Following a reasonable complaint from Republican leaders in
the General Assembly that they lack sufficient data to write legislation that
will assure people in Connecticut – and most especially the people of Sandy
Hook – that massacres of the kind that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School
will not be repeated, Governor Dannel Malloy, who does not take kindly to
critical objections, responded with a media release.
“Like many others,” Mr. Malloy wrote, “I was
disappointed and angered to learn that certain information about the Newtown
shooting had been leaked, specifically with concern for the victims' families
who may have been hearing this news for the first time.”
Does Mr. Malloy truly
think that the leaked information provided in a Daily News report by Mike Lupica will irreparably compromise the criminal
investigation under way by the Chief State’s Attorney and other law enforcement
officials?
Mr. Malloy does not
seem especially anxious to answer to this question. But the question is an
important one because, depending on the answer to it, reasonable people, news
reporters among them, might be able to determine for themselves whether or not
the shroud of secrecy surrounding the mass murders at Sandy Hook Elementary
School should be lifted so as to allow legislators to write rational and
effective bills.
The Chief State’s
Attorney has not indicated as a result of the data he has so far assembled that
any prosecutions are pending. Adam Lanza, a quite efficient killer, managed to
murder 20 school children, 6 staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School and
his own mother. There has been some speculation, so far not supported by hard
data, that Mr. Lanza’s mother might have been partly responsible for the mayhem
by failing to render inaccessible four of the weapons Mr. Lanza carried with
him to the school. Indeed, most of the information people in Connecticut and
elsewhere have been regurgitating from media reports remains unverified. A
final criminal report, we are told, will be completed sometime in June.
The Chief State’s
Attorney likely will not prosecute Adam Lanza, because he is dead. His mother
likewise is unavailable for questioning.
Questions cannot be wrested from any of the brave and heroic school
personnel who, unarmed, died in heroic attempts to frustrate Mr. Lanza’s
murderous assault. Indeed, should some curious news reporter ask Mr. Malloy, a
former prosecutor, who the Chief State’s Attorney intends to prosecute for this
heinous crime, what names could he mention?
Until the New
Orleans leak, the iron curtain of secrecy surrounding the massacre in Sandy
Hook was impenetrable, and in the absence of verified information, speculation
and rumor have been rampant. However, it may not seem to most reporters that
the data tightly under wraps and released by Mr. Lupica would compromise the
ongoing investigation by the Chief State’s Attorney and others closely
connected with federal personnel, nor has the Chief State’s Attorney suggested
as much.
Following criticism
from leading data-starved legislators in the General Assembly, Mr. Malloy wrote
in his media release:
“Today, my office
contacted the Chief State’s Attorney. I requested, and they have agreed, to
release additional information relevant to the investigation and to provide a
status on where the investigation currently stands. This information will be
provided by Friday, March 29.
“As to what
information can reasonably be shared at this time – that is a question that
must be left to the State’s Attorney and other law enforcement. As a former
prosecutor, I’m sensitive to the need for an independent investigation and
believe that we must allow their work to continue without any undue
interference.
“Having said all
that, I will also say that I am bewildered by the demands of Mr. Cafero and
others for a special briefing they claim is necessary in order for them to take
a firm position on potential legislative responses to this horrific tragedy.
“To Mr. Cafero and
those others I must ask: what more could you possibly need to know?
It might be considered unbusiness-like for Mr. Cafero to respond, “We
need to know more than Mike Lupica if we are expected to write rational
legislation that will, as Mr. Malloy and members of Connecticut’s U.S
Congressional delegation have insisted, prevent future Sandy Hook-like school
invasions.” At the very least Mr. Cafero
should busy himself making a list of relevant questions the answers to which
might aid the General Assembly in writing pertinent legislation.
All available information should be released to legislative
bodies considering relevant bills. It borders upon insanity to expect
reasonable legislation from legislators not in possession of the data they need
to write the legislation. If it is determined that the information – including Hippa
information – will compromise the investigation, that data may be received by
relevant committees in camera. If
current Hippa regulations prevent the sharing of medical data with legislators
who need the data to write bills, change the regulations. Legislators – and the
governor -- should have been insisting on briefings and updated briefings all
along. It is the lack of hard and accurate data that has slowed the legislative
process. No more dawdling! The people of Sandy Hook deserve better than this.
By the way, would it not be proper for U.S. Senator Chris
Murphy and other Democrats on Connecticut’s all Democratic U.S. Congressional
delegation to direct some of the rhetorical fire aimed at the demonized NRA
towards Democrats in the U.S. Senate. Senate leader Harry Reid could not muster
enough votes in a body controlled by Democrats to pass an assault rifle ban: Connecticut
has one. This commentator reads media
reports sedulously, and he cannot recall any of the members of Connecticut’s
U.S. Congressional delegation, all Democrats, being invited to express their
dismay concerning the withdrawal of the assault weapons ban bill by Senate
leader Harry Reid. These are the very people, Mr. Malloy among them, who stood
shoulder to shoulder with groups in Newtown that were demanding an assault
weapons ban from President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and the U.S. Congress.
What flower pots are they hiding behind now?
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