Missouri law officials, including public prosecutors, who were reportedly planning to "respond immediately" to any misleading advertisements against Barack Obama if they "might violate Missouri ethics laws," have now backed off the intimidating implications of that report, promising that they have no intention of prosecuting anyone.
As WND reported, prosecuting attorneys Bob McCulloch and Jennifer Joyce originally announced on KMOV-TV in St. Louis their participation in Obama's "Truth Squad," pledging to defend the candidate from untruthful ads with an undefined "immediate" response. "Whether it is directly attributable to the (McCain) campaign or to one of the soft money operations," McCulloch told the station, "if they're not going to tell the truth, somebody's got to step up and say, 'That's not the truth. This is the truth.'" The move prompted Missouri's governor to object that the prosecutors were using "police state tactics" to squelch information hurtful to the Obama campaign. "What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words," wrote Gov. Matt Blunt in a statement. "The party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment." A spokesperson for St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, however, told WND that the televised "Truth Squad" announcement was misunderstood. "The only action they would take would be to provide truthful information to the public so they can make up their minds," said spokesperson Susan Ryan. "Neither (Joyce) nor anybody involved in this has any intention of prosecuting anybody." When asked if the initial announcement suggested legal ramifications for "crossing ethics laws in Missouri," Ryan confirmed, "Unfortunately it did suggest that, but the 'Truth Squad' has no intention of prosecuting anyone for this." Further, Ryan insisted, attorneys McCulloch and Joyce are participating in the "Truth Squad" as part of their private citizenship, on their own time, and in no way in their capacity as prosecutors. "That's not how they announced it," objected Gov. Blount in an interview on Fox TV's "America's Newsroom" talk show. "They rolled it out as prosecutors willing to take actions as prosecutors." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
