 On Point Vincent Carroll, editor of the editorial pages, writes his On Point column most weekdays. He is also an author and freelance writer. Reach Vincent Carroll at carrollv@RockyMountainNews.com. |
Carroll: No fault, this time
Carol Chambers has been faulted for a number of things during her term as district attorney for Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties, but not — until now — for playing to the grandstand in pursuit of easy praise and eventual votes.
Quite the opposite. Most of Chambers’ controversial moves — complaining about her salary, announcing she would not prosecute cases involving a certain Aurora cop, monitoring judges’ hours and highlighting the possibility of “overt hostility” by jurists toward her prosecutors, to mention a few of the incidents — have almost been guaranteed to generate a backlash of bad publicity.
But now we are supposed to believe that she files more death penalty cases than other Colorado prosecutors in order to curry public favor?
“I can’t say what’s motivating Carol Chambers,” University of Colorado professor Michael Radelet was quoted as saying in a Rocky story Tuesday, “but I do know she’s had some political problems. This may be a way to take some of the heat off.”
If Radelet doesn’t know what motivates Chambers, then maybe he shouldn’t offer a convenient, invidious guess. He shouldn’t suggest she’d be willing to see the state take someone’s life in order to further her political career.
Like Radelet, I, too, oppose the death penalty. However, my conversations with Chambers, as well as observation of her career, convince me that she does what she thinks is right whether it fits popular fashion or not — that she would seek the death penalty, therefore, because she believes the punishment fits the offense.
Radelet is right, of course, that “people are supposed to be punished for the crime, not for the place (where the crime was committed).” But that cuts both ways. If six of Colorado’s seven pending capital cases come from Chambers’ district, that means most other district attorneys aren’t filing any, despite a Colorado statute that allows them to do so.
Radelet and I might not like that statute, but elected lawmakers passed it, and there’s been little public outcry demanding its repeal. Don’t blame a district attorney for taking it seriously.
Miller’s halo tarnished
Philip Roth was discussing his latest novel on National Public Radio the other day when he launched a surprising salvo against the “prurient” press.
“In the last few days there’s been this revelation about Arthur Miller . . . . talking about the fact that he had a Down Syndrome child whom he’d institutionalized,” Roth said. “A celebrity draws this kind of inquiry. . . . I don’t know that it’s anybody’s business that he had a Down Syndrome child that was institutionalized. It just seems prurient and nothing more to me. It also allows a great deal of moral indignation on the part of these media people.”
Surely Roth knows perfectly well why this news about the late, great playwright — author of Death of a Salesman, The Crucible and many other works — amounts to more than prurience. Miller spent his entire life moralizing — against hypocrisy, fraudulence, fathers who emotionally scar their sons and much else. And that was just in his plays. He also took up many activist causes, most memorably in his stands against McCarthyism and the Vietnam War.
Upon his death in 2005, the BBC obituary was hardly the only one to declare Miller “a man of the highest integrity, both in his work and in his personal life.”
Would a man with such sterling values put a son in a state-run facility against his wife’s wishes? “Miller had not only erased his son from the public record,” reports Vanity Fair, “he had also cut him out of his private life, institutionalizing him at birth, refusing to see him or speak about him, virtually abandoning him.”
Nothing Miller did could undermine his art. The question is how we remember the man himself. And although he was far from a scoundrel, as we always knew, he was also, it turns out, something short of a saint.
Vincent Carroll is editor of the editorial pages. Reach him at carrollv@RockyMountainNews.com.
Chambers is racist. I filed a written request with her, State Secy. Coffman, Arapahoe County CLerk, and Arapahoe County Clerk, stating I wanted Tancredo and State Rep. Balmer struck from the '06' ballot. As the "deicder", I decided I didn't want to be represented by a liar (Balmer, carpetbagger and voter fraud) and someone who violated INS and national security laws (Tancredo). I hand delivered my writteen requests to these Bull Connor types' offices (clerk, secy, comm, Chambers).
As a black person, I have unique protections afforded in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Balmer lied, perjured, and forged his political resume. He stated he had experience as a law clerk. This is a "falsehood", however, when Owens was told of this election law violation, he still endorsed Balmer for elected office.
Tancredo knowingly hired criminal illegal Mexicans to perform construction work at his primary residence. The Tancredo family did this so they could increase their property's value, at the expense of qualified American workers. Tancredo also violated our national security laws because these "foreign Nationals" had unfettered access to his congresssional personal computer. Tancredo (draft dodger) is required by federal law to report this national security compromise to former DoD Secy. Rummy, US Congress, and DoD - Defense Intelligenc Agency. He blew it off. US Sen. Larry "Hand Jive" Craig (draft dodger) did the same thing. He holds "top secret" security clearances too. Back-door Santa Craig didn't his arrest as he is required to either.
DUMBER and DUMBER. Suddenly BOMBINGHAM, AL and Jena, LA, don't look so bad. Chambers wrote me an "e-mail" where she told me it was "MY" responsibility to report Balmer's voter fraud to the USAG/FBI. I must give Chambers credit. She is the only member of the GOP posse (GESTAPO) that responded to my lawful requests. I'm tired of being a nappyheaded-HO living in the Tancredo Plantation.
James J. Tenant
Lt. Commander, USN, Ret.
Served in 3 deployments to Vietnam
"But now we are supposed to believe that she files more death penalty cases than other Colorado prosecutors in order to curry public favor? "
No...you're supposed to realize that Chambers gives out the death penalty because of adherence to a 2000 year old fairy tale about an "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth", murder for murder. The American Taliban strikes again.
Posted by jay on October 10, 2007 07:59 AMWithout having walked in his shoes, seems like an unfair and harsh criticism of Miller
Posted by on October 10, 2007 08:12 AMVince is a jealous little green monster as he demonstrates by regularly basing his commentary on what someone else wrote.
The truth is that all the intelligence and wit of Vince Carroll would not amount to more than Arthur Miller had in his left testicle.
I'm sure he's jealous of Miller's marriage to Marilyn Monroe.
Let's hear the Replicant chorus defend the right to maintain your positive image even if your own behavior doesn't always meet the highest standards just like David Vitter, right?
Posted by Carroll's a putz on October 10, 2007 11:33 AM