The job of Attorney General is a critically important one. This person sets the tone for how the justice system will treat people who are accused of breaking the law. Their attitudes and beliefs as well as their personal agendas can mean the difference between fair and thoughtful enforcement of our laws, or out-of-control crusading for personal gain.
The two top contenders for the Democratic candidacy where Greg MacPherson and John Kroger.
OFF supporters have know that for as long as he served in the Oregon legislature, MacPherson was an arrogant, self-important crusader against gun rights and gun ownership. MacPherson did all he could to attack the rights of gun owners, but thanks to the activism of OFF supporters, he failed every time.
MacPherson’s bid for AG ended in failure as well, which was good news for freedom lovers in Oregon, especially since it also meant he would be leaving the legislature and his position of Chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
But as bad as MacPherson was, it would be a mistake to assume that his democratic rival, John Kroger, represented a better choice.
Kroeger’s first job in politics was working for, none other than America’s most hateful gun grabber, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. It would be hard to find more serious anti-gun credentials than that.
Kroger’s recently published book “Convictions” might lead many to wonder whether he would serve our state well in a job that demands the highest of ethics.
Kroger served as an Assistant US Attorney, a prosecutor for the feds. The job of prosecutor is not to make as many arrests and jail as many people as possible. The job is to get the truth in criminal matters and exonerate the innocent. There is nothing “ethically complex” about it. But on page 41 of his book, Kroger discusses a quandary he had when interviewing for his job.
Faced with a question of what to do if he discovered that the Federal agents who brought charges against someone in a hypothetical case were lying, Kroger describes his reaction this way; “If being an AUSA was ethically simply, then why, I should have wondered, was the major test I had to pass an ethically complex hypothetical in which federal agents-the good guys right?- had apparently committed perjury?”
This is indeed troubling, that a person who wants to be the Attorney General of Oregon , would consider lying federal agents a “ethically complex hypothetical.”
Lying Federal agents should be jailed. There is nothing ” ethically complex” about it.
But even more troubling is Kroger’s very next statement. “And wasn’t it a little bit odd that I began my career as an AUSA by cheating on an interview question? Or that this cheating was “traditional” Pg 41 “Convictions”
Later on Kroger describes his pursuit of someone he was hoping to charge with a crime. He wasn’t even sure what to charge him with, so he settled on “currency smuggling.” The “crime” of bringing money into the country. But in further examination of the law, Kroger was “shocked” to realize that his “criminal” “might not have committed a crime at all”
The constant pursuit of people for “something” must often lead to the disappointing “shock” that they had done nothing wrong. Kroger then went on to charge him with something else.
On page 62 of “Convictions” Kroger describes a method he adopted to pick juries. He sought readers of the New York Post which he described as a “simplistic conservative tabloid” and avoided people who read the left leaning New York Times because those people were likely to be “thoughtful liberals.” In Kroger’s world, people with conservative values are “simplistic” and people who are liberal are “thoughtful.”
Oh his campaign website, Kroger proudly poses with Janet Reno who was responsible for the horrific deaths at Waco and discusses his role as a “Democratic Party Activist.” There he brags about his role developing President Clinton’s initiative to “hire 100,00 new police officers.” An initiative that never happened.
As you know, there are other candidates in this race. Voters should use care when deciding who should control Oregon’s Justice Department. Candidates driven by a desire to convict at any cost are dangerous. Those who think that only liberals are capable of being “thoughtful” may have agendas well beyond pursuit of justice.