"Incompetence, Incorporated" And The Ever-Evolving Politics Of The Pollitt Saga by Doug Wrenn

"Incompetence, Incorporated" And The Ever-Evolving Politics Of The Pollitt Saga

By Doug Wrenn

October 15, 2007

I seldom do sequels, but this subject is just the gift that keeps on giving. This tragedy, which is just another chapter in Connecticut's on-going Capitol Follies, would really be a comedy if it weren't so sad.

As I wrote in my October 10th piece, "Quandary: Too Many Perverts; Note Enough Room. Gee, What's A Nice, Liberal State Like Connecticut To Do?" convicted "serial rapist," David Pollitt will be released from prison on Friday after serving a 24-year sentence. He will be on a whopping five years worth of probation in the mean time, and living with his sister in Southbury, much to the extreme and well publicized consternation of his future neighbors, who don't want him living in their community, due to their concerns for their children. From here, it only gets better, and I mean that cynically.

Responding to the enraged outcries of his constituents and fellow townspeople, Republican State Representative, Arthur O'Neill suggested finding an apartment elsewhere for Pollitt, and if necessary, using state funds to pay his rent. Beautiful!

Giving credit where credit is due, Rep. O'Neill is clearly one of the sharper pencils in the drawer up there under the big tainted dome, so in his case, I would rule out stupidity, but his decision is probably a creation of desperation and grasping at straws for a solution to what is becoming a volatile situation. Even so, Rep. O'Neill, please!

First of all, which planet would you like to house this guy on? He's already news. The press and media will follow this guy wherever he goes in this state like your shadow on a sunny day. Do you really think welcome banners will be strung up for Pollitt anywhere else? Second of all, we already had state funded housing for Pollitt. It was called prison, where all serial rapists should be until their lungs go "puff" no more. Why are we paying twice for the pleasure of housing this guy? Third of all, what happens the next time this liberal bastion, in its infinite wisdom, springs another one of its star pupils from the prison system? Do we pay for that guy's rent, too? And where do we put him? How many more times will state taxpayers have to pay "double jeopardy" every time some sex criminal gets released into a less than welcoming community? Where does this merry-go-round end, Rep. O'Neill? Perhaps as Ranking Member of the errant kangaroo court called the Judiciary Committee, your efforts might better be applied to either seeking term limits, or preferably the removal of your two conniving co-chairmen of the majority party, for whom so much of the blame so this mess rightly belongs, Rep. Mike Lawlor of East Haven and Senator Andrew McDonald of Stamford, AKA: "Raggedy Mike & Andy." Do you really want to be helpful, Rep. O'Neill? Then start there, in Hartford, from where this whole stench emanates, and not from Southbury, and for that matter, Cheshire, where it only now hovers.

I hate giving the Hartford Courant credit for anything, but unlike our so-called political leaders, the folks at Courant.com have been the only ones seeming to know what they were doing, and they have been on this story like white on rice with updated reports all day, and it was from those sources that I obtained today's updates on this constantly changing story. OK, so bravo to the Courant! Good job, really and truly! Now, make that one last, 'cuz the next compliment from me to you should come by your way some time, come mid-winter…in Hell!

Earlier today, a light became dimly illuminated over Gov. Rell's head, but nobody was apparently home underneath. Her Guvness asked Attorney General Blumenthal to look into keeping Pollitt confined for a while longer, presumably until the matter can get straightened out. Sure, why not? Castro does that in Cuba all the time! Perhaps "Herself" might try watching Fred Thompson a little less in the news and a little more on "Law & Order."

Besides the fact that the Governor seems to think that the conclusion of a prison sentence can be about as easily re-scheduled as a Tuesday afternoon Tupperware party, she also sought advice from the wrong person, who in turn, should have sent her to the right person. To sum, what the Guv attempted to do is the equivalent of trying to buy new drapes in an auto parts store. Meanwhile, our activist AG, whose intelligence is only outdone by his ego, should have redirected his confused boss. Unlike most states, Connecticut is unique in that our "Attorney General" only deals with civil, and not criminal matters. In our quaint little stubborn Yankee bastion of "Doing Things They Way We Want To Do Them," criminal matters are addressed specifically in the Division of Criminal Justice, and even more specifically, by the nice man (or his staff) who heads that office. Gov. Rell, Attorney General Blumenthal, I would like to introduce you to Kevin Kane, AKA: "The Chief State's Attorney." He's the nice man with whom you did not consult, but should have.

It's a shame they didn't consult him, because Kevin Kane hails from the New London court, where he previously served as a prosecutor. Superior Court Judge Susan Handy is also of the New London Superior Court, and she ruled on this decision, probably because the case emanated originally from her jurisdiction, out there in God's country, AKA: Eastern Connecticut, that bucolic but blissfully almost forgotten tranquil third of Connecticut, where the people are scarce, the sheep are scared, and the local cable provider apparently does offer "Law & Order."

But to rewind just a tad, apparently, Blumey wanted to soften the blow of so flagrantly violating Mr. Pollitt's constitutional rights, and inquired if it would be possible to keep Mr. Pollitt housed in a appropriate, but somewhat secure location, such as a halfway house. Blumey also somehow became the spokesman for the State Child Advocate, as the welfare of children were potentially involved with the release of Pollitt. Why the State Child Advocate was not directly involved, and who appointed Blumey as the honorary spokesman, I do not know, but the gist I get from between the lines is that Judge Handy was less than pleased, and for just cause.

On point # 1, Judge Handy ruled that Mr. Pollitt, like it or not, has served his sentence and can be confined for the same conviction no longer. (To cut through the technical, complex and sophisticated legal mumbo-jumbo, in other words, "DUH!") On point # 2, Judge Handy advised AG Blumenthal that the state does not have halfway houses for sex offenders. Of course not! How do you house a sex offender in a halfway house? What would you even call such a policy, "House-Us-Interuptus"? (This point is one that I bet Mr. Kane most likely would have known!) On point # 3 (I love this part), Judge Handy also advised AG Blumenthal that he "…has no standing to make this request." Slam, dunk, Your Honor! Why? Because, point 3-A, This criminal matter should have been brought to the judge by someone other than the state's civil attorney, and point 3-B, If this is an issue for the State's Child Advocate (By the way, Gov. Rell and AG Blumenthal, her name is Jeanne Milstein, but don't feel too bad, because I had to look that one up!), then let her present the case, and/or go through Chief State's Attorney Kane to do so.

Meanwhile, the State Police are organizing a public town meeting for concerned Southbury residents and relevant public "leaders" to address this issue, but that better bear some real fruit soon, because as my fingers are melodiously dancing away on my keyboard, Mr. Pollitt is within now probably less than 24 hours from being released, and as it now appears, in Southbury, as originally planned. (Hopefully, attendees to the meeting will all be buckled up as they drive into the parking lot. "Click it or ticket!")

Kind of apparently (and rightfully) feeling like a pre-2004 Red Sock in front of a crowd of cheering and taunting Yankee fans, Gov. Rell soon became the epitome of that sage mindset, "When you don't know what to say, say something!" So then we were treated to this pseudo-prophesy of somewhat less impact than the Gettysburg Address: "Like other violent offenders in Connecticut, let Mr. Pollitt be on notice: Even the most technical violation of the terms of his release will result in his immediate return to prison."

Ooooo! Even I'm shaking in my boots over that one! The Governor's warning to Pollitt kind of reminds me of those stretches of road with posted signs that say, "Speed Strictly Enforced," or stores with signs that say "Shoplifters will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law;" usually those are the places with the least amount of enforcement, hence the signs, and in the same way, hence the Governor's "stern" warning to Pollitt.

Hey, Guv, trust me on this one, coming from a state full of clueless, utopian rocket scientists with heads as soft as their hearts, that lets out "serial rapists" and actually puts them on probation, that threat doesn't carry a whole lot of weight. We can't even get a 3 strikes law passed in this state-wide loopy love-fest of liberal lemming loons after a family was literally subject to various atrocities of being robbed, beaten, raped and/or pretty much gruesomely and barbarically tortured to death, and their house was then almost burned down by a couple more birds of whose coup you bird brained buffoons willfully opened, and you're going to do what, exactly, again? Says who?

Last but not least, Governor, while you may (on paper) be the state's chief law enforcement officer (which explains a lot), on a day-to-day basis, you are not the cop, the prosecutor, or the judge making those decisions. At the end of the day, pretty much all you can do is throw another inappropriate but trademark televised hissy fit, and name another commission, and both endeavors will be the top two items on the short list for that abysmal campfire story that you will actually some day audaciously refer to as your legacy, so do yourself a favor, be quiet and stop embarrassing yourself- again. You are the shameful, textbook epitome of the inept, affable and otherwise unemployable dolt who rises far too high in a political career because of party loyalty that fills a void originally meant for core values, and a dumbed-down electorate, duped by your apple pie smile and an unhealthy obsession with "American Idol" instead of American government. Your incessant fecklessness and incompetence, the only outcomes from your office not ever first determined by a weathervane, once ranged from mildly annoying at worst to amusingly cute at best, but that was before we opened the gates to the zoo and by either conscious policy or unconscious state leaders, transitioned the animals to "free range" upon your now endangered constituents, including the ones who are most innocent and most vulnerable to multiple menacing predators on probation and the Pollyanna politicians who cannot properly manage them. Dan Lavallo is wrong, Governor Rell; you're not "Aunt Bea," you're just a damned disgrace, and a dangerous one at that, and likewise with all the other bumbling, clueless, incompetent Keystone Cops of Connecticut's Capitol. Collectively, you people are the poster children of "Team Peter Principle." I wouldn't expect you liberal zombies to know or even care about this, but the primary duty of government is to protect the people. Somewhere in the midst of all that nonsense of proclaiming "Bruce Springsteen Day," fretting over non-existent cruelty to elephants, taking soda out of schools, fat out of our doughnuts, smoke out of our own cars, liberty out of religion, and putting mercury in our now mandated light bulbs, and filling free, taxpayer funded fuel oil in the tanks of illegal immigrants who should seek warmth from their own native climate instead of from our wallets, you sycophant socialists lost sight of that sacred and now abandoned duty of protecting the people. Specifically, I remind you Executive Branch eggheads that in 2010, you are up for re-election. But sadly in this ship of fools and state (of confusion and chaos), that isn't a threat; it really is just a reminder, so don't worry. You're good for easily another four years or another 4,000 brutalized kids and constituents, whichever comes first.

As for those of you who live in Southbury, sadly the real estate market is now not what it once was, and by time you read this column, David Pollitt will most likely already be your new neighbor, courtesy of your obsession with such weighty matters as sports, and brought to you by the good folks up in Hartford at "Incompetence Incorporated," conveniently and centrally located under the big, tainted dome, in that three ring circus that some dare call a Capitol. Come on up for a visit some time, see the sights, watch how government doesn't work, and hey, bring the kids. Why not? What else would you do, leave them home? And don't forget to drop in and say hi to your elected "leaders."

Tell them David sent you.

Doug Wrenn