Dinesh D’Souza caught in crime
Conservative film producer sentenced for breaking campaign finance laws
LAWSUIT — Dinesh D’Souza was convicted and sentenced for illegally donating to Senate campaign. Google Images
By working as a conservative activist filmmaker, Dinesh D’Souza has grown accustomed to having a place in the limelight and debating controversial subjects. In recent months, however, the light shining on D’Souza has not been so favorable.
The controversy and subsequent lawsuit began when news broke in January 2014 regarding D’Souza’s involvement in illegally financing a 2012 political senate campaign through straw donations. D’Souza donated the legal maximum of $10,000 to Dartmouth College friend Wendy E. Long’s campaign for a New York Senate position, and then, in the names of two friends, donated $20,000 more to the campaign, according to Fox News.
Federal prosecutors for campaign finance law violations indicted D’Souza in 2014.
At the beginning of the long and tedious trial that ensued, D’Souza initially faced a maximum sentence of two years in prison. However, in a ruling made Sept. 23, that prospective sentence was reduced to a final judgment of five years probation, eight months in a confinement center and a $30,000 fine, according to Fox News.
Suspending the argument over the legitimacy of D’Souza’s sentencing, this debacle displays the double standard that has developed around our political system. Today, the
courts have become nothing more than an extension of Washington’s politics.
“It’s a remarkably selective prosecution considering Obama raised millions of dollars under similar circumstances and donors merely faced civil fines while D’Souza is charged with felony violation of federal law,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said.
Cruz’s words outline the hypocrisy that exists in the political realm. In addition, not only have President Barack Obama’s 2007 and 2008 campaign teams been accused and found guilty of breaking some very similar campaign finance laws, but several other notable, left-leaning politicians have also faced similar accusations while they held federal government positions, according to the Associated Press.
However, just as Cruz claimed, none of these cases have ever resulted in punishment as severe as the one D’Souza initially received.
D’Souza said it best himself.
“I am not above the law,” D’Souza said. “No one is. But we don’t want to live in a society where Lady Justice has one eye open and winks at her friends and casts an evil eye at her adversaries.”
The sad reality is that this is the society that we are living in today. A society where pomp and circumstance, politics and power often determine the breaks and favors one receives.
As scandals ranging from the IRS’ targeting of conservatives to Eric Holder’s Fast and Furious operation continue to plague the Obama administration, there has been hardly any accountability. Yet, when a critic of the system falters, accusations and lawsuits are released en masse.
While D’Souza did act illegally and received his due punishment, my frustration comes not with the sentence handed down to him by the courts. Rather, my frustration stems from the blatant discrepancies between the handling of D’Souza’s case and the case against Obama’s ’07 and ’08 campaign teams.
The American justice system exists to hold those under it accountable. However, over time, corruption has eroded its original intent. Today it seems our courts work to make examples out of some individuals and hand out back-door favors to others.
D’Souza’s trial has further exposed the double standard our political climate has created, which, if left unchecked, could prove to be supremely damaging to our system of justice. Our courts should not serve to silence anyone. Rather, they should be blind to politics and power, extending justice equally.
SMITH is an opinion writer.