If a child-molesting scoutmaster from Los Altos had helped President Bush trick the nation into supporting the invasion of Iraq

Would we have seen this article a year ago?

Bush spares Wagner 280-month jail term

President Bush spared Gregory Wagner from prison Monday, commuting his 23-year-and-four-month sentence while leaving intact his conviction for molesting children.

Mr. Bush’s action, announced hours after a judge sentenced Mr. Wagner, former scoutmaster for Los Altos-based Boy Scout Troop 31, came as a surprise to all but a few members of the president’s inner circle. It reignited the passions that have surrounded the case from the beginning.

The commutation brought immediate praise from conservatives, who hailed it as a courageous step to avert a miscarriage of justice, and condemnation from Democrats, who said it showed a lack of accountability and respect for the law.

The president portrayed his commutation of the sentence, which fell short of a pardon and still requires Mr. Wagner to pay a fine and be on probation, as a carefully considered compromise.

“I respect the guilty plea,” Mr. Bush said in a statement. “But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Wagner is excessive.”

Mr. Wagner, who was a Boy Scout leader for Troop 31, will still have to pay a fine and remain on probation for several years. He will most likely never again be able to lead Boy Scout troops.

The president’s decision means that Mr. Wagner, 43, no longer faces the prospect of leaving his wife and two children to report to prison.

...

Mr. Bush’s decision drew warm support from Mr. Wagner's friends and supporters, who had created a defense fund that drew the support of dozens of prominent Republicans, including a half dozen former ambassadors and several former government colleagues. Former Senator Fred D. Thompson, now an undeclared candidate for president, held a fund-raiser for Mr. Wagner.

“This is not a man who deserves to go to jail in any sense of the word,” said Kenneth L. Adelman, a former Defense Department official and longtime friend of Mr. Wagner, who stayed at his Colorado vacation home before his trial.

“Whatever he did wrong, he certainly paid,” Mr. Adelman said referring to Mr. Wagner's resignation from his prominent position and his public humiliation. “This is a good person who served his country very well and is a decent person,” he said.

[UPDATE: July 4 (Freedom Day), 1:27 p.m.]
Today's New York Times makes the point more clearly, and Joe Biden has the government's position in a more analogous case on his blog. Both, however, lack the local angle NOE readers expect.

The Town Crier is keeping me down

Before I became a doctor of journalism, I had a hobby of writing at least one letter every week, to reporters, businesses or elected officials. One day, I thought, I'd compile them in a book called Jon Complains.

The Los Altos Town Crier ran about half of my newest installment, which criticizes the paper for rewriting local history in order to project its own image of my hometown. Ironically, the paper (perhaps for space) entirely cut out the portion of the letter where I accuse them of being silent on the story of Gregory Wagner. Here's the text of the original letter:

Dear Editor,

I enjoyed your year-in-review (Dec. 27) but was disappointed to see the paper's news judgment once again clouded by the publisher's politics. You wrote that the city council's rejection of a gay pride day proclamation drew fierce criticism "mostly from outside Los Altos." This is wishful thinking at best, and makes the Town Crier look like it's sticking its head in the sand. Students, business leaders, churchgoers and others from Los Altos all mobilized in opposition to the city council's action. The resulting parade was one of the largest political demonstrations in the history of the town. [The rest of the letter did not make it in]. The article should have read that the criticism came "mostly from outside the pages of this newspaper."

Additionally, it was a glaring omission to once again leave out any mention of Gregory Wagner, one of two Los Altos youth leaders sent to prison this year for child molestation. It appears that the Town Crier would prefer to ignore anything that might reflect poorly on its coverage area, a goal made easier by the departure of those reporters who fought to keep the story in the paper. But the Wagner story has another side that is important for the community to recognize. That side of the story is about the former scouts whose courage in facing and talking about their past helped bring Wagner to justice. By repeatedly downplaying the story, the Town Crier abandoned those who most deserved the community's support.

Sincerely,

Jon Wiener

Like a modern-day Jean Valjean

The Mercury News finally got around to covering the Gregory Allen Wagner case, 12 days after he was sentenced. The story is fairly short and light, considering the topic, only containing one lie from Wagner's attorney. From the story:

Defense attorney James Blackman noted none of the charges Wagner was sentenced for are recent.

"There is nothing current about the case,'' he said, "but a very harsh sentence in 2006.''

Nothing recent, of course, except the confession, some child porn and an asshole lawyer.

Paul Nyberg would be rolling over in his grave

The Town Crier publisher (fortunately still alive) could not have been happy about the words "Los Altos" and "child molester" appearing in the same headline in this week's edition. On the front page no less! And above the fold!

Congratulations again to the Grewals and all the others who had the strength and persistence to put Gregory Wagner behind bars, as well as those reporters at the Town Crier who have repeatedly fought to keep the issue front and center. I just don't know if this is the kind of good news that Town Crier readers have come to expect.

Wagner goes to prison

Former Troop 31 scoutmaster Gregory Wagner has led his last oath about moral straightness. The confessed child molester was sentenced to 23 years and 4 months in prison Friday, at an emotional sentencing hearing that had previously been delayed several times.

"It's important not only that justice be done, but that it be seen to be done," said Judge Diane Northway, as parents of former troop members looked on.

Northway said Wagner deserved harsh treatment because he had abused a position of authority to abuse his victims Northway also credited David Grewal and his family for speaking articulately about the impact of Wagner's crimes. Grewal was the first of Wagner's victims to step forward -- two others also filed charges in this case -- and he helped police nab Wagner with a pretext call. Grewal said he was motivated by those who helped put an end to the Boston Archdiocese's coverup of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

(Northway also complimented Grewal on his recent wedding, which, as one of his friends observed, means that is now a matter of California law that he married the right woman).

Kevin Richlin, a detective with the D.A.'s office who specializes in computer forensics, testified in uncomfortable detail about the password-protected child pornography on Wagner's computer. The files had been accessed as recently as April 9 of last year and deleted as late as Aug. 22, which district attorney Kim Connors used effectively to cast doubt on defense attorney James Blackman's argument that Wagner's behavior was a thing of the past.

Blackman, who also argued that the abuse "was mutual and voluntary" and may have had nothing to do with the victim's depression, got some deservedly cold stares from the families of troop members as he left the courtroom. I wish him luck in being able to either sleep at night or look at himself in the mirror.

By statute, Wagner will be eligible for parole halfway through the sentence.