[Speed Gibson,
Monday July 10, 2006 at 12:59am]
There's going to fines! There's going to be suspensions!
In looking at the media coverage of DFL-endorsed candidate Keith Ellison's lengthy list of parking, traffic, tax, and campaign violations and associated fines, I noticed that a word keeps getting left out: unpaid.
If you're a Laura Ingraham fan like me, you know she often runs late. Her staff fears for their lives if they travel with her. She, too, has had many tickets. But - she pays them, which is all the law generally requires. As such, the whole business is almost funny.
With Keith Ellison, these fines go unpaid, a huge difference from Laura Ingraham or even Mike Erlandson whom Ellison faces in the primary. He claims they are a consequence of the many court appearances his job as an attorney requires. If he really believed that, why would he jeopardize and lose his license repeatedly, making it even more difficult to get to court on time?
No, the most obvious answer is often the right one, and I think that's the case here. He simply doesn't think he needs to pay them because of his race. Trouble is, many of these laws are indeed color-blind, which is why he keeps having his license suspended.
Again, I am struck by how many pundits have pulled their punches on this, lumping paid and unpaid fines together. Generally, these are the same people who lump legal and illegal immigration together. Only a couple of commentators have argued that this is a pattern of behavior, "rules for thee, but not for me" like Rosie O'Donnell and the Second Amendment.
I like most of all David Strom's observation if I'm remembering it correctly: If this "scandal" changes your mind about Keith Ellison, you just don't know Keith Ellison.
If you're a Laura Ingraham fan like me, you know she often runs late. Her staff fears for their lives if they travel with her. She, too, has had many tickets. But - she pays them, which is all the law generally requires. As such, the whole business is almost funny.
With Keith Ellison, these fines go unpaid, a huge difference from Laura Ingraham or even Mike Erlandson whom Ellison faces in the primary. He claims they are a consequence of the many court appearances his job as an attorney requires. If he really believed that, why would he jeopardize and lose his license repeatedly, making it even more difficult to get to court on time?
No, the most obvious answer is often the right one, and I think that's the case here. He simply doesn't think he needs to pay them because of his race. Trouble is, many of these laws are indeed color-blind, which is why he keeps having his license suspended.
Again, I am struck by how many pundits have pulled their punches on this, lumping paid and unpaid fines together. Generally, these are the same people who lump legal and illegal immigration together. Only a couple of commentators have argued that this is a pattern of behavior, "rules for thee, but not for me" like Rosie O'Donnell and the Second Amendment.
I like most of all David Strom's observation if I'm remembering it correctly: If this "scandal" changes your mind about Keith Ellison, you just don't know Keith Ellison.