Case a career-ender for Carmen Ortiz | Hacker News Reader

Case a career-ender for Carmen Ortiz

bostonherald.com

24 pointsSoftwareMaven11 comments

In what way are Carmen Ortiz's political ambitions now "over"? Has something specific happened?

I signed the petition, and I hope it has a good effect ... but this article seems to be overstating some things unless there's some news I didn't hear about.

The implication is that she's a political liability. Any opponent with any sense would bring this incident up to discredit her. I can see the ads now: "If your son was wrongfully accused of a crime, would you trust her as governor/senator/etc?"

I understand your point, but I think those ads would do poorly because the percentage of the population aware of Aaron's passing is likely closer to zero percent than it is to one percent.

The general population doesn't have to be aware. The opposition will make sure they know.

Regardless, I don't believe her career is over today. The thing that was interesting to me about the article is that it is the first item in a mainstream publication that has gone as far as to say this case was a career ender (and advocating for it in the process). She hasn't been fired, but if these kinds of articles/opinion pieces continue to show up, she won't be moving up.

If someone tried that, it would be easy to turn it against them. The two problems with that attempted line of attack are (1) Swartz was not wrongfully accused, and (2) his treatment wasn't really different from how most other defendants facing Federal felony charges are treated [1].

The counter ad could emphasize that Swartz was young, rich, and white, and paint Ortiz's opponent as someone who thinks rich white kids deserve special treatment. That could be a powerful argument with poor, lower middle class, and minority voters.

[1] See Orin Kerr's article for a detailed look at how Federal prosecution works: http://www.volokh.com/2013/01/16/the-criminal-charges-agains...

Regardless of your feelings on the topic, this is preaching to the choir -- porn for the HN croud. There's nothing new, interesting, or even concrete in this linkbait.

To a center-left lawyer like me, this piece sparks the same concerns and the same dismissiveness that I feel when I read Tea Party rants.

I have a feeling that, in the end, this incident will have little to no change in the way our justice system operates. I certainly hope that it does, but I'm not holding my breath.

Fair enough, but I don't see how the last bit about gun nuts has anything to do with the article. A politician lost popular support, and the media let us hear about all the details. The system worked today (assuming her career really is over) and no guns could have helped either way.

Civil war might be justified if we lose all privacy or control of the media/communications, but unless that happens then put the damn guns away and work with society

This is an opinion piece.

Good!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com