EDITORIAL ABOUT HATCH: "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"
Hatch reaches for wrong tool
It's early in the campaign season, but we think we've come across the first "What were you thinking?" idea to be proposed in the slew of legislative races. This gem comes from Attorney General Mike Hatch, who'd like to move across the hall at the Capitol and replace Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
On Friday Hatch proposed going after about six large pharmaceutical companies that make pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, two ingredients used to make cold medicines that are also used to make methamphetamine, the nefarious, highly addictive drug that's destroying lives and communities from Bloomington to Bemidji. The purpose of the lawsuit would be to recover the government's costs for meth-related problems.
That's a novel idea that may guarantee Hatch the tort bar's endorsement in the gubernatorial race. But it begs the question: What's next? Will Hatch propose suing GM to recover costs related to car accidents? After all, cars, like pseudoephedrine, are perfectly legal products with perfectly good, legal uses that are sometimes abused by the general public.
How about hockey sticks? About 99.9 percent of the time they're used without incident on ponds and in arenas across the state. But if someone goes berserk with a hockey stick, will Hatch next target Christian Brothers, the Warroad maker of wooden hockey sticks?
We could go on, but you get the point.
As ludicrous as the proposed lawsuit is, our bigger problem is with Hatch's claim that the state's efforts to curb meth use haven't worked. The war on meth is one that could last decades. But there has been solid progress made over the past few years. Source: Pioneer Press, February 21, 2006
To Continue Reading:
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/editorial/13919833.htm
It's early in the campaign season, but we think we've come across the first "What were you thinking?" idea to be proposed in the slew of legislative races. This gem comes from Attorney General Mike Hatch, who'd like to move across the hall at the Capitol and replace Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
On Friday Hatch proposed going after about six large pharmaceutical companies that make pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, two ingredients used to make cold medicines that are also used to make methamphetamine, the nefarious, highly addictive drug that's destroying lives and communities from Bloomington to Bemidji. The purpose of the lawsuit would be to recover the government's costs for meth-related problems.
That's a novel idea that may guarantee Hatch the tort bar's endorsement in the gubernatorial race. But it begs the question: What's next? Will Hatch propose suing GM to recover costs related to car accidents? After all, cars, like pseudoephedrine, are perfectly legal products with perfectly good, legal uses that are sometimes abused by the general public.
How about hockey sticks? About 99.9 percent of the time they're used without incident on ponds and in arenas across the state. But if someone goes berserk with a hockey stick, will Hatch next target Christian Brothers, the Warroad maker of wooden hockey sticks?
We could go on, but you get the point.
As ludicrous as the proposed lawsuit is, our bigger problem is with Hatch's claim that the state's efforts to curb meth use haven't worked. The war on meth is one that could last decades. But there has been solid progress made over the past few years. Source: Pioneer Press, February 21, 2006
To Continue Reading:
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/editorial/13919833.htm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home