From Fox News via Walter Olson at Overlawyered, former Alaska Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel explained to a crowd in Washington, D.C. the way to “persuade” an Assistant United States Attorney, Gordon Kromberg, from the Eastern District of Virginia, to drop a case:

In the tape, Gravel can be heard telling people to pressure Gordon Kromberg, an assistant U.S. attorney in the eastern district of Virginia, to drop the charges against Sami Al-Arian.

“Find out where he lives, find out where his kids go to school, find out where his office is, picket him all the time,” Gravel said, in an audio tape obtained by the Investigative Project on Terrorism and provided to FOX News.

“Call him a racist in signs if you see him. Call him an injustice. Call him whatever you want to call him, but in his face all the time.”

No.  Do not do this.  Under no circumstances should you do this.  No matter how strongly you disagree with the way in which he is performing his duty do you go to his children’s school.  What is Gravel thinking?

The underlying case is one with which I’m unfamiliar, but perhaps one that has and should raise deep concerns.

Al-Arian is a former Florida professor who in 2006 pleaded guilty to providing goods and services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Prosecutors had tried him on more serious charges, but that ended in a hung jury, so Al-Arian took a plea.

He later was charged with contempt for refusing to testify before a grand jury in Virginia.

That’s as far as the Fox article goes, and I’m not inclined to research it further because this post isn’t about whether Al-Arian’s prosecution is proper or not.  It’s about how one deals with perceived improper prosecutions, regardless of which case is involved.

Whether it’s prosecutor, cop, defense lawyer or judge, their involvement is not a personal issue but part of their professional responsibility.  Feel free to question, challenge and criticize their professional performance, but distinguish their personal lives, and the lives of their family, from the performance of their duty. 

Apparently, Gravel realized the error of his ways, and later tried to back track.

Gravel told FOX News that he doesn’t want people to break the law and that he personally wouldn’t do the things he’s recommended — but that it could be an effective way to change the behavior of U.S. officials.

“How do you deal with this kind of an injustice? I wouldn’t protest. I don’t believe in protesting. I think it demonstrates the failure of representative government. My answer to that problem is, I want to empower you as a lawmaker. … Don’t rely on your elected officials,” the former senator said.

Many will agree that we are suffering “a failure ot representative government” these days.  The more you know about the representatives, the more you wonder who the lame-brain was that came up with the idea.  But the failure of the Executive branch and its functionaries to exercise a level of discretion expected of them is not an excuse to start stalking people’s children.  That’s just sick.

There are many “effective” ways to change behavior that are grossly improper.  There are proper ways that are ineffective.  There are people in our government who do not perform their functions the way we would prefer, though we should bear in mind that other people will applaud the way they perform their jobs and are just thrilled by overbearing law enforcement when directed against people they perceive as enemies of the state. 

Regardless, Gravel’s resort to political vigilantism was outrageous and wrong.  Fight the good fight, if that’s what you’re up for, but this is not the way to do it.