The Power of the Pardon

As President George W. Bush's term comes to a close, he, as is customary with all Presidents since the ratification of the Constitution, has the privilege to pardon those somehow intertwined with the criminal justice system who he deems has either a) served an appropriate length in prison, or b) was wrongly accused and convicted, or possibly c) one of his old buddies. This person then has to admit to guilt and blah, blah, blah. Now, I don't expect that W. will ruffle anyone's feathers with a groundbreaking pardon of some sort, or, heaven forbid, exhibit clear judgment and appropriate use of his authority, but let's take a look at a partial list of people he has already pardoned. The working list can be found here. Keep in mind that Bill Clinton pardoned twice as many people as W. has to this date, and some of his pardons fall under the "extremely shady and possibly bought" category.

By the powers vested in me, I declare you not dinner.

Savings and Loan Scandalers - In the 80s there was a major bust of shady dealings at Savings and Loan companies across the country. Among the men tangled up in this whole scandal were a group of senators, who "improperly intervened" when Charles Keating's S&L was going under in '87. Although it didn't receive much press during this Presidential election, the so-called "Keating Five" scandal of the 80s involved one John McCain, who was later deemed to have "poor judgement" for involving himself with these men. Now, GWB is pardoning not one, but several former S&L execs who have since served their sentences for screwing with other people's money around the USA. Check out Harper's magazine for the short list of executives who profited on bad loans which sparked the downward spiral of our economy today. Nice one, George.

Cocainers - Rapper John Forte of Fugees' fame and association, convicted after being arrested at Newark Airport with $1.4 million of cocaine, had his sentence commuted after serving 7 years of a 14 year sentence... If he truly wasn't given a fair trial and he really, really didn't know about the 31 pounds of coke, as Carly Simon's son claims, then this is a fair pardon, and I hope that Forte will take his message warning of the ills of drug use to schools and cities around the country.

Mandatory minimums for drug cases is one of the worst aspects of our criminal justice system, but the atrocity of this outdated stipulation in the law was neither exposed nor discussed at the time of the pardon, and I don't think it ever will be. It is a harsh and unjust system that needs to be adjusted. Young Jeezy says it best (really? maybe he just says it): when you get more time for selling dope than murder, in this crazy world...


Others - Scooter Libby, Cheney's Chief of Staff and former Assistant to the President, who lied through his teeth about a CIA leak in March of 2007, was semi-pardoned by GWB. Libby's sentence of 30 months was commuted, while all the other punishments (a felony on his record, and a $250,000 fine) remained in tact. Technically, that was all GWB could do at the time, because you generally need 5 years after conviction or release to pardon someone. Still, Libby's only strength was having friends in high places. Any one of us would still be in jail. There are random liars and thieves mixed into the group as per usual, but not too many of serious infraction or high profile.

Gobblers (do you like the repeated -ers? I thought it was clever) - Pecan and Pumpkin were thankfully pardoned from the Presidential Dinner table this Thanksgiving, but you have to wonder how many birds it takes to feed the White House...


Now, for the sake of argument, we can write off George W's Presidential Career as a series of screw-ups, misinformation, and maladjustments to the needs of the American people and the global community. 27% of Americans approve of his job as President, and, according to the man himself, many people voted for Obama as a repudiation of the Republican party and of him. Why not, then, take a step to offer a ray of sunshine into the dark and ominous pit of destruction that you have created, George? Why not pardon people who have made great strides to promote anti-gang sentiments and public advocacy, like the ex-crip Tookie Williams, who was on Death Row with a Nobel Peace Prize nomination before he was executed in 2006? (His bid for clemency was denied by the State of California.) Why not put your faith in the power of forgiveness, and pardon some people who have actually learned from their mistakes and only want to positively contribute to the communities in which they lived? Why not convict, rather than pre-emptively pardon, any offenders of human rights laws, simultaneously admitting your guilt in this matter and trying to do something about the overarching problem?

You can do it, George. You could write about it in the NY Times like Clinton did, and get people to believe that you actually think things through when you make decisions. At this point, people are basically calling PEObama the President, so why not do something truly Presidential while you still have the chance? After eight years of turmoil, it's about time.

Oh, and don't pardon Marion Jones. Cheaters should never prosper.