[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Beyond Your Authority

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
Beyond Your Authority
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1184557060.shtml


   Let's start with the Associated Press account:

     ELK RIVER, Minn. - State Rep. Mark Olson was convicted today of one
     count of misdemeanor domestic assault with the intent to cause fear
     and acquitted on a second misdemeanor assault charge.
     The verdicts were returned by a jury of five men and one woman
     after about three hours of deliberations. Sentencing was set for
     Aug. 8.
     The jury convicted Olson of domestic assault by intending to cause
     fear of bodily harm or death. He was acquitted of intentionally
     inflicting or attempting to inflict bodily harm.
     Prosecutors alleged Olson, an eight-term Republican from Big Lake,
     pushed his wife down three times behind their home on Nov. 12.
     Olson, 52, claimed during trial he was a battered spouse and that
     the Nov. 12 incident came after frequent arguments with his wife
     over raising her five children.
     He said that in the past, she hit him several times, stabbed his
     favorite dresser and cut his picture off their wedding album cover
     with what he thought was a knife.

   On the Final Word segment of the July 14 NARN broadcast, co-host
   Michael Brodkorb of [1]Minnesota Democrats Exposed called for Olson to
   immediately resign. Failing this, Brodkorb said the GOP should move to
   expel him.
   Does the Brodkorb punishment fit the crime? I don't think so, and it
   sounded like co-host King Banian didn't either. Read the charge of
   which Olson was convicted: intending to cause fear of bodily harm or
   death. At most this was a threat, for the much more serious charge of
   actual violence was rejected by the jury, and in short order.
   Michael is urging the GOP to set a high standard, to the point of
   using a liberal zero tolerance approach. Politically this is not
   necessary, given the current low standards of the DFL. But Domestic
   Abuse shouldn't be about politics at all, which is why Brodkorb gets
   this one wrong. Thinking that since Olson is a Republican some action
   by the Republicans is in order is a non-sequitur.
   Mark Olson is an elected representative. It is his own constituents
   that have standing here, not the GOP leadership. They will have their
   say at the next election. Recall is another option I believe. The
   misdemeanor conviction is far short of any general reason why Mark
   Olson should not be allowed to complete his term with full privileges.
   Expulsion must have the highest of thresholds. Even drinking on the
   job which I personally believe Senator Mentzen did given the numbers
   isn't enough, and his DWI is a far more serious charge.
   The most serious recent situation I can think of was that of former
   Senator Dean Johnson, for falsely impugning the State Supreme Court,
   an attack on our very constitutional framework, another in a series of
   lies for his personal benefit. Even here, the voters in his otherwise
   safe district knew what to do.
   Short of a serious felony that would suggest danger to other members
   or the government itself, let the voters decide.

References

   1. http://www.minnesotademocratsexposed.com/