Believing you deserve special "courtesy"

What is it that makes elected officials believe they are above the law? If any group of people should be even more obedient of the law you would think it was those who took an oath of office. Yet over and over again we see situations where when an elected official or one of their family members gets into a possible law breaking scenario "special courtesy" is demanded.

Let's look at the most recent case of Parma Councilwoman Mary Galinas who ironically is the chair of the Parma City Council Safety Committee and some drama in Parma that concerns her 17 year old son. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Parma Heights- Mary Galinas...became so belligerent with police as they gave her son a sobriety test that she was threatened with arrest, according to a police report.

Shortly after 1 a.m. Friday, Parma Heights police found 17-year-old James Galinas and James L. Powers, 18, in a parked truck behind a church on West Ridgewood Drive. Police stopped the two for trespassing on church property and smelled alcohol from inside their truck.

The younger Galinas called his mother...Before his mother arrived, James Galinas registered a .045 percent on a portable breath analyzer, according to the report.

When Mary Galinas arrived, she began shouting at her son not to take the sobriety test.

"Mrs. Galinas began yelling that she was a Parma councilperson, she was calling the mayor and kept repeating 'This is all bull -' over and over again, " wrote Patrolman Jeff Dunnell.

Galinas said she was not trying to pull political rank on the officers. She admitted to swearing because the officers were rude to her and using "Gestapo tactics" on her son.

She said an officer told her over her son's cell phone that they were going to offer her a professional courtesy and she could pick up her son and the car.

Galinas said when she arrived, there was no "courtesy," and officers were harassing her son.

The rest of the details are at the link, but to make a long story short after being told by her to refuse the second sobriety test the 17 year old listened to his mother.

First of all drinking and buying alcohol is against the law for a 17 year old, the legal limit the state of Ohio has set is 0.08 from my understanding of the law. Which wouldn't matter if you were under 21, you would still be drinking illegally under the circumstance the two boys were caught in. Unless it's changed, Parma also has a curfew in which those under 18 are not supposed to be out after midnight unless they are with a parent.

Given Mary Galinas has stated publicly that she was inspired by President Reagan:

"To me, he was someone who made politics look like a worthy occupation,"

And in her 2001 election ran under the promise:

Mary is a professional business woman who will bring integrity and accountability to Parma City Council. The city of Parma needs fresh faces with fresh ideas ~ it is time to say good bye to the Good Ole Boys and leaders who are beholding to special interest groups.

Mary obviously talked the talk to get voters to support her. Yet like so many others, Republican and Democrats alike, do not walk the walk when it comes to themselves or family members breaking the law. One also wonders what it is about politics that drives them or their family members to drink. Vernon Sykes, Joe Birmingham, Frankie Coleman and Alice Robie Resnick come immediately to mind...

This was written for the Carnival of Ohio Politics which is brought to you thanks to the hard work of Paul Miller at Northwest Ohio Net.