To the editor:
Many of you may have seen the vile display of white male entitlement acted out by our new justice of the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh. You may have watched the odious writhing of our political class exemplified by Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump and Susan Collins attacking the victims of his alleged sexual assault in an attempt to portray the perpetrator as the victim and steer our Supreme Court on a radical right turn.
My stomach twisted as the venomous, spoiled, beer-obsessed and bratty Kavanaugh spewed his rage at being held to account for his own repugnant actions. Republican after Republican took a page out of the Trump playbook to spurt spittle at the women who dared challenge a male’s right to power. Thank goodness we live in Berkshire County where no man would possibly cling so desperately to his ego and sense of entitlement to power to act in such a way.
Many of you will recall that Andrea Harrington won the recent Democratic primary for district attorney in our county. Now her losing male opponent—who I will refer to here as “P.C.” so as not to help anyone spell his name—conceded defeat after failing to capitalize on the leg up provided by the underhanded hijinks of our former DA, referred to here as Capeless. The obviously sore loser failed to fully exploit the incumbency cake handed to him. Agents close to P.C. and Capeless went after local business people who dared to criticize their boy, sending a clear message of intimidation like mob enforcers. But with their crushing defeat, it seemed we in Berkshire County could finally be rid of this entitled, thuggish bunch.
But no. Just like Brett Kavanaugh, P.C. will not be denied what he feels is rightfully his. In his mind, it was his time. Even though he lost, even after conceding defeat, his ego would not let him do the right thing and fade away. He has abandoned his party to cozy up with anyone receptive to his fear-mongering message against women as he grasps for power. His actions disregard our will as voters. Why have a primary if a crybaby candidate like P.C. will not accept the results? How much will his write-in candidacy cost all of us? Our voting machines can not read, so all ballots cast for him will need to be hand-counted and spell-checked. How can we trust a potential district attorney who is so craven in his pursuit of power that he could care less about the will of the voters? What kind of DA would a man who panders fear be to people unable to accept the leadership of women? What kind of man acts this way? A desperate one, who clearly only cares about himself. We cannot afford the bad ideas of his failed dynasty.
Perhaps he does not understand that, when more people voted for Andrea Harrington, she beat him. Even though he is a man, Andrea Harrington beat him. Even though Capeless cheated for him, Andrea Harrington beat him. Even though both men played dirty, Andrea Harrington beat them, with your votes.
As our nation seethes under an assault of fear and manipulation, here in Berkshire County, we have a chance to send a loud and clear message that he is not entitled. It is not his time. Please vote again for Andrea Harrington for district attorney. She won the primary. She is humble, and will be tough on crime in a smart way to improve the health, safety and welfare of Berkshire County for all of us. She will make our county a better and safer place by actually doing the hard work that needs to be done as our district attorney and, as a plus, you can send a message to the loser that his time is up.
Jon Piasecki
West Stockbridge
