Means and Ends

Do the ends justify the means?

I don't think so.

How often have we heard someone say that the ends do not justify the means? That is another way of saying that the process used in achieving our objectives is just as important as the objectives themselves.

Process is important. You will hear me talk about the process a lot, even if it creates the appearance that I don't support an important community objective.

My philosophy is influenced heavily by my experiences as a pro bono (for free) criminal defense attorney. I have represented over 1,000 criminal defendants with about 100 of those going to an actual trial. I was confident that 99% of those people absolutely were guilty of the charges. Of the approximately 100 trials that I conducted, I was reasonably confident that 2 or 3 of my clients were not guilty.

I succeeded in winning cases for clients who admitted their guilt to me. I have been asked "how could you do that, working to get people off who are guilty by their own admission?" I worked equally hard to get acquittals for all my clients, the ones I felt were not guilty and the ones I knew were guilty. Why?

The answer is simple: while it is true that I was defending that person who admitted his or her guilt to me, more importantly, I was also defending the system. I was defending your and my right to be free from arbitrary accusations of crimes we did not commit. We must force our criminal justice system to prove guilt, even if that means that the truly guilty occasionally walk free. There is no other way to protect the innocent when falsely accused.

How is this relevant to West Windsor politics?

It is most relevant because we, as elected officials, often are confronted with proposals that are objectionable or even odious. Nevertheless, it is our obligation, as elected officials, to give every proposal the benefit of the doubt as well as a full and fair hearing.

First impressions can be misleading. Occasionally (often?), we are surprised to find that proposals first appearing to be odious end up being acceptable or even positive, once all the facts have come to light.

Observers watching this process must be careful not to mistake my zealous protection of procedural rights as agreement with the proposals themselves.