Mike Nifong, the District Attorney in Raleigh North Carolina has officially gone under the Duke University Lacrosse Team Bus.
The Duke Lacrosse Team Rape Trial, as it became known, looked like a slam-dunk. Out of Control Rich White Boys sexually assault a stripper during a drunken team party: It sounded completely plausible. If you are honest, you probably nodded you head and said "Yeah, I can see that" after reading the initial coverage.
Nifong, not above gathering a truckload of national publicity, promised a speedy conviction and did what lawyers do: He made sure the Duke University Lacrosse Team was convicted in the court of public opinion long before getting near a judge. Duke University suspended the students, shut down the program and generally helped encourage the climate of charged-tried-convicted-sentenced that prevailed.
Things were not as they appeared and eventually the wheels fell off the prosecution. Mike Nifong winds up being tried and disbarred for hiding evidence that supported the defense, some stunning ethics violations and generally being an Asshat in Public.
The part that perplexes many Americans I’ve talked to, as well as most Canadians is this: An Elected District Attorney? WTF!
There are some positions that should not be elected, as it is too easy to game the electoral process. Any meat puppet who wants to run for sheriff or judge or DA just has to say "Tough On Crime" and they wind up wielding immense amounts of raw power. That doesn’t mean they know their earlobes from their elbow, or are the kind of folks you want running the show: It merely means they can get elected.
Getting elected on either side of the border, is nothing more than a high school popularity contest. Based on the voter turnout statistics in local elections, like the school board, mayoralty, or city council, less than 50 percent of eligible voters have the time, energy or sense to vote. Usually it is less than 35 percent.
As for the voters’ motivating factors? The TV commercial or lawn sign they saw last seems to be about right. This means the candidate for local office with the most money for commercials, signs and other media will most often win. There are notable exceptions: Steve Forbes, the zillionare, pumped tons of personal cash into media for his Presidential campaign and came away 43rd out of a field of 6, but that was a national show.
Local politics comes down to money. The potential candidate wants to win. To win, the potential candidate must have the backing of groups with very deep pockets to pay for lots of ads and signs and the other media pixie dust that makes up a winning campaign.
Who has the money? Real Estate companies and business interests come to mind. Those with money want ‘their person’, someone who ‘understands the issues’ and is ‘concerned" about the rise of whatever talking point is out there this afternoon.
Civic groups, like environmental or neighbourhood groups, don’t have enough money to pique the interest of a potential candidate. Again, there are exceptions, but the exception doesn’t always prove the rule.
Up here our Crown Prosecutors and Judges are employees of the government. They are paid well and don’t have to ‘run for office on a Law and Order ticket’ or other such madness.
There are malicious prosecutions up here, of course there are, but not like the one in Raleigh. That trashed everyone involved from the police to the DA, to the stripper, to the Duke Lacrosse team, the University itself and most of all, the voters in Raleigh who gave Mike Nifong a mandate.
RoadDave 