McGrath, It was because she promised to serve out her full term. I doubt it would go to trial. Plea bargain probably, in return for paying for the repairs and community service.

MAV A. The AG's office has more than enough competent, permanent staff to deal with relatively minor (legally speaking) acts of vandalism. With or without an AG, life goes on. And the decision on whether to prosecute (versus the actual trail where he'd want to have 'his' people in place), is his to make. The buck really does stop with him.

B. I thought the Alien and Sedition acts had been repealed back in the late 1700s early 1800s? I didn't think sedition was currently on the books (per se) as a crime. Maybe someone can address that. Treason is a federal crime. Is rape, itself?

As reported, the vandalism didn't even rise to the level of sophomoric. Made worse because they weren't kids but supposed professionals. Certainly any President (through the AG's office) has the right to determine whether a crime is prosecutable (whether perpetrator's can be identified, evidence collected and the like). I would personally (not as representative of "blue area types) prefer to know that he decided not to pursue this for those reason, versus political ones.

C. Then your take is that the decision is a purely political one? Then no matter how minor, the message sent by the vandals and (lets call it what it looks like), the apologists, is clear. The law applies to some of us, for the rest it is just another PR tool. (Okay, extreme generalization but the element is there)

D. And child abuse, rape and murder are worse still. One doesn't excuse, justify or in any way mitigate the other. Clinton went overboard on some of the pardons So did Ford. So did most other presidents. So do governor's. And then there's parole boards. The issue I'm after is the vandalism.

E. This goes back to "responsibility". While I understand (though don't agree) with your statement, I can also argue that it is a perfect example of the idea that it isn't the individual that's to blame, its society. So how can we think about punishing the vandals when it isn't their fault. We just need a social program to help them. MAV, tell me you're not a closet liberal??!!

Regards, John