Bucher protesteth too much

Gee whillikers, Sandy!

DA Paul Bucher seems a little testy over my suggestion that he might be closer to agreement with Kathleen Falk than he would like to admit on the question of how to treat addicts in the criminal justice system.

It must have hit a little close to home, because Bucher explained at great length -- once he finished attacking me personally -- how his plan to let suburban repeat drunken drivers go is very different from Falk's plan, which he likes to characterize as letting huge numbers of Willie Horton's friends free in your neighborhood. He must have been up late to do that, after his busy day of locking up criminals and campaigning for office. Pretty good for someone who, his spouse suggested, doesn't know who I am and has never read his own blog.

Anyway, to get to the point in about 10% of the time it took him, here is Bucher's conclusion:

Judges know what they are doing when they sentence an offender to prison. Falk’s plan would release individuals like Dionny Reynolds, who was sent to prison on a drug offense. He later murdered a state Department of Justice drug agent and another man.

Guess what? Under the Falk plan, judges -- the ones Bucher says know what they are doing -- would make the decisions. Unless Bucher thinks the judges really can't be trusted, what is the problem?