Jailed Republican NY Senator has less cajones than Martha Stewart

[itzamirakul]

Former NY Senator Guy Velella was a powerful Republican figure for nearly 30 years in state and local politics until he and his father were convicted of accepting bribes from public works contractors earlier this year.

Velella was sentenced to a year in jail but was released after serving just 3 months, in September, by the Local Conditional Release Commission because "Velella cried and cowered in a corner in his cell" and it was feared that "he was becoming mentally unhinged."

Mayor Bloomberg, also a Republican,(who was actually a Democrat until he ran for the Mayor's office), accepted the resignations of the Release Commissioners for freeing Velella illegally and appointed a new crew who decided that Velella shoud return to jail.

Velella's lawyers managed to keep him out of jail for three months trying to run out the clock, because all the time that Velella was free was also being counted as "time served." Because of his improper early release, Velella will end up serving 60 fewer days than he would have if he had stayed in prison.

He also went to the doctor while on release and was diagnosed with prostrate cancer, but he did not request to be sent to Bellevue Hospital's prison ward. Doctors at Rikers Island will make sure that he gets whatever medicine he needs.

A state appeals court ruled last week that Velella and four of his compatriots who also had been granted early release should be returned to jail.

At 4:10 PM, 12/28/04, after being fingerprinted and filling out admissions forms, Velella was handcuffed and taken alone on a big Correction Department bus back to Rikers island, where he will be housed in a solitary cell in protective custody for the next few months.

Velella has another appeal before the state Court of Appeals, a ruling is expected early next month. Otherwise, his earliest release date is about march 19, 2005.

At least, after Martha Stewart saw the futility of having a sentence hanging over her head, she had the balls to go ahead and "get it over with."
She may be unhappy being in prison, but at least there are not any stories about her weeping and crying and begging to be released.

I would think that Mr. V. would be ashamed to let the world know that Martha has more cajones than he has in this situation.

[rkc3]

1. I'm pretty sure Martha has more cajones than most of us.

This guy's just a politician and not a very smart one at that.

[FlaGranny]

3. One of the reasons Martha is vilified

is that she is a tough woman.

[txaslftist]

2. I'll say it again...Martha rocks!

Did you know she was a heavy dem contributor before her big house stint?

She totally rocks.

[Cheswick2.0]

4. sure, why do you think they went after her?

She is a rich powerful woman. She contributes to democrats. What better person to send to jail so that america could have a face to put on the whole stock market fraud fiasco? How often do we hear about Ken Lay anymore?

[itzamirakul]

5. That's probably the reason she is in jail

As a Democrat or Dem supporter she was a more likely target for jail than, let's say, Kenny-Boy Lay.

At any rate, she has shown more courage and guts than Velella. Typical Republican...dish it out but cannot take it

[fooj]

6. and that surprises you?

They are all a bunch of hypocritical wimps!! Hey- I held on to my Martha stock...it'll take much more than this to bring her down!

[itzamirakul]

7. No, it didn't surprise me...

I just wanted to share the story with DUers who might not have heard about it. :)

[genieroze]

8. What a bitch, hey girlie man. do the crime do the time. Isn't that the

freeper cry.

[depakid]

9. With few exceptions, Republicans always cry the loudest

when something nasty happens to them. They're the first to demand "their" rights even though they tirelessly advocate denying them to others. Doesn't matter whether they've been burned in a business deal by a large corporation, being denied healthcare by and HMO or an insurer or end up facing jail time.

I've seen it so many times that it's become a truism.

In fact, on another site (not a political one) where I post there's a notorious right-winger asking for sympathy and advice on how to use the ADA to protect his position in his firm. Of course, I know exactly how to do it, but I'm not giving that fool the time of day. There's someone else there who knows the ADA pretty well. Maybe she'll be more sympathetic than me, but God, I hope not. Let the guy learn his lesson-

He'll be better off for it in the long run.

[Piperay]

10. Crybaby

:nopity: