Gary Pearce posted on May 21, 2012 15:17
One thing is clear from the John Edwards trial, a second thing is much less clear and a third will play out over time.
What is clear, after days of mind-numbing retelling of the sordid tale, is that Edwards did terrible things. And so did several other characters. The prosecutors did a fine job of beating us over the head with that.
Less clear is whether all this amounts to a violation of campaign finance law. Regardless of the jury’s verdict, the appeals will go on.
One more thing isn’t clear: Are we in for more and more of these campaign-finance prosecutions?
One TAPster, an attorney whose opinion I respect, suggested that enough is enough, that it’s time for state and federal prosecutors to stop criminalizing potential violations.
To which some Democrats might respond: “Not yet. Now that Republicans are in power – and raising a lot of money – they need to feel the sting of the law’s lash.”