Good breeding paid off for rich US Capitol rioters
As the Jan. 6 select committee plods along to get to the bottom of the riot which engulfed the nation’s Capitol, we once again see what author F. Scott Fitzgerald meant when he wrote, “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.”
For one, it seems they’re goofier. And, besides being rich, they’re more well-mannered. Unlike some of the estimated 2,500 rioters in the Jan. 6 mob.
These discerning examples come from the sentencing hearing late last month in federal court of two Lake Forest High School graduates who pleaded guilty to joining in the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
In Chicago district court, brothers Christian Kulas of Lake Forest and Mark Kulas Jr., of Kenilworth, admitted they entered the building with the other rabble on Jan. 6 as part of the attack in support of the “Stop the Steal” ridiculous claim the 2020 election was stolen from President Donald Trump.
The brothers are two of some 27 Illinoisans who so far have been charged with breaching the Capitol. To date, 778 Americans have been charged with mainly misdemeanor disorderly conduct counts, being in a restricted building or the all-encompassing “disruptive activity” for engaging in the riot.
Federal authorities are still trying to track down other miscreants, so for any of you out there who were in the Capitol that day, you are not off the hook. A few of your fellow compadres have been charged with felonies.
The judge in their case could have given the Kulas brothers, whose immigrant parents own the North Shore cleaning service, North Shore Maids, six months of jail time.
Instead, he opted to sentence them to six months of probation, including two months of home detention, and $500 in restitution money to help pay for some $1.5 million in damage done to the Capitol building.
Another Chicago-area resident, Bradley Rukstales of tony Inverness, a former tech company CEO, served 30 days in federal prison in Michigan for his actions on Jan. 6, which included throwing a chair at Capitol police. Growing up on the North Shore, the
Kulas brothers were more polished and deferential toward the nation’s Capitol and authorities.
Their well-mannered actions may have saved them from the same fate of free lodging in a federal lockup. “You did not destroy anything,” Judge Thomas Hogan told them. “You did not attack anybody.”
According to a Chicago Tribune story, after thanking the judge, Christian Kulas, 24, apologized and made no excuses for his rude actions. “My intention is to move on from this with grace and dignity,” he added. See, courteous and polite.
His brother, 27, also apologized for his actions. How two young men from the North Shore got involved believing the election was stolen from Trump is anybody’s guess, especially since a plethora of investigations have turned up no evidence to back the claim.
Yet, they willingly flew to Washington, D.C., to attend the pro-Trump rally and just sauntered into the Capitol after the gang had broken through barricades, taking videos and enjoying the mayhem around them. This according to evidence introduced at their sentencing hearing by federal prosecutors.
Perhaps Trump’s false allegations of the election being stolen resonated more with a younger crowd, like the brothers Kulas. Or they thought it was going to be like a kegger.
Regardless, a federal grand jury, this one eyeing those who may have taken part in planning the rally to impede certification of Joe Biden’s election as president, was impaneled in March, continuing the Jan. 6 probe.
The House Select Committee in charge of the inquiry into the attack also continues its investigations.
When that work ends is unknown. The panel, which counts Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger as one of only two Republicans on it, was formed on a party-line vote on July 1, so it is nearing a year of existence. Public hearings started July 27 and as of this month, the committee has interviewed nearly 1,000 people, according to reports, and additional subpoenas have been issued.
Two people who won’t be appearing before the panel are the Kulas brothers. But if called, they surely would politely attend.