Gwen Moore and election fraud

So much for a speedy trial.

Over a year later, Rep. Gwen Moore's son, Sowande Omokunde, is finally standing trial for allegedly doing his best to sabotage the get-out-the-vote efforts of local GOP operatives by slashing campaign vehicles' tires. Mr. Omokunde's defense seems shaky at best, consisting of a unique combination of the “look to the grassy knoll” line and a “hey, this shouldn't be such a big deal” claim. Specifically, his lawyer is insisting, according to WISN, that “national 'operatives' were behind the vandalism.” And his mother, standing in front of the courthouse, apparently played things down according to the same source's description and partial quotation of her comments, “prosecutors have turned a criminal damage case 'into the crime of the century' as revenge for her being elected to Congress.”

First, let's just point out the hypocrisy here. Tom Delay is indicted and has to step down from a leadership post. Ms. Moore's son is charged with essentially rigging her election and she gets to go to Washington.

Second, as I noted in The Badger Herald after the election, this whole thing wreaks of her either being incompetent or criminal:

Given that any capable politician should at least be able to keep tabs on where their children are on Election Day — when the entire family is placed in the spotlight — questions must naturally be asked about what Ms. Moore knew and when she knew it.

The freshly elected Democrat is either the dirtiest of all politicians — on par with Richard Nixon’s henchmen — or a mother thoroughly negligent of her children. Either way, the people of Milwaukee — and federal authorities — ought to commence asking questions about the ability of Ms. Moore to hold an elected office so ill-obtained.

Then again, there may be a larger issue here. As the Republican Party of Wisconsin noted in a release today, “While the Democratic Party of Wisconsin has denied involvement, four of the five charged were paid staffers with the party beginning in the summer of 2004.”

It doesn't much matter how you spin this one: Ms. Moore is either mindless, criminal or the member of a criminal party. One way or another, it is time to bring her back from Washington and send a competent representative to the House.