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Show THE NATIONAL ENTERPRISE, OCTOBER 5, 1977 23 PRAGMATIC DOGMATICS Judicial selection politics Milton Eisenhower as a special envoy, but no President other than JFK would have had Bobbv in the cabinet. Second, politics is politics. Only the hopelessly naive believed James Earl Carter when he promised that he would take partisanship out of judicial appointments. So only that number has a right to surprise that the Circuit appointee is the Democratic congressman's brother, and that his closest by Kent Shearer of protest have greeted the announcement that Monroe McKay, Gunns smarter brother, will be Utah's appointee to the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court. Both Governor Matheson and Utah State Bar President James B. Lee have issued strongly worded objections, a and the affair has become a event. In the long run, the flap will be of little Monroe, more liberal than consequence. Gunn, will no doubt be confirmed and then w ill render judgements he perceives to be proper. And, in due course, he too shall pass. There are, howrever, some aspects to Monroes selection which it may be instructive to observe. The points are five-folIt is First, nepotism is natural. w'ould a Monore be federal inconcievable that judge were Gunn not in Congress, but neither would Hugh Carter, Jr. be a White House aide were not his uncle President. Another chief executive other than Ike might have employed Howls mini-medi- for the selection was the Democratic governors campaign chairman. Third, geography may govern. Folks in the First Congressional District, Gunns, long have felt slighted in their share of political The common conviction in appointments. Ogden, Provo, and elsew here has been that a disproportionate share of plums have gone to the Second District in general and Salt Lake County in particular. Monroe is an Arizona lawyer, but to Gunn's constituents, that is less important than that he is not a Salt Lake attorney. competitor d. I teteem zwexs V c&ew IM6 POZZISP 3 VI&J06& BUT 7HS OF CPV0"MA& wms iraese p(TKVIT MASIERpiecs tw to 0V 1H6 veHenevr p v&nzcue nTr OUTBURSTS ASAIOST THIS BV FILM -- jug two-third- two-thir- ds What should one gather from this? Perhaps that a society formed by imperfect individuals is itself imperfect, and that who you are will continue to be more important than what you arc. So, what else is new? $emT,&astamp sm&u-- y mmx won ULJ&,. TH CRW UM&xasevcMiY SSUSnc v'isioj OF pm&ccRs s Fourth, religion is real. Utah is LDS. It is unrealistic to believe that Utahs three federal judges (two District, one Circuit) will ever again be as they have been for a score plus years gentile. Carter would prove himself an absolute political fool had he failed to remedy this imbalance in a state where he already is disliked. Fifth, qualifications don't count. Nobody thinks that Monroe is the most talented Utahn for the Circuit, just as no one ever thought that Bert Lance was the most qualifted person in the country for the Office of Management and Budget. Gunn stumbles whenever he attempts to suggest to the contrary. To treat Monroes Peace Corps stint as a judicial qualification, for instance, is laughable at best. HOMMMTY. eSflBUSHMgWT Critics. WISfOH. i mr to v&gcncn scene, BOUR&OIC CRITICS me ee BUT TUB w MlCDUCR emmse - wor6 mi to lUfimi mu, WOT TURU AUW reoM 7AP6KS LYRIC cmottisu scene tell os PmkPS ine QEPeuev a) Post- iuposirm. RVnOJAtSM- uoolp ike tmo moot cQRseue$ IU M7DS.. - aicstiom car; 'MomS' wnte wwc; 2AP6KS 'TH5CRCTU MLL Lll6 A9 A Mic. ll -- Z SR77 b-the Hansen death dance Z oQ. CC UJ o o BY Parker M. Nielson Utahs Attorney General Robert Hansen must be scored as one of historys all time Ghouls. Not satisfied with merely having urged Gary Gilmores execution to the United States Supreme Court, or having spent state funds to communicate that pitiful figures death wish to the High Court, or with hysterically rushing to his execution in disregard of what later he himself acknowledged to the legislature to be a failure of the due process that is the essence of a fair judicial system, Hansen is now' as it were dancing on Gilmores corpse. I have reference to Hansen offering his services about the country to boast of his role in the Gilmore execution. Were he motivated by advancing public dialogue or he might be philosophical debate over capital punishment excused, however much one may disagree with his point of view. But Hansen is out to make a "buck out of this sorry incident, and the emoluments of his office, as his comments to a press have revealed. Claims to the contrary are dispelled by it casual look at his brochure. The GILMORE EXECUTION, to a proclaims in bold letters Death Penalty being relegated mere sub-titl- e. Has the man no sense of ethics? Has he no grasp of the meaning of good taste of compassion? When I previously criticized Hansens role in the Gilmore case Enterprise. Dec. 15, 1976) he responded that I did not have my facts straight and that he welcome(s) an opportunity for discussion" (Enterprise, Dec. 29, 1976). For the record, in this instance he has ignored my request to examine his brochure which I nevertheless obtained from secondary sources. Hansen and his ilk persistently misrepresent the stand of opponents of capital punishment. The worth, or its lack, of convicted murderers is not the issue rather the depravity of taking a life for simple vengeance. The ultimate depravity, however, is seeking to make commercial gain of the misfortunes of others. Even accepting that capital punishment has a rational relationship to law enforcement which I do not those called upon to discharge it ought to do so with humility in recognition of the somber responsibility in taking another human life. Not so with Mr. Hansen. He even has the gall to associate the seal of the State of Utah in the brochure advertising his "services," and to incorporate his pose before the American flag, thus implicating all of us in his macabre dance. |