Sort of Crimes, Kind of Punishments

Sort of Crimes, Kind of Punishments
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Greg Gianforte body slams a journalist in the final days of his congressional campaign in Montana.

Kathy Griffin poses for a photo shoot holding the mock severed, bloody head of Donald Trump.

TV host Billy Bush laughs somewhat nervously when then-businessman Trump talks about grabbing women by the pussy.

Terry Frei tweets, "Nothing specifically personal, but I am very uncomfortable with a Japanese driver winning the Indianapolis 500 during Memorial Day weekend.”

Michelle Carter, then 17, repeatedly urges her “boyfriend” to continue with his attempt – ultimately “successful” – to commit suicide.

Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy

Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy

Most of us have heard of these incidents – with the possible exception of Frei – that have either occurred, or in Carter’s case, have been back in the news, in the past few weeks.

Two of these – Gianforte and Carter – are genuine criminal matters. The other three are exercises in poor judgment of varying degree.

But in all these cases, it should be asked, did the punishment fit the crime?

Start with the easiest one.

Greg Gianforte became a software multi-millionaire and spent most of his life outside of Montana before moving there and later deciding to run for the state’s only Congressional seat (a year after losing his race for governor of the state.)

The day before the Congressional special election, the bully millionaire body slammed a journalist who was doing his job. Gianforte initially blamed the reporter until evidence – including confirmation by a Fox News reporter, of all people, clearly showed him to be at fault.

(Gianforte’s allies included the Karl Childers of the US House of Representatives, Texas Republican Louie Gohmert who said at the time, “we didn’t have a course on bodyslamming when I went to school. I missed that course. I’m sorry I missed it.”

Gianforte, who opposes abortion, sanctuary cities, raising the minimum wage, same-sex marriage and the theory of evolution, was of course, elected. He was sentenced to 40 hours of community service, 20 hours of anger management, 180-day deferred sentence, and a $300 fine along with an $85 court fee. And of course, two years in Congress.

Whether one likes or dislikes Kathy Griffin (I have never so much as smiled at any of her comedy), her gruesome photo shoot was a planned, not impulsive, event, designed to gain her notoriety – mission accomplished.

When the firestorm of negative reaction rained down on her - evidently taking her by surprise, astute person that she is - she did what any aggrieved person would do. She hired Lisa Bloom as her lawyer, held a weepy press conference where she sort of apologized, and said Trump is trying to “ruin my life.”

Kathy Griffin

Kathy Griffin

Some think she shouldn’t suffer professionally for her questionable stunt. Okay. How about this? How about we punish her for the quality of her job? Perhaps punishing her for being an unfunny comedian will calm her few defenders who think the uproar was an outsized reaction.

Billy Bush is the victim of 1) not being a particular good journalist, if that’s what he was, and 2) laughing when the then-59 year old Donald Trump engaged in his arrogant, misogynistic “locker room talk” during an interview with Bush for Access Hollywood in 2005.

Bush, a relative of George H W and George W Bush (not a crime in and of itself) was fired from his job on the Today Show, and though he shows signs of recovering a little, has clearly been damaged for – apparently – not calling Trump a pig to his face and abruptly ending the interview on that infamous bus.

This one I don’t understand. I have no feelings about Billy Bush, and had hardly heard of him before the Trump tape was released last October. But the idea that his career would be ruined (especially contrasted with Gianforte, who is a US Congressman) seems extreme. I’m still puzzled by what people think Bush should have done.

Greg Gianforte

Greg Gianforte

Terry Frei was a longtime sportswriter at the Denver Post until his mildly offensive tweet ended that career. (Disclosure: I knew Terry a little when we both worked at the Post in the late 1970s but have had no contact with him since.)

Was his tweet in poor taste? Yes. Was it racist? Hard to know. Was it a firing offense? If this was his only transgression, I can’t see how it rose to that level. I’m a pretty politically correct guy, but this one seems like a major overreaction.

Which brings us to Michelle Carter. She was just found guilty of involuntary manslaughter by a judge in Massachusetts for repeatedly texting her boyfriend to continue his suicide attempt by inhaling carbon monoxide in his pickup truck, and listening for minutes while he died – at one point urging him to get back into the truck to complete the attempt. Which he did.

She is to be sentenced in early August, and faces anything from probation to 20 years in prison. My bet? Probation. She was 17 at the time of her outrageous behavior, and while the judge said that her conduct caused the death of her boyfriend, expect hundreds of op-ed columns and on-air commentators to say otherwise between now and sentencing.

I don’t know if she caused Conrad Roy’s death. She sure as hell didn’t help. As the judge said, “She did nothing: She did not call the police or Mr. Roy's family" after hearing his last breaths during a phone call. "And, finally, she did not issue a simple additional instruction: Get out of the truck."

This is a tough one, but it is hard to think she should not be held accountable in some way.

I feel badly for Bush and Frei. I hope Griffin finds a permanent new line of work. I don’t know what to say about Carter.

But I know with certainty that Ginaforte is a thug. And a Congressman.

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