Doug Grow: Grams case represents why some lack faith in the system

What if Ron Eibensteiner is wrong? What are we left with then?

Eibensteiner is the chairman of the state's Republican Party, and on Monday he lashed out at the Star Tribune because of a story it published Sunday about velvet-glove justice in Anoka County when it comes to the son of U.S. Sen. Rod Grams.

Eibensteiner says the story was "a politically motivated attack by the Star and Tribune. They want to defeat Senator Grams and they will use whatever methods they can to accomplish this task."

It should be noted that Eibensteiner said nothing to dispute the facts of the story. On July 14, Grams called the Anoka County Sheriff's Office asking that Sheriff Larry Podany find his son. Podany assigned deputies to the job, and by evening they'd found Morgan Grams, 21. Grams, who was on probation stemming from alcohol-related convictions, was at the wheel of a "borrowed" 1999 Isuzu Rodeo. Inside the car, deputies found 10 bags of marijuana and beer cans; (whether they were open is disputed. A 17-year-old sitting next to Grams was arrested and later pleaded guilty to drug possession. Grams was driven home. He didn't receive so much as a ticket.

Was this just a brutal newspaper attack on Grams, as Eibensteiner says?

William McGee, chief public defender in Hennepin County, says the story by reporters Patricia Lopez Baden and Jim Adams was more profound than that.

This story is a civics lesson for Grams to take back to Washington, for it represents exactly why people don't have faith in a system that we're all taught to believe is blind to color, clout or wealth. Though we'd all like to deny it, the story of Anoka County deputies busting one kid while driving Morgan Grams home represents a reality of the criminal-justice system.

"Class and status makes a difference," McGee said. "Something like this can happen at various points in the system, and in an increasingly punitive justice system, it just gets worse. Poor people and people of color get overly penalized. Those who already have privilege because of money or status get a ride home."

He laughs when he hears the details of the case. "Borrowed" car. Marijuana. Beer. Probationary status. A ride home in the front seat of an unmarked car. And, for the finale, officials saying this case was treated like any other.

If Morgan Grams had been a black inner-city young man, there's no doubt in McGee's mind what his fate would have been. He would have been arrested and taken to jail. (He would not have been put in the front seat.)

Race, McGee said, isn't the only factor in determining how the system works. Status is a player, too.

Tom Wichman is the father of the 17-year-old who was arrested. He's spoken of how he once called the Anoka County Sheriff's Office for help finding his son, who is diabetic and was staying with a friend who had an unlisted number. He said he was told "it wasn't a police matter." It was only after a call from his son's physician and another call from him that deputies helped locate his son.

Grams didn't have nearly so much trouble getting help.

"I don't blame Rod," Wichman said. "If it's your child, you use whatever means are at your disposal. It does bother me what happened [after police found Morgan]. You'd like everyone to be treated the same."

But he speaks without anger. He seems resigned to the realities. His big effort now is to help his 17-year-old son find a job.

Double standards aren't the only lessons in this story. There's also a more personal story about how we apply our political views to our own lives.

Grams' potential DFL foes in next year's Senate race are sensitive to the fact that Morgan Grams' difficulties have to be painful for his family. They have stepped around the story carefully.

Still, it is reasonable to hold Grams' Senate voting record over his private life. His votes have had an impact on thousands of people with problems similar to the problems of his son. Yet, Grams never has come across a crime or drug bill too tough to support.

Steve Miles, a DFL candidate for Senate who is at the opposite end of the political spectrum from Grams, wonders if Grams has looked at his votes in relation to his own son.

"Mr. Grams rightfully asks for understanding," said Miles. "But would he want applied to his son the penalties that pertain to the use of drugs in the company of minors that he has supported? Would he want for his son the restrictions [for drug offenders] on access to public housing he has supported? Would he want the barriers [for drug offenders] for financial aid for college that he's supported? How about the barriers to coverage of substance abuse in health insurance he's voted for?"

Of course, Miles' questions are an exercise in the theoretical. Sen. Grams could help his son around all the barriers with a phone call.