Meg Whitman briefly checked in with the San Mateo County Courts a couple of days ago, and was told that she was on call. She got that call, and apparently the whole buying the governor is going to get her out of jury duty for the time being.
Earlier in the day, while being questioned, Whitman told attorneys she would serve if selected but acknowledged this is “not a good time for me to give 100 percent.”
Defense attorney Richard Keyes asked the former eBay CEO if, considering “the nature of your current position “… this might be one of those cases that it’s not the right time” to serve on a jury.
“I would try my very best,” Whitman replied. “Whether it is the right time for me is another question,” she added, drawing laughs from the courtroom.(SJ Merc)
Whitman was “Juror No. 11”, which meant that unless she was disqualified for some reason, she would have been on the pool. We all have lives and commitments, some of us choose to honor them, and honor our democracy by doing the little things, like jury duty, and, well, voting. Running for governor is great, and it takes a special person to do it.
It also takes a special person to sit on a jury for a terrible child molestation case. Or to work as an in-home support service worker, or as a teacher.
Perhaps Queen Meg would be served well by partaking in the tasks of everyday Californians a bit more.
I mean, how many of us can get out of jury duty because of our HOBBIES? Running for governor isn’t her JOB — it’s her current hobby. She’s essentially unemployed, or a board member, or a philanthropist (surely she’s not an active parent, that’s been proven by the behavior of those boys at Princeton).
But why would a judge give a person a pass for her hobby?
It’s an outrageous privilege for a wealthy ne’er-do-well.
Hope this gets some traction.
… it would have been massively disruptive to have her on the jury, and one side or the other would have challenged her had the judge not excused her.