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The controversy over the Criminal Justice Commission’s choice for Hartford’s new top prosecutor [previous coverage here] won’t go quietly into the night. Yesterday, the Courant published this letter [scroll to the bottom] to the editor from a current Hartford prosecutor. Today, they have this story covering all the reactions to the appointment and the ensuing controversy.

In the week since Gail P. Hardy’s appointment as the first African American to be lead prosecutor of a judicial district in the state, some of her new staff and the outgoing prosecutor have raised questions about whether the state’s Criminal Justice Commission selected the most qualified candidate.

The commission chairman, state Supreme Court Justice Richard N. Palmer, said Wednesday he has never denied that diversity played a role in the commission’s decision to hire Hardy. But he said her race was not the only relevant factor.The application of the 44-year-old Hardy included recommendations from a presiding judge, a state’s attorney, a police chief, the president of the Hartford NAACP, her pastor at a Hartford church and others, Palmer said. She presented herself as a well-rounded candidate, who not only had experience as a prosecutor but experience in other aspects of the state’s justice system, Palmer said.

Connecticut’s chief state’s attorney, Kevin Kane, has spoken to the prosecutors in the Hartford office:

Hardy’s supporters, including Kevin Kane, the lead prosecutor for the state, and Hardy’s current boss, Waterbury State’s Attorney John A. Connelly, said Wednesday that Hardy can overcome the obstacles created by the controversy.

Kane declined to address the controversy, but said he has talked with prosecutors in the Hartford office and is “confident” that “together they will do a good job.”

I don’t really care about the controversy, except that it makes for good reading. What I do care about is the impact that a Waterbury prosecutor will have on the death penalty policy in Hartford.

Technorati Tags: gail hardy, prosecutor, hartford, connecticut