OPINION:
In true Democratic “old boys’ club” fashion, days before leaving office outgoing Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam granted a simple pardon to Sen. Joe Morrissey, for Morrissey’s 2014 conviction of contributing to the delinquency of a minor for being in a relationship with his then-17-year-old assistant, who later became his wife (“Outgoing Va. Gov. Ralph Northam pardons scandal-scarred state senator,” Web, Jan. 14).
Learning of that pardon last week, the extremely pleased and grateful Morrissey expressed that to say he is happy with the decision is the “understatement of the 2022 General Assembly session.”
Although a simple pardon doesn’t change any of the legal consequences associated with a conviction, Northam’s pardon of Morrissey typifies the systemic privilege and absolute power of the political elite, who seem capable of ’canceling’ any situation leading to the crime under consideration.
This “woke” custom reminds me of my tenure at a university in the 1990s and being discharged for an alleged email incident that followed me for years. Where others involved had their actions condoned because of favoritism, I became the censured martyr.
Seeing as how 25 years have passed, do I get a pardon, too, governor?
RICK KNIGHT
Henrico, Va.
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