B2 | EDITORIAL ☆ R THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2020

COMMENT & ANALYSIS New Hampshire Democrats choose the left lane Sanders the socialist has the edge over Buttigieg here are no shortcuts on the road to the White from nearby Massachusetts, considered an odds-on House. Navigating New Hampshire is espe- favorite until making the mistake of putting “taxes” Tcially challenging for presidential hopefuls — and “trillions” in the same sentence. Mrs. Warren saw not surprising for a place where the adopted motto her support melt like frost in New England’s February off ers a stark choice: “Live free or die.” The Granite morning sun and wound up hardly breaking 9 percent. State’s Democratic primary returns Tuesday placed Billionaire Tom Steyer and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gab- some of the party’s contenders at death’s door, others bard each came away with a bit north of 3 percent. escaped to live another day and a couple emerged Tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang dropped out of the with the wind at their back to match the dreadful contest after garnering slightly south of 3 percent, and force of a coastal Nor’easter. the virtually invisible Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Brooklynite who long ago and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick also found a home for his socialist notions in neighboring went home. Vermont, broke the tape in the nation’s fi rst 2020 presi- Michael Bloomberg, the Johnny-come-lately can- dential primary, capturing 25.8 percent of the vote. With didate, did not appear on the New Hampshire ballot. his primary victory, Mr. Sanders has earned the right to Still, PredictIt, a market research website where indi- swagger, but not too much. Former South Bend Mayor viduals bet money on their favorite candidates, rates Pete Buttigieg fi nished only a stride behind, with 24.4 the former New York City mayor in second place percent. nationwide behind Mr. Sanders. BOOK REVIEW Moving ahead, angry Democrats appear to face a Like a wolf circling a fl ock of sheep, President choice between a far-left candidate who would force Trump descended on New Hampshire on the eve a clean break with the nation’s individual-liberty, of the Democrats’ big day, rallying Republicans by free-market heritage and somewhat less radical one the thousands in Manchester, the state’s largest city. Legendary detectives seeking an alternative to Donald Trump’s “America A quarter of his audience, according to the Trump fi rst” policies. campaign, was composed of Democrats choosing the Sonny Grosso and Joe Biden fell hard, like the Old Man of the Moun- president’s entertainment over events featuring their tain, New Hampshire’s granite outcropping that deco- party’s stars. None of the potential contenders draws rated the White Mountains for eons before crumbling crowds of similar size, raising a question Democrats Randy Jurgensen went from into the valley below. The state still mourns its iconic would rather not contemplate: Can anyone go head- attraction while hardly taking notice of the former vice to-head with the Donald? president, who led national polls until this month, but Clearly, no other Republican can. In its own New Harlem to Hollywood he barely cracked 8 percent of the vote. Hampshire primary, his party gave the president By Paul Davis war hero and not a mobster. The director Tripping over a tongue that somehow hurled “lying, almost 86 percent of the vote. Former Massachusetts also used Grosso’s service revolver in the dog-faced pony soldier” at a bewildered questioner, Gov. William Weld and a few unknowns split the rest. egendary NYPD detective and scene where Michael Corleone murdered Mr. Biden fl ed for refuge in South Carolina even before Success speaks for itself. Gallup reported last week fi lm and TV producer Salva- a rival mobster and McCloskey, dropping his collapse in New Hampshire was tallied. In the that 90 percent of Americans surveyed say they’re tore “Sonny” Grosso died last the .38 revolver on the fl oor as he walked meantime, his Palmetto State fi rewall has gone up on satisfi ed with their personal life, the highest proportion L month. He was 89. He had out. Mr. Jurgensen portrayed one of the smoke since last week’s Iowa caucuses chaos, where since 1979. Taken with near-record unemployment and come to fame as the detective who broke gunmen who brutally murdered Sonny Uncle Joe came in fourth, assuming the error-plagued rapidly rising median-household income, Democrats “The French Connection” case along Corleone (James Caan). and still-incomplete ballot count deserves a shred of face an uphill struggle to convince voters that Donald with his partner, Eddie Egan, who died The two also appeared together in credibility. His support among South Carolina blacks Trump’s America requires an overhaul that only a new in 1995. “The Seven-Ups,” which was based on has skidded from 51 percent in December to 27 percent, president can accomplish. In the early 1960s, the detectives un- Grosso’s career, and they appeared with covered a plot by American organized Al Pacino in “Cruising,” a fi lm based on according to a Quinnipiac poll, leaving little time for Moreover, New Hampshire is no harbinger of what is crime and Corsican criminals from one of Mr. Jurgensen’s cases. They also a turnaround before the Feb. 29 primary. to come. The state’s Democrats have wound up selecting Marseille, France, to import 112 pounds worked together on other fi lms and TV Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, riding a surge of a candidate who went on to the White House only once of nearly pure heroin into New York programs. support following a praiseworthy debate performance in the previous 12 tries. Though Bernie has the inside City. The heroin was worth more than The two former detectives also wrote last week, fi nished a surprising third with nearly 20 track, there is still a lane for challengers with the guts $90 million on the street. books. Grosso wrote a crime novel called percent. She sailed right by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and money to keep competing. Robin Moore, who wrote “The “Point Blank,” and a true-crime book Green Berets,” interviewed the detec- called “Murder at the Harlem Mosque.” tives and wrote “The French Connec- Mr. Jurgensen, along with Robert Cea, tion: A True Account of Cops, Narcot- wrote “Circle of Six: The True Story of ics and International Conspiracy” in New York’s Most Notorious Cop Killer Controlling the nation’s money 1969. The book led to the Academy and The Cop Who Risked Everything to Treasury must do more to stop bank bullying Award-winning fi lm, “The French Con- Catch Him.” Mr. Jurgensen was the lead nection” in 1971. investigator in the controversial murder iberals want to regulate banks for the same reason activists in the private sector at groups like Real Money Grosso and Egan worked as technical of NYPD Offi cer Phil Cardillo. NYPD Willie Sutton used to rob them: That’s where Moves are nonetheless trying to keep it alive. advisers on the fi lm, and they appeared Commissioner Ray Kelly, a sergeant dur- L the money is. And, according to their fevered This group, which is backed by the usual crowd on the screen in support- ing the time of the mur- brains, that’s where the power is. Having control of of Hollywood celebrities like Amy Schumer, Alyssa ing roles. NYPD detective der, reopened the case the nation’s fi nancial system gives them control over Milano, Gloria Steinem and the cast of “Orange Is the Randy Jurgensen, who after reading the book. everything. New Black” to generate media interest in its activities was on the periphery Mr. Jurgensen recalled of the famous case, also a defi ning moment when That’s a bit hyperbolic but there’s also some truth. so its anti-capitalist message will get the broadest pos- worked as a technical he and Sonny Grosso Fortunately, there’s still enough diversity and competi- sible circulation, has had success pressuring big banks adviser and supporting were assigned to Harlem tion in the banking and fi nancial sector to make what like JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo to cut ties with actor on the fi lm. Detective Jurgensen be- Homicide at a time when NYPD offi cers they want a tough row to hoe. But they’re still trying, and industries they don’t like. came Grosso’s partner after Egan retired. were being assassinated by the Black they’re being much cleverer about it than they used to. That’s a legal problem as well as a moral one. People I contacted Randy Jurgensen and Liberation Army. They still use the boycott — or the threat of one and companies that can’t access the banking system are asked him about his former partner. “I saw one man walking towards us — to get companies to comply with their demands. cut off from credit, have no place to store receipts and, “My childhood friend and partner and another one got up from the stoop. And they’ve been good at infi ltrating the nation’s busi- in general, can’t do business. If this kind of thing were Sonny Grosso passed over last month,” I knew we were set up. Before we could ness schools, all the better to poison future captains done to people of color, everyone would be justifi ably Mr. Jurgensen said. “He was the best man get the guns out, Sonny was wrestling on of industry at the well by infecting them with notions up in arms, but because those eff ected are disfavored at my wedding, and he was the godfather the stoop, and I took on the other one,” of corporate social responsibility and other ideas that by the beautiful people, this arguably illegal discrimina- to one of my children.” Mr. Jurgensen said. “I was banging away He said that he and Grosso grew up in on him and we wound up in the hallway. end up giving left, anti-market proposals a friendlier tion though the politicization of banking and lending is West Harlem and although Grosso was Sonny had this guy in a hold and was than should be allowed reception in C-Suite from Wall largely overlooked. fi ve years older, they both served in the punching away, and here came a young Street to Silicon Valley. Banks should not be choosing market winners and Korean War together. There were few woman with a gun.” What they can’t get through regulation they want losers any more than government should be. They jobs available after the war, so the two As he turned toward the woman, the to achieve through pressure. Activists working to should be allowed to do what they do free from pres- became police offi cers. man pulled a gun and Mr. Jurgensen was implement an agenda embraced by Bernie Sanders and sure to attack specifi c industries by being forced to not “Sonny became a cop about 18 months forced to shoot him. Then Grosso went Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren put- do business with them. These attacks have real-world before I did and when I graduated from over the bannister and landed on the ting so-called corporate stakeholder interests ahead of consequences. What will happen to the price at the the police academy, I was assigned to stairwell with the man on top of him. stockholders are getting more aggressive. They’re orga- pump if companies that manufacture the materials used East Harlem. On the day I showed up at Mr. Jurgensen hit the man on top of nizing resolutions pushing anti-market and progressive to build oil and gas pipelines are shut out of the banking the 2-5 precinct, Sonny Grosso was there Grosso. social policies, pressuring government offi cials to divest system? And what will happen to consumers and the waiting for me,” Mr. Jurgensen said. “I The suspect on top of Grosso was spent about 18 months in uniform and Twyman Meyers, a cop killer who was pensions from industries they don’t like and demanding rest of America as a result? then I worked undercover in narcotics. number one on the FBI’s Most Wanted banks stop fi nancing the industries they hate. Americans — and specifi cally the banks being “I worked the streets buying narcotics List. Grosso’s injured his leg in the fall, This stepped-up pressure campaign is working. If it pressured to engage in discrimination — should resist. and Sonny and Eddie worked on narcot- and a few years later he left the force continues unchecked, it will create an unfortunate but Instead, too many have already rolled over and complied ics distributors. I worked on the outside and entered the entertainment fi eld, as eff ective end-run around the traditional policymaking with activist harassment. The list of targeted industries of the French Connection case. did Randy Jurgensen. structure. Corporate policies created to promote political will expand as the activists see success and that will After “The French Connection” fi lm, “I’m the last French Connection ends rather than economic growth will be as destructive be bad for job creation, economic growth and global Detectives Grosso and Jurgensen became cop,” Mr. Jurgensen said sadly. to the mixed-but-largely free market system we have in competitiveness. technical advisers on “The Godfather.” America as anything Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has noted Grosso portrayed the detective who ad- Paul Davis’ On Crime column covers true crime, crime fi ction, mysteries and came up with for Venezuela. publicly that the banking industry has an obligation vised Capt. McCloskey (Sterling Hayden) thrillers. In the banking sector, they’ve been successful getting not to discriminate against specifi c industries. He’s ac- that Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) was a banks to jettison customers from industry sectors they knowledged there’s been pushback on banks that have don’t like, including energy, fi rearms and the private- participated in these practices. He should be applauded corrections business. Operation Choke Point, which for his leadership on the issue, but he and others within the Obama administration authorized to allow for the federal regulatory enforcement sphere need to en- discrimination in banking against disfavored industries force the right of the fi nancial community to operate may have been killed by the Trump administration, but without being bullied. Published by Th e Washington Times LLC

LARRY T. BEASLEY, CEO THOMAS P. McDEVITT, Chairman CHRISTOPHER DOLAN, President & Executive Editor ETTER TO THE DITOR L E NEWS EDITORIAL AND OPINION IAN BISHOP, Managing Editor CHARLES HURT, Opinion Editor CATHY GAINOR, Managing Editor No more paid loafi ng ETHAN EPSTEIN, Editorial Page Editor JOHN BOURANTAS, Assistant Managing Editor CAROL HERMAN, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Democrats have turned Congress to anything, they don’t accomplish nothing. Where exactly did this STEPHEN DINAN, Assistant Managing Editor into a government-subsidized as- anything and they do it all on bor- Democratic welfare program come DAVID R. SANDS, Assistant Managing Editor BUSINESS sistance program for their benefi t. rowed money. from, and how do we get them off MARIA STAINER, Assistant Managing Editor JOSEPH E. TEIPE, JR., Executive Vice President When they show up, they don’t Is it not appropriate to expect the rolls? JOSEPH SZADKOWSKI, Assistant Managing Editor DAVID DADISMAN, General Manager know where they’ve been. When them to do their jobs? There’s some- RAYNARD BOLDING, Chief Financial Offi cer DESHONDA MURRAY, Human Resources Manager they get there, they don’t know thing wrong with them collect- STEPHEN MOUNGELIS JORGE CARRASQUILLO, Information Technology Director where they are. They can’t agree ing a government check for doing Mt. Airy, Md. Submissions: Op-eds may only be submitted by e-mail to [email protected] Letters to the Editor must be original, exclusive to The Washington Times and sent via email. We prefer letters that are fewer than 350 words. Please include your name, address and daytime telephone number. E-mail: [email protected]