Prosecutor Craves Publicity- Taxpayers Lose

As we saw Rachael Armstrong recently point out, we saw an election year publicity stunt by Otto Schalk on child support to cover for his record of inaction for more than three years. We saw last week the following quote in our local newspaper:

"After the hearing last week, Newlon told a reporter that she anticipated a change of venue would be filed due to pre-trial publicity."

But then you have to ask yourself why the defense attorney in this case  have to ask for a change of venue due to "pre-trial publicity". Could it be because Otto Schalk feels it necessary to take any and all opportunities to try to get himself press in the newspaper and even more to get on television? We see this in the world of celebrity from the likes of Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, the Karashians, and the cast of Jersey Shore for examples. That is the world of celebrity, and while we may not like it, we have come to expect it. However, do we really expect this from a Prosecutor? Or do we want someone that will go about their job, day after day for the right reasons, rather than making the goal of their job to get media attention? Why should we care about this so much as taxpayers in Harrison County? Well, the pre-trial publicity sought by the Prosecutor for himself may lead to the case being moved to another county for trial. If this happens, as we saw in the numerous David Camm trials, it will cost taxpayers thousands of dollars.We don't see Prosecutors in neighboring counties seeming to crave seeing themselves on television all the time, not even in much larger counties. Maybe a dose of humility would be helpful, but it may have already cost Harrison County taxpayers thousands of dollars for one person's ego trip.

 

Are these the best examples for what we want in a Prosecutor? Our current one thinks it is. 

It's time for a change!