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New York's leftist papers, the Post and PM, were comparatively silent. Poletti said: "I was advised that Hoffman enjoyed an excellent reputation as an honorable citizen. ... I acted honestly and I believe courageously on the basis of the facts submitted to me."
In releasing a man who would probably have been released anyway before long, barring prison misbehavior, Poletti had pulled a first-rate political boner. New York's press had at least demonstrated that some things that get by in Georgia do not go down in New York.