is not an any ballot might allay that concern, from an official perspective.
Might be a different DOJ regulation
The DOJ has a policy of not bringing election cases until after the election has passed. Meaning, if you broke fundraising laws, you are indicted until after the election cycle that the crime is alleged to have occurred has ended. That's what they Attorney firing scandel was about, as some of the fired attorneys had declined to file charges in advance of an election in a transparent effort to influence the outcome. Many of those case specifically were regarding "registration fraud" which is a bit of a nonsense crime since it criminalizes legally required behavior.
At any rate, I don't think those policies extend to corruption cases, though that doesn't mean they can't be timed for political purposes either and that did come up in the Attorney scandal. The issue then, though, was that some Republicans *wanted* charges filed so they could impact an election while DOJ attorneys did not feel the case was ready to bring to trial. A policy against bringing corruption charges prior to an election wasn't the issue. That specifically dealt with election specific crimes.
I'm not sure I see any reason to think this was politically motivated. Wilkerson's seat is obviously not going to go to a Republican and the facts of the case are so local and so specific that I'm not sure its going to damage the Democratic party. Not in this year in this state. Its just going to damage Wilkerson, who was damaged goods as a candidate to start with.
Didnt you hear, Sonya Chang
Didnt you hear, Sonya Chang Diaz is a white republican from Dallas Texas! Anyone who says otherwise is ill informed and doesnt know how to use the google.
I'll try to get the details
I'll try to get the details of the DOJ policy about the timing of indictments around elections.
I think its a good rule because we'd be f*cked as a country if US Attorneys start prosecuting political opponents in the months leading up to an election.
Give it up, Dianne
It's more likely that Sarah Palin will be inducted into Mensa than that you will win this race next week.
Also more likely
It's more likely that Chuck Turner would detach that manged ferret from his chin than she will win the race next week.