No Good Deed

New England CableNews (NECN) reported that “A man U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal helped to free from Florida's death row more than 25 years ago has been charged in a different case with killing his wife in North Carolina.”

While working at a private law practice in 1986, current U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, for more than 20 years Connecticut’s Attorney General, agreed to represent Joseph Green Brown, convicted falsely on rape and murder charges.

Owing to false testimony provided by a co-defendant, Mr. Brown’s conviction was reversed, and thereafter Mr. Brown was installed on Mr. Blumenthal’s Senate website:

“From 1977 to 1981, Senator Blumenthal served as a U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, prosecuting drug trafficking, organized and white collar crime, civil rights violations, consumer fraud, and environmental pollution. He served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1984 to 1987, and the Connecticut State Senate from 1987 to 1990. As a volunteer attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Senator Blumenthal saved the life of an innocent, wrongly convicted death row inmate who came within hours of execution.”

A similar bio blurb appeared on Mr. Blumenthal’s Attorney General site:

“He served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1984 to 1987, and then the State Senate from 1987 to 1990. As a volunteer attorney for the NAACP legal defense fund, Blumenthal saved the life of an innocent, wrongly convicted death row inmate, who came within hours of execution.”

Any non-celestial politician might have agreed to be interviewed by NECN, pointing out that in this unpredictable veil of tears “No good deed goes unpunished.” But, according to NECN, “Blumenthal declined to comment Sunday on his involvement in the case.”

Mr. Blumenthal’s instinctive reaction to potentially fatal information is to hunker down until the clouds of controversy blow away and the sun resumes shining on his face.

As attorney general, Mr. Blumenthal spent a good part of his time telling news outlets in a cataract of news releases what they should print about him.