*Moderators:
Although this could just as well be a GQ question, I suspect that emotions regarding the current and recent presidents run high enough that a debate could develope. If this thread unexpectedly fails to generate the amounts of vitriol one expects of a GD thread, please feel free to move it to a less flammatory forum.
Thank you.*
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I am given to understand that (then) president Clinton pardoned over 100 people, many at the eleventh hour, just prior to the inaugural ceremonies (accurate numbers, anyone?). Some folks are making much of this, and I must admit the numbers seem large and at least two pardonees seem to have been given theirs as a political payoff. OTOH, I don’t know how many people a president (on average) typically pardons in his career. Except for Nixon’s pardon from Ford, I really don’t remember any other presidential pardons – I’m sure there have been some, but I just wasn’t paying attention at the time.
I’m curious. How many people, per term, have other presidents pardoned? Are most presidential pardons issued in the last few months of a president’s term? Do re-elected presidents (on average) issue more, fewer, or about the same number of pardons in terms subsequent to the first?
I don’t have the numbers on me right now, but I’ve read that Clinton’s pardon numbers are pretty average. He’s pardoned less than Reagan, more than Bush (who of course only had one term). Pardons prevent future prosecution or punishment for past crimes and reinstate voting rights lost due to criminal behavior.
Pardons tend to fall into a few (unofficial) categories
People who’ve served their time already and are being pardoned only so that they can regain voting rights.
The vast majority of Clinton’s (and everyone else’s) pardons fall into this category. Most of these people are non-famous, non-rich types who requested a pardon through the justice department and are supported in this by the judges and/or prosecutors who originally sent them to jail. Patty Hearst and Clinton’s brother fall into this category (except for the non-rich non-famous part.)
People who face prosecution as the result of laws considered obsolete/poorly enforced.
Again these people ususally have the support of most of the law enforcement types who wish that they did not have to prosecute them because of some sort of legal snafu. Mike Espy (prosecuted for misreporting payment to his mistress on an FBI form) is and example. Another is an executive from Tyson Foods whose name I forget who accidentally invited a federal employee to a party and gave him free dinner (or some such “crime”). He didn’t realize he was breaking some sort of arcane law and Arkansas’ entire congressional/senate delegation convinced Clinton to pull his bacon out of the fire. Michael Milken was trying to get a pardon for these reasons, but Clinton nixed him after the prosecutors who caught Milken in the first place asked Clinton not to pardon
Pardons of powerful individuals whose prosecution might be considered politically divisive to the country. This is where Nixon comes in. Also Clinton might have received a pardon under these circumstances.
Abuses of the pardon power to reward donors / exonerate people who might be forced to testify against the president in exchange for leniency on their own crimes.
These are in the eye of the beholder of course. The presidents involved usually claim that they are just doing a #3 pardon in these cases. Bush pardoned several of his co-defendants from the Iran-Contra scandal, pretty much deep-sixing the likliehood of his ever being brought up on charges from that scandal. Clinton pardoned Susan McDougal who was involved in the whitewater scandal. Clinton also pardoned Democratic party donor Frank Rich, a tax evader who’d fled the country. This is considered to be the only really scandalous Clinton pardon by most observers.
I saw the number on TV. Bush Sr. I can remember pretty well I think it was 78. But Reagan was somewhere around 400 and so is Clinton. Don’t remember the others. They were both two term presidents of course.
The controversy here is not just over the numbers but WHO he pardoned. Milken (who everyone thinks is pretty evil I guess) and worst of all that guy in Switzerland (forgotten the name) who is accused of bilking the goverment and taxpayers out of something like 48 or 58 million bucks. Rudy Guiliani (sp?) was after him in the 80s. He’s been a fugitive for 17 years. His X wife is a big contributor to the Clinton campain, perhaps a million bucks. But the deal is that Clinton is laying this pardon squarely on the shoulders of that White House lawyer (name forgotten of course) who has been representing them. Supposedly this lawyer came to Clinton late in the game and plead this guys case. And the X wife wrote a letter to him begging the pardon. Clinton didn’t bother to contact the Justice Dept. and ask them what they thought, which is usually standard proceedure. And of course Bill and Rudy aren’t the best of buddies. Perhaps this is also a stab in his eye. Or maybe he’s been sold a bill of goods that this guy was a victim of overzealous prosecutors. Anyway, it looks like a pretty stupid thing to have done. Or at least an “I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks” kind of thing to do. Definately the Democratic types are saying that this is exactly the kind of guy Clinton shouldn’t have pardoned, a business man that stole from the taxpayers. Not much support from anyone on this screw up.
Other than that I think most of his last minute pardons were pretty standard stuff, people who have already been serving time, some of them ordinary folks on drug charges, not just businessmen and politicos.
The thing that bothers me about these pardons, and I hope it does not set a precedent, is that the White House handled most of them by itself.
According to NPR last night, pardons are supposed to go through the Justice department so that certain things can be checked and all relevant input can be gathered together. The file is than passed on to the White House with a recommendation that can be accepted or rejected.
In this case, many of these high-profile cases were submitted directly to the White House, a short-cicuit of a pretty good system for political reasons, IMHO.