Whiskey, Whiskey, Votes for Whiskey...

Hard not to feel a bit sorry for Joe Ellis down in Casey County, Kentucky. Not only did his preferred candidate fail to win the local school board election, but now he's headed to jail for trying to, ahem, creatively influence a few votes:

Jurors deliberated 30 minutes Wednesday before finding Joe Ellis guilty on four felony charges of buying votes. They recommended Ellis serve only the minimum prison sentence of one year. He had faced up to 20 years in prison.

Ellis gave pints of Ancient Age whiskey and $5 bills to Stella Johnson's son and daughter and a friend during a meeting the day before the November 2004 election, according to testimony during the trial.

Ouch. There's a latent point in here on the "mandatory minimum" debate currently underway in our Parliament. But since Hockey Night in Canada is underway (Leafs-Canadians, and my two younger sisters have press passes from Dad's old curling buddy Bob Cole!), I'll leave it for you to deduce, dear reader.

[for the record, I agree with Cotler - both on the general point and making an exception for gun crimes]