Tell the Nice People Bye-Bye
Critics of her too-long career have suspected for years, and now the aging seductress has given the best evidence yet, that “honesty” is not a moral concept she values. She is trying to pull off, to be candid, what may be her most deceitful stunt yet.
Making Critical Distinctions
You would suspect Grandma Bad News had tumbled into a vat of gooey Alzheimer’s. She has been flogging this staggering horse for months. My mother, who would have been 90 years old today, used to remind all seven of us we did not have to reveal to relatives everything that we knew or had witnessed. That is called discretion. She did not, however, mean that we should hide felony convictions from potential employers. That is lying. Grandma Bad News disagrees. If you have done hard time, the person hiring you obviously needs to be informed of it. That will — properly — influence the company’s ultimate call on you. I believe I understand what galvanizes Ms. Burke. She sees herself as a heroic Grandma Second-Chance. “I believe that ‘upfront disclosure’ of criminal convictions on a government application can be a substantial deterrent and impediment for a rehabilitated individual seeking honest employment.” So let’s fool ‘em into thinking I have lived the life of an altar boy. Right, Grandma? Ms. Burke sounds like the kind of grandmother who would send her grandchildren on an Easter egg hunt, and then tell them when they came back emptyhanded and frustrated an hour later that, ha, ha, she was just kidding. She never hid any eggs. Wouldn’t you like to be caged in a foxhole with someone who possesses the Swiss cheese character of Ms. Burke? She would connive to deceive you into thinking that she was going to cover you when she never had any intention.
The Other Side
Of course, some ex-cons merit second chances. There are degrees of character lapses. This is a crucial distinction liberals deny because it distorts their notions of a black and white, class- and gender-driven world. Only a person of questionable character would dare craft a blanket proposal covering all ex-convicts. Why not hire all old ladies the age of Grandma Bad News who favor brown dresses with one long sleeve and one short sleeve? “As one of the largest employers in Southern California,” Ms. Burke says in her opening pitch, “Los Angeles County is in the position to provide qualified ex-offenders with a viable opportunity to reintegrate as working and productive citizens.” She fails to differentiate between hiring one for closely monitored duties and awarding the unproven bad guy the keys to the vault because he deserves a re-try.
Postscript
This is the kind of policy upheaval liberals love. It gives them a warm, shimmering feeling all over. Between Grandma Bad News’s ex-cons on the county payroll and Mayor Villaraigosa’s illegal immigrants on the city payroll, Los Angeles may have to change its name to that dreaded 19th century destination, Devil’s Island.
