Capuano Misrepresenting Coakley’sDeath Penalty Stance
Today after Coakley’s women’s endorsement presser, State Rep. Jennifer Benson said that Capuano is distributing campaign literature claiming to be the only candidate against the death penalty. Benson said:
It really aggravates me as a progressive Democrat to see her record misrepresented.
Asked about her opponent’s claims in an afternoon interview, Coakley said:
That’s totally inaccurate. I’m against the death penalty. I’ve been on record as being against the death penalty for a period of years now.
Describing the experience that solidified her anti-death-penalty stance, she said
It is true when I first ran for DA, that I had a slightly different approach to that and had two exceptions. But… in Massachusetts there were four men on death row as a result of… evidence [that would have helped their defense being] withheld by the FBI… When that was overturned, I said… when you have police misconduct in authority, corruption involved — it’s not something I can accept.
Since that time, Coakley has had additional hands-on experience with the issue:
The risk of mistake is too high. We can always open the jail cell; we cannot exhume somebody if we’ve made a mistake. We’ve certainly learned that with DNA cases more recently where I’ve been involved in opening the jail cell in cases where people have been wrongfully convicted. So I have been an opponent of the death penalty… and I’ve been on record doing that.
Of campaigning via misinformation, Benson said:
[Coakley] doesn’t need to use political tactics. She can run on her record.
3 comments
[...] “Political Stenography.” It was only a couple of days ago that we were reporting that Capuano was misrepresenting Coakley’s death penalty stance. A one-time misrepresentation could be a mistake. But this is beginning to look like a campaign [...]
[...] people have been wrongfully convicted. So I’ve been an opponent of the death penalty. (Women for Coakley interview. Note that Coakley was the recipient of the Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death [...]
[...] which you once supported, and many years later now oppose?” That question is blatantly misleading if not downright false, and Janet Wu is smart enough to know it. Was she just trying to rattle her guest to make for [...]
Leave a Comment