We often hear the complaint that, when a Republican is embroiled in a scandal, his party affiliation is placed at the top of the news story while when a Democrat is involved in a scandal, his party affiliation is buried at the end. Credit, therefore, goes to AP for its story about South Carolina Treasurer Thomas Ravenel’s indictment on federal cocaine charges. Ravenel’s party affiliation appears only in the third to last paragraph of the report.
If the charges are true, it’s a really sordid story, not so much about drug dealing, but about how rich people live and, apparently, think they can get away with things. I say this because Ravenel is a millionaire who apparently bought a small amount of drugs for a party. In other words, he’s probably the kind of guy who, even as he was snorting some social coke with friends, was talking tough about locking up the druggies in the ‘hood. (I’m guessing wildly here, but the situation — if true — does seem to invite that kind of speculation about Ravenel’s attitude towards drugs and the law.)
Filed under: Crime and punishment, Media matters |
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Writing from Charleston, I can state that even when Ravenel previously ran for office, that he had had drug problems in the 1980s was known. What is surprising is that these charges concern 2005, since most people assumed (my better half not included) that his activities were those of youth and that Ravenel had changed his ways. When he ran for Treasurer, many people must have known about this drug use and yet no one whispered it during a hard-fought campaign. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry about that one!
Perhaps the press has learned that bad behavior is neither more or less associated with party affiliation. But corruption has been associated with power forever.
..but you can’t hide.
If Ravenel is convicted of distribution of cocaine, he can serve as much as 20 years in prison. I would say that it is more likely that he will cut a “plea deal” to serve a short amount of time behind bars along with probation.
If Ravenel cuts a “plea deal”, in other words, “pleads guilty” then the Feds should insist that he roll over on a “Bigger Fish” If he does not roll over, then he should do some serious jail time with the rest of the “Cocaine Distributors”.