Reply to Josh Katcher just became Commonwealth’s Attorney in Arlington

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Their platforms are very similar. This nonsense about fascists and nazis is just plain stupid.  An incumbent like Parisa gets the benefit of, well, being the incumbent. She also gets the scrutiny of what happened during her tenure. There’s nothing she could have done to stop the drunk driving incident. Also, it was, objectively speaking, reasonable to try the drunk driver as a juvenile. But just because something is reasonable, doesn’t mean it’s popular. To not even show up at the sentencing hearing for such a high-profile and contentious case was political malpractice. This was a case where she was showcasing the consequences of committing to not trying juveniles as adults (again, a reasonable choice and part of her criminal justice reform platform, but also one that was contentious in this very tragic case and one for which she should have been taking visible ownership). I don’t fault Katcher for exploiting this weakness that Parisa willingly opened herself up to. It’s almost like she assumed she would be running unopposed and wouldn’t face accountability at the polls. Any political strategists out there disagree???[/quote]

Face accountability for . . . doing her job and not playing politics?

We have enough divisiveness in our country as it is. Do we really need to make this contentious purely over politics? It's really a turn off in this race. 
[/quote]

She’s an elected official. The idea that she gets a free pass from the [b]political consequences of her job performance[/b] is absurd. As an elected official, she has her professional duties, but she is also answerable to her constituents when the next election rolls around. It’s not “playing politics.” It’s literally the nature of her job as an “elected” official. She is endorsed by a political party, gets fundraising from that political party, and mobilizes their resources to turn out the vote in her favor, it is all politics. If she wants a job where she answers to no one, there are plenty of traditional legal jobs that are not elected positions. I agree that it’s a turn off that it’s heated, but if you don’t want things to be contentious, you’ll have to do away with elections entirely. You don’t get to choose which elections are hotly contested. That’s not how it works.[/quote]

Her job performance was fine. The fact that she didn't give special treatment to certain families is actually a plus in my book. There shouldn't be a "political consequence" for integrity. 
[/quote]

If showing up to a sentencing hearing for the perpetrator of a very serious crime that devastated the community constitutes special treatment, maybe she’s not doing a great job? [/quote]

I've asked this a few times on this thread, as have others: if she, as a matter of practice, does not attend any sentencing hearings, why then should she have attended this one? Horrible tragedy, for sure, but what about this case merits different practice than all the other tragic cases? Yes, it was sad for all of Arlington and it definitely devastated certain segments within Arlington, but let's be honest - it didn't devastate the entire community. The fact is that it was another case in a big portfolio of cases that she, as the head of the office, oversees. That sounds cold, but that's how DA/CA offices in large cities function. We are not a small town where everyone knows everyone else and the local DA handles everything themselves. So, what about Braylon's case warranted an expectation that Parisa would deviate from her practice? This sounds personal to you, but so too are crimes against other victims and I don't think we hear those other victims claim they deserved her attendance at the sentencing hearing. [/quote]

So we should have lower standards simply because others have tolerated it?  Parisa should maybe have better practices if it’s now being cast as elitist to expect her to attend the sentencing hearing relating to a very significant case (how many other cases of vehicular manslaughter involving the death of a minor at the hands of a drunk driver were there during her time in office where the drunk driver was not expected to serve any significant time? I don’t care that we’re a large community - this created a unique tension in our community and it was shameful to not be there at sentencing).[/quote]

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