An utter lack of decency

When I read an article in one of the local papers about a top Republican Party official accusing Mr. Jesus C. Muna of being lax in his work at the Commerce Department, I could not help recalling the Army-McCarthy Hearings of 1954, in which Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy was thoroughly exposed and discredited as a charlatan and red-baiting opportunist.

As my fellow history buffs may recall, McCarthy was undone by the Special Counsel for the Army, Mr. Joseph N. Welch, who said: “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness.”

“Little did I dream,” said Mr. Welch to McCarthy, “you could be so reckless and cruel as to do an injury to that lad. It is, I regret to say, and equally true that I fear he shall always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you.”

Mr. Welch went on to say: “Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”

Such is the sentiment evoked by the GOP’s callous and completely unjustified attack on Mr. Jesus C. Muna’s integrity and good character, who was terminated without cause in clear retaliation for his private political activities on behalf of the NMI Covenant Party.

In his letter of termination, it should be noted, there was no mention of cause or grounds for Mr. Muna’s termination. In fact, he was commended for his satisfactory work performance. Other than the fact that it was legally permissible under his employment contract, there was no explanation for Mr. Muna’s abrupt termination, a termination made well before the expiration of his contract. In other words, in the termination letter issued to Mr. Muna, the Commerce Department only said that it could terminate Mr. Muna under his employment contract and that it elected to exercise this option. It did not, however, say why the termination was necessary.

Mr. Muna himself admits that he was a victim of political harassment, political coercion and political intimidation, in that key Babauta operatives openly questioned him for his switch in party allegiance prior to the termination. Muna even testifies that Republican hacks offered to rescind his termination if he remained loyal to the local GOP.

Have we any reason to doubt Mr. Muna’s credible report?

Had there been cause, the Commerce Department would have certainly mentioned the reason for Mr. Muna’s termination. It would have looked so much better for the Commerce Department and the Babauta administration to come up with some sort of credible justification for the termination. But no cause was ever mentioned. Yet, this did not prevent some GOP official from openly speculating that there may have been some cause, even though the official exercises no supervision over Mr. Muna at the Commerce Department, which, again, gave no reason for the termination.

Has the Babauta administration no sense of shame or decency that, in its unquenchable lust to maintain political power and control, it will continue to justify the unjustifiable, even to the extent of maligning a good man’s character?

Mr. Muna will have the last laugh in this matter. He is an accomplished professional soldier who retired as a decorated Sergeant Major. Not one of his detractors can come close to such highly recognized and honorable accomplishment of a local son.

John S. DelRosario, Jr.
Koblerville