ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 24, 1996 TAG: 9602260027
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
A COUPLE of GOP congressmen were co-sponsors of a fund-raiser this week for former L.A. policeman Laurence Powell, one of two officers sent to prison for beating Rodney King.
Both ex-cops are out now - and fighting in the Supreme Court to stay out, as the feds try to force a lower court judge to follow federal sentencing guidelines and give them more time.
It costs a lot of money to take a case to the top court, however, so Reps. Buck McKeon of California and Steve Stockman of Texas lent their names to a fund-raising dinner for Powell. All sorts of right-wing organizations helped out.
Sorry, but a policeman caught on videotape in a crowd of fellow officers beating a man senseless while he's prone on the ground seems to us a discredit to his profession and no hero.
We stand foursquare behind those who enforce the law - as long they do so, as almost all of them do so, lawfully. But, to some, the distinction of lawfulness is apparently a triviality when a political statement is involved. The organizing sponsor, the Legal Affairs Council, also raised money for Oliver North's defense in the Iran-Contra scandal.
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