Smells like privilege

It does my heart good to see the careful attention to due process and legal rights in the serving of a summons to Tim Longmeyer, former secretary of the Personnel Cabinet and second in command at the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office. This latter-day Honest Dick Tate was not arrested; he did not have to post bond.

Instead, he was served a summons to appear in court April 20 to answer charges that he accepted $200,000 in bribes to steer business to a favored consulting firm (and take a cut, of course). Witnesses allegedly saw him accept money on two occasions; a whistleblower contacted law enforcement.

Thus far, he has been very lucky. If he were black, or any other minority or a poor person accused of a crime, there would be no negotiation. He would have to post bond to secure his freedom, and he would stand a real chance of being handcuffed, threatened with resisting arrest (whether or not he did, in fact, resist) and perhaps worse in the process.

His attorney said that Longmeyer is evaluating the allegations and will deal with them “at the appropriate time.” Makes you think that Black Lives Matter might have a point.

This story was originally published April 1, 2016 at 7:49 PM with the headline "Smells like privilege."