Along with Mike Huckabee's swift ascent in the polls of the Republican nomination contest comes increased scrutiny of his record. As a "second-tier" candidate, no one - media or opponents - wants to spend the time to dissect your history of foul-ups. Once you become a contender, it's a different ball game entirely - and it ain't beanbag, as Tip O'Neill once noted.
As governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee had a hand in twice as many pardons and commutations as his three predecessors combined.The case he's asked about most concerns the parole of a castrated rapist who later killed a woman.
Although the Republican presidential contender and Southern Baptist preacher plays down any personal involvement in that release, Huckabee granted 1,033 pardons and commutations in his 10 1/2 years as governor of Arkansas. The acts of clemency benefited the stepson of a staff member, murderers who worked at the governor's mansion, a rock star and inmates who received good words from their pastors.
"It seems to be true at least anecdotally that if a minister is involved, (Huckabee) seems likely to grant clemency," prosecutor Robert Herzfeld said in 2004 after successfully battling the then-governor over the release of a killer.
Read the whole article at the link provided. Now, many of Huckabee's pardons were for drug offenders who drew extraordinarily long sentences, and those should be a separate issue. Nobody is complaining, either, about the pardon of Keith Richards for a 1975 traffic violation. His problem is the high number of felons serving life sentences without parole for murder who were among those receiving his mercy. Disproportionately, these seemed to flow towards those who had some connection with the Governor, or who had Protestant ministers working for their release.
Being a conservative goes well beyond one's position on life, marriage, and other "social" or "religious right" issues. Huckabee is apparently soft on crime, soft on spending, soft on tax hikes, and soft-headed on foreign policy. These are not conservative positions.
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2008 Presidential Race, Huckabee, Primaries, Republican
Tags: Huckabee, pardon, presidential campaign, primaries, Republicans
