3/13/99
ldlockman@telplus.net
Question: when does a fistfight between two teenage boys over a girlfriend mushroom into three front-page stories in the local newspaper, a chest-thumping lead editorial (and editorial cartoon) in the same issue, and the intervention of the state attorney general's office from Augusta?
Answer: when a publicity-seeking, politically-motivated prosecutor, armed with a blank check of authority to eradicate so-called "hate crimes," decides to throw his weight around in a rural Maine community. And when "journalists," to use the term loosely, assume the role of cheerleaders for Big Brother government.
"Lee Academy and residents address racial tensions" blared the headline in the Feb. 25, 1999 Lincoln News. The upper two-thirds of the front page, as well as half the editorial page, was entirely devoted to fallout from fisticuffs between two Lee Academy students (one white, one native American) fighting over a female student at the school.
Two white male teenagers (one a former student, the other a suspended student) who were not involved in the fistfight allegedly entered school premises after the altercation and made racially-motivated threats against the Passamaquoddy Indian student. The two white teenagers have been slapped with a "hate-crimes" injunction sought by the office of the Attorney General in Augusta.
Assistant Attorney General Steve Wessler is the chief enforcer of Maine's Civil Rights Act, often called the "hate crimes" statute.He Said, She Said, Wessler Said
Let's begin by noting that according to a student's eyewitness account published in the Lincoln News, the "fistfight" could be more accurately described as an unprovoked attack on the white student: "The native student ran up behind the white student and had ripped his coat over his head and began beating him. There was no argument, no fist fight between them, no anything besides the attack!" This account of events would appear to coincide with elements of Wessler's complaint stating that the white student suffered facial cuts and other injuries.
In any event, and whatever the facts are in this case, local law enforcement personnel and Lee Academy officials have ample tools at their disposal for dealing with such incidents, without the heavy-handed intervention of Wessler's office. The accused individuals are subject to arrest for criminal trespass if they enter Lee Academy property or the Pleasant Point reservation after being asked to leave. Criminal trespass is a serious offense that can result in substantial jail time.
And let's be clear that death threats and threats of violence are serious crimes. Individuals who engage in such conduct should be prosecuted, and if convicted, they should be punished accordingly.
But that's a far cry from Steve Wessler's enforcement actions under the Maine Civil Rights Act. Wessler does not need proof that a crime was committed in order to win a civil judgment against an accused person under the statute. The standard of proof is so low that it's almost non-existent. In fact, Wessler's office batted 20 for 20 in court in 1996; he could probably get a hate-crimes injunction against a tuna sandwich if he wanted to. And he doesn't even maintain records to show whether or not the defendants he has prosecuted civilly were ultimately convicted of the crimes alleged in his complaints.
If an accused person chooses to contest Wessler's court action, he has to hire his own lawyer, and he will almost certainly lose, since Wessler needs no proof of a crime, merely an allegation. The accused can then be forced to pay the state's prosecution costs. It could quickly add up to $20,000 to pay both defense and prosecution lawyers, plus court costs, so accused individuals seldom contest Wessler's complaints, and end up having civil injunctions filed against them.
Not one of the individuals allegedly involved in the Lee Academy incident has been arrested or charged with any criminal offense, so far as I know at this writing. Yet two teenagers have had their names plastered all over the newspapers as if they are in fact guilty of racially-motivated crimes.
Wessler's sanctimonious grandstanding may have made it more difficult -- even impossible -- to bring the guilty parties to justice.Wessler's Warped Worldview
What if criminal investigators determine that the Passamaquoddy student assaulted the white student? Would they dare press criminal charges in the wake of Wessler's media-hyped campaign to paint the Passamaquoddy student (and by all extension, all the Passamaquoddy students) as the victim of a hate crime committed by racist whites?
The point is that Wessler's intervention does nothing to resolve the situation, and much to inflame passions on both sides. He is pushing a political agenda, and he will continue to push it as long as he has a "hate-crimes" statute that allows him to do so.
The political worldview under which Wessler operates is the far left's indictment of America as a racist, sexist, "homophobic" society where members of minority groups are forever oppressed by "the system," or "institutional racism," or "the heterosexist patriarchy." Wessler imagines himself to be a fearless knight in shining armor, an almighty advocate for all the downtrodden and abused "victims" of oppression. The hate-crimes act is an ideal weapon for his crusade, since it centralizes prosecutorial power in Augusta, and sets such a low (nearly non-existent) burden of proof for him to demonstrate just how nasty, brutish, and short life is for members of politically-correct minority groups in Maine.
Wessler's personal bias against politically-incorrect causes and individuals who might otherwise be protected under the hate-crimes act was demonstrated late last year when he took his sweet time responding to death threats against peaceful pro-life picketers outside a Bangor abortion clinic. Nearly eight weeks passed between the date of the death threat and Wessler's filing of a complaint in the case. Compare that to the eight days it took Wessler to charge the white teenagers in Lee.
The lessons from these incidents are abundantly clear. The folks who run the hate crimes factory in Augusta are hell-bent on proving the ludicrous notion that were it not for their valiant efforts, Maine would be a hell on earth for anyone who's not a white male heterosexual.
Welcome to Maine -- the way Steve Wessler wants it to be.Lawrence Lockman is chairman of Concerned Maine Families
What's Your View?
Start or join a discussion on The Liars' Bench or email us