Eric Rucker For District Attorney

The crushing heat during the dog days of a Kansas summer is brutal but it’s nothing compared to the heat coming out of the District Attorney’s race. I’m talking primarily about the fight between Eric Rucker and current District Attorney, Robert Hecht.
I’ll tell you straight up I’m backing Eric Rucker in this fight and I’ll tell you why. Before I do though, I want to make it perfectly clear that I believe both of them are good and honorable men who believe in what they are doing. I just think they have different priorities.
Robert Hecht has been in the business for about as long as I’ve been alive, so as far as experience goes, he takes a back seat to no one. He’s taken on and has brought down several corrupt politicians and dirty cops. And like he says, he operates without favor or fear.
But has all that made Topeka a safer place to live? Not really. Hardly a day goes by that we don’t read about another murder, another shooting, another beating, another rape, or another robbery. The list goes on and on. How about property crimes? How many times does someone have to get caught breaking into someone’s car or house before they face any kind of consequences? The owners of local gas stations and convenience stores have more or less been left to fend for themselves because the DA’s office says that gasoline drive offs aren’t worth prosecuting. Maybe they’re not, I don’t know. It just seems weird to me that someone can be caught red handed stealing gas and the cops won’t do anything about it because they know the DA won’t prosecute the case. No, I don’t believe it’s all Robert Hecht’s fault and I’m not saying it is. Maybe that’s just the way the system works, who knows?
The deal breaker for me though was the Harold Spencer case. Harold Spencer is the 75 year old pedophile who plead guilty to raping two little 6 and 7 year old girls. According to the sentencing guidelines this man should have faced two life sentences. Instead, judge Mathew Dowd gave him three years of low level probation. How is that justice? How does it keep him from doing it again? It doesn’t.
No, I don’t blame Robert Hecht for the actions of a miserable judge like Mathew Dowd. I do blame him for agreeing to stand silent for the sentencing in this judge’s courtroom though. Defending his decision to stand silent, Mr. Hecht said he had never seen nor was he aware of any case, anywhere, where the proscribed sentence was two life terms in prison and the court grants probation instead. That’s probably a true enough statement. But Mr. Hecht has to know that this judge has an extensive history of being lenient on child rapists. Mr. Hecht rolled the dice and bet that judge Dowd would finally do the right thing, and once again a child rapist goes free.
It’s no secret the cops don’t like Robert Hecht. The way they see it, the DA has become more of an adversary than a partner in fighting crime. That’s why they’ve decided to back Eric Rucker in this race. Mr. Rucker has a long history of creating working relationships with the K.B.I., the Kansas Highway Patrol, several county sheriffs and city police departments all across Kansas. Isn’t that the way it should be?
One more thing before I wrap this up. I know that political campaigns get ugly. But for Robert Hecht to claim that Phil Kline would have an influence in the Shawnee County District Attorney’s office and that Eric Rucker and Phil Kline would make a dangerous team would be more credible if we had at least one abortion clinic in Shawnee county. Nice try though.
I’m well aware that some of you aren’t going to like what I’ve written here today. So be it. Just keep in mind, this is my opinion and it has nothing to do with the views of the Topeka Metro News. If you’ve got something to say you need to take it up with me, not them. And you can do just that by going to my online blog at www.rm235.blogspot.com or you can e-mail me at kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net.