No surprise that Doug Hughes, the most infamous mailman in Ruskin history, is still in the news, still orchestrating compliant media exposure. Now we hear that the guy who flew his gyrocopter onto the lawn of the U.S. Capitol this spring wants to use the “necessity defense” at his trial. Good luck. He should have taken that plea deal last month.
The long-shot defense against various federal charges is, according to Hughes, the best way to keep his gyro-stunt about money in politics and not about the inherent risks of violating protected air space. In other words, Hughes, the Icarus of Ruskin, wants to play the civil disobedience card.
To do that, Hughes must, among other things, make the case that the charged crime was actually an act of conscience to prevent imminent harm–and that there was no other legal recourse.
What he would like to down play–if not dismiss–is the reality that in a post-9/11/ISIS-inspired “lone wolves”/anything-goes terrorism era, operating an unregistered aircraft and violating restricted airspace is no mere technical breech of law. Moreover, it was a crime that could have gone so wrong so easily.
As Rep. Elijah Cummings, the senior Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said back in April: “I think there’s a very dangerous gap with regard to our airspace. I don’t want people to get a message that they can just land anywhere. Suppose there was a bomb or an explosive device on that air vehicle? That could have been a major catastrophe.”
This story continues to abound with irony. Doug Hughes will not be known as the Paul Revere of campaign finance reform. He will not be mentioned in the same civil-disobedience breath as Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. He’ll remain well under the radar as an activist patriot.
But he will be remembered for an aerial stunt that underscored, yet again, how unconscionably awful security has been around the Capitol and the White House.
As for serious campaign finance reform, 2016 presidential-election results will have the most impact on the Supreme Court–and Citizens United.