I've had my fun with the Josh Lynn debacle the past couple of days but how can you blame me? After all, it's a target-rich environment. But it's time to get serious.
If Lynn's termination had nothing to do with the election, as Acting District Attorney and Ann Bramsen and DA Elect Joyce Dudley insist, then what did it have to do with?
That's the troubling question that has yet to be answered. While Bramsen may have persuaded us that she had the right to fire Lynn, she's failed to convince anyone it was the right thing to do.
Lawyers like Bramsen and Dudley are paid to explain complicated concepts like the felony murder rule and the distinction between theft and embezzlement to juries. Yet, they can't explain convincingly explain why Lynn wasn't allowed to report to work on Monday?
Then again, it's hard to defend the indefensible.
Don't try to point to that farewell e-mail that Lynn sent to his co-workers over the weekend. According to one source who has knowledge of the message's contents, it was "totally innocuous."
This is one case where the DA evidently doesn't have a smoking gun to introduce into evidence.
If there was anything incendiary in that e-mail, I'm sure we would have heard about it by now. If it's exculpatory, as I suspect it is, don't expect anyone within the office to leak a copy of it. After all, they just saw what happened to Lynn. And don't expect to see Lynn release his own copy. It's been reported that he was locked out of his county e-mail account over the weekend.
Why was Bramsen so concerned about Lynn returning to the office on Monday? Perhaps she didn't want him to walk up to the fourth floor and see that Dudley had already moved into the DA's office? Which begs the question, if Bramsen thought it wasn't a good idea to have both Dudley and Lynn in the office at the same time, why didn't she tell Dudley to take another day or two off? After all, Dudley was guaranteed at least another four years in the office, As it turned out, Lynn didn't have another four days.
My guess is Bramsen doesn't watch the TV show "The Bachelor." If she did she would have known that contestants who don't get a rose are at least allowed the opportunity to "take a moment, and say your goodbyes."
After 15 years, Lynn at least deserved that.
© 2010 by Craig Smith and www.craigsmithsblog.com
