Has Assemblyman Jim Tedisco Become A PETA-phile?

I doubt anyone feels good about how Edward Fletcher and his mother, Jane Fletcher, of Oppenheim in Fulton County, poisoned their dogs for a week before tying them up and shooting them in the face. There is little need for me to comment on such blatant cruelty.

What is interesting, however, is Assemblyman Jim Tedisco’s response. Anytime an unusual event occurs, particularly one that gets a lot of media attention, Tedisco jumps on the band wagon and begins proposing new legislation immediately.

His latest proposals, in response to the Oppenheim animal cruelty case, would require people like the Fletchers to have a psychiatric evaluation and would bar them from ever owning animals again. I’m not saying that these are necessarily bad proposals. It’s just interesting how Tedisco uses these events to grab media attention. What is also interesting is that Tedisco’s proposals sound exactly like what PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)proposed in a letter it sent to news organizations in this area.

I actually like a lot of what Tedisco says and does, but as a legislator he sees only the law as a solution to society’s problems. Furthermore, if he is going to be a parrot for PETA, it is going to be a lot harder for me to respect him.