What to do with the flying postman

Douglas Hughes pleaded not guilty Thursday. He’s the postal employee who flew a gyrocopter onto the lawn in front of the U.S. Capitol on Tax Day &#8212 after posting a video warning that he would do it.

“I’m going to violate the no-fly zone and I’m going to land in front of the capitol building,” Hughes said in his online video. “I’m going to have 535 letters and those letters are going to be addressed to every member of Congress.”

Most people saw the stunt primarily as an embarrassment for the Capitol’s counter-terrorism forces, but he obviously wasn’t a terrorist.

“Terrorist don’t announce their flights before they take off,” he said.

And his intent was not to embarrass the security detail &#8212 it was to embarrass Congress. He was delivering letters to every member of Congress &#8212 shaming them for embracing a campaign finance system that looks like plain old bribery.

His stunt drew national attention &#8212 but not for very long. His not guilty plea gave him another brief media opportunity.

“The purpose of my civil disobedience was to get Congress and the federal government so they’re working for the people instead of special interests,” he said.

But the trouble is that on the issue of campaign reform, unless the contributions are somehow linked to Hillary Clinton, the media doesn’t care.

So as Douglas Hughes goes home to Florida to await trial, shackled by his GPS tracker, he has a choice to make: Take the generous plea bargain that the prosecution will doubtless offer him to make this all go away &#8212 or cross his fingers that a sympathetic jury of fed up voters might just seize the opportunity to nullify the charges and send a message to Congress.