Say It Ain't So Already

If Mitch Daniels Was an African American He Would Have Done Jail Time

February 24, 2011 at 6:46 PM Leave a comment

This is Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels in an interview with The Daily Princetonian:

After Mitch Daniels ’71 was arrested, indicted and convicted on charges of drug use as an undergraduate in May 1970, he said that he thought his aspiring political career was doomed. “Any goal I might have had for competing for public office were shot,” he told The Daily Princetonian in September 1988.

[...]

Perhaps the most pivotal day of Daniels’ four years at Princeton was May 14, 1970 — the day of the drug arrest that Daniels thought would sully his political future. Officers found enough marijuana in his room to fill two size 12 shoe boxes, reports of the incident say. He and the other inhabitants of the room were also charged with possession of LSD and prescription drugs without a prescription. Daniels and his two roommates in 111 Cuyler Hall, Marc Stuart ’71 and Richard Stockton ’71, were arrested and, after plea bargaining, Daniels eventually escaped with a $350 fine for “maintaining a common nuisance.” The charges against Stockton were eventually dropped.

I remember those times.  I remember sweating bullets when I had a dime bag on my person or in the car.  People went to prison for that — a dime bag.  A $350.00 fine for possession of LSD and prescription drugs and enough marijuana to be suspected of dealing?

If Daniels was a black guy from Harlem or a poor white white guy from inner-city Flint, chances are he’d have done at least 5 years.

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