Play It Again, Sam

by Pat McLarney

As I drove through the crowded streets of Casablanca with my Peace Corps daughter and family, I noticed policemen stood at random intervals on both sides of the road. Periodically, they would pull a car over for no apparent reason.

I asked my daughter why they were being stopped. She said usually to claim some violation and get a bribe, which made me worry that we would be stopped. So I asked what happened if you didn’t pay the bribe. She said the police would take you to jail and leave you there, but that they never bothered tourists because they want tourists. “The police can’t do that,” I thought. “We have rights—what about no probable cause, the right to a lawyer and due process?” Then I realized we were not in the United States.

Later, my daughter met with an Irish journalist doing a story on “modern women” who were being killed in the area. The journalist suspected these women were being killed because they were not complying with Islamic law by not wearing the veil and a jaleba. She explained to him that he would be in great trouble if the government dis-covered he was working on this story. Anybody publishing the information would also be in great trouble.

Again, I thought “The government can’t do that, what about freedom of press?” Then I remembered we were in Casablanca, not the United States. So, “Play It Again Sam.”

Later, she told me about a fifth-grade student who criticized the king and as a result, was jailed for five years. Again we weren’t in the United States. So, “Play It Again Sam.”

I have seen similar sagas in half of the 30 countries I have visited. My observations have convinced me a free press, an independent judiciary, and the right of the accused to a lawyer are the primary rights that differentiate our country from most other countries. As we see in the Mideast, simply electing an executive and legislative branch doesn’t work without other rights.

The three rights—free press, independent judiciary and access to lawyers—are also dependent of each other. If lawyers don’t have independent courts, they can’t do their clients much good. If the press doesn’t have an independent judiciary and lawyers, they won’t be able to exercise their rights of free press. If lawyers don’t have the free press, who will uncover the corruption in government and corporations?

All of these rights are under attack in the United States and if we lose these rights, there will be no exposure of Watergate or Enron. No independent courts will stand up and convict powerful political figures. In countries like Morocco, none of the vices of a Watergate or Enron would ever see the light of day.

One relevant example will be voted on in November in Missouri. Proposition 7 allows a Citizen’s Commission to recommend salary increases for all elected officials in Missouri. Judges and other elected officials haven’t received a pay raise in six years. Worse, the 22 member-citizen’s commission that is to make these recommendations hasn’t even been appointed since 2002. HJR55 was passed by the Missouri legislature in May. The Governor’s spokesman defended this failure to follow the Constitution by saying, “Judges don’t need a pay raise, they knew what they were getting into when they took the job.”

Did you know this? Where was the press? If this was the KC firefighters who were told they could never get pay raises, there would be strikes, the paper would be full of the stories, and there would be firefighters marching on Jefferson City.

Where were the lawyers? Where were the bar associations? The answer is neither is doing their job.

As another example, an initiative petition in Johnson County, Kansas would eliminate the non-partisan court plan. As a lawyer who has practiced where judges in urban areas are elected, I guarantee you the public’s interest would not be served by this initiative. How many of you reading this article even know about this?

I realize lawyers and the media need to make money, but the lawyers and media also need to wake up and protect these rights or neither will be able to make a living.

Pat McLarney is a civic affairs partner at Shook, Hardy & Bacon. He can be reached by phone at 816.474.6550, ext. 21047 or by email at pmclarney@shb.com.