Don’t forget Stevens.

I’m still staying with my prediction of 12/24/08 for the Scooter Libby pardon.

Bush & Cheney follow the law of pardons? Bah hahahahahaha! Never will happen. They’ll pardon people who haven’t even been charged with any crime just to cover their asses.

Was this one Junja’s coke dealer?

Ronald Alan Mohrhoff – (Los Angeles)
Offense: Unlawful use of a telephone in furtherance of a narcotics felony, 21 U.S.C. § 843(b); possession of cocaine, 21 U.S.C. § 844(a).
Sentence: Oct. 9, 1984; Central District of California; one year of in prison followed by five years’ probation with the special condition of 2,500 hours of community service.

Or was it this one?

John Edward Forte (North Brunswick, N.J.)
Offense: Aiding and abetting possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine; 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(A)(ii), 18 U.S.C. § 2.
Sentence: Nov. 20, 2001; Southern District of Texas; 168 months in prison, five years’ supervised release and a $5,000 fine.

Terms of commutation: Sentence of imprisonment to expire on Dec. 22, 2008, leaving intact and in effect the five year term of supervised release with all its conditions.

Or this one?

James Russell Harris (Detroit, Mich.)
Offense: Conspiracy to aid and abet the distribution of cocaine, 21 U.S.C. § 846; attempted money laundering, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1956(a)(3) and 2; aiding and abetting the attempted distribution of cocaine, 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1); conspiracy to affect interstate commerce by obtaining property under color of official right, 18 U.S.C. § 1951; attempt to affect interstate commerce by obtaining property under color of official right, 18 U.S.C. § 1951.
Sentence: May 10, 1993; Eastern District of Michigan; 360 months in prison, five years’ supervised release and a $50,000 fine.

Terms of clemency grant: Unpaid balance of fine remitted; sentence of imprisonment commuted to expire on Dec. 22, 2008, leaving intact and in effect the five year term of supervised release with all its conditions save the obligation to satisfy the unpaid balance of the fine.

Who did George H.W. Bush pardon on Christmas Eve? Wasn’t it the whole shebangy?

The Conason link above goes into some juicy detail about the Bush I pardons. I thought we could all use a refresher…

Notice, no crack offenders.

*sigh* I still think the critical date du jour will be Jan. 19th…! ;-)

Thanks Christy! I’m looking for the link now in the post. ;-) That was quite a Christmas present if I remember correctly.

Wow! I just noticed my name in the post. *blushing* Thanks Christy! ;-)

I think you are correct — there were several of those, actually, if I recall correctly. But it’s been a while, so I need to brush up on my Bush I history as well. *g*

I think Bush will wait until the last minute to issue pardons because he would think it would be so funny to see them sweat.

You are most welcome — thanks muchly for the heads up on this in the comments. :)

Those guys were likely all Bush Pioneers. They may be cocaine dealers, but they’re true Republican Patriots. Sniff.

Bush and Cheney are the ones that need the five years of supervised release.

wheel ‘em in on a hand truck: Dolly Pardon.

I’ve been wondering how long he’ll hold off on doing anything further on Libby just to say he made Cheney sweat it out. Seems like just the sort of pissy little pettiness that would give Shrubby the giggle fits, doesn’t it?

Heh, Where’s Eric when ya need him…

Oh yeah…

Actually, I started running some of the names through OpenSecrets, and haven’t hit a Pioneer as yet. If anyone does, let me know, but I’m coming up blank on that thus far…

The original straw men. /s

Digg this!

Evening, all…
Dude, 1/19 is my birthday, and if Bush ruins it by pardoning people all day, I am just going to freak out. Here’s hoping you’re wrong.

Yes. He’d wait on the others until the last minute then issue them. What a prankster that Bush is. Hahaha.

I do too, but…!

From the KC Star’s version of the AP story, the first ones listed alphabetically are these:

-Leslie Owen Collier of Charleston, Mo. She was convicted for unauthorized use of a pesticide and violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

-Milton Kirk Cordes of Rapid City, S.D. Cordes was convicted of conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act, which prohibits importation into the country of wildlife taken in violation of conservation laws.

-Richard Micheal Culpepper of Mahomet, Ill., who was convicted of making false statements to the federal government.

-Brenda Jean Dolenz-Helmer of Fort Worth, Texas, for reporting or helping cover up a crime.

Why does this sound to me like the first two could have gotten jobs in Bush’s administration (EPA? Ag/Interior?), and the next two could have worked for the OVP?

Link here

well you can’t deny he’s getting warmed up.

There would be a degree or two of separation between those no-name mules (albeit well-connected dudes) who got caught in the web of law enforcement (bad luck – wasn’t supposed to happen) and the Bush Pioneers who sponsored them.

The Joe Conason links from Christy’s post:

Page 1…

http://archive.salon.com/news/…..index.html

Page 2…

http://archive.salon.com/news/…..ndex1.html

Oh what a Christmas Eve the Bush criminals had that year! Spit.

Maybe W can get Eric Holder to help him out with the process. Holder seems to have it down pat.

has it been noted that FDL and bmaz were quoted in Mike Madden’s Salon.com piece?

… Certainly, some of Obama’s supporters are getting a little nervous about what this all presages about an Obama White House. “The list [of disappointments] is getting awfully long,” wrote the blogger bmaz at Firedoglake. “Almost as long as Barack Obama’s arm that he used to take our money and efforts to get himself elected. All we have seen is the short arm he has used to punch us in the face and collect street cred with villagers for having done so.” ….

Nope-I’m sure it’ll happen exactly like that. Bush’s final FU to me, personally. /s

Sure, Holder’s got some time to kill before he’s sworn in. The Bush boys and the Banana bandits go way back.

Updated above — one of those pardoned was a member of the Fugees, whose pardon was chapioned by Orrin Hatch, among others. Anyone else find that an odd combo? *g*

have they tried pardoning themselves yet??

thanks christy.

Saw that earlier. *g*

oh! i bet you’re right!

Ooops — make that one of the commutations. My bad…

Weird as hell. The Fugees, featuring Orrin Hatch, lead vocals.

No self-pardoning as yet that I’ve seen, Betsy.

Isn’t it true that accepting a pardon is an admission of guilt? I wonder if a bunch of people hoping for pardons might be getting commutations instead.

Getting a pardon doesn’t constitute an admission, but accepting one does in the sense that it then forecloses the opportunity to appeal based on wrongful conviction or other meritorious grounds.

what is a Fugee?

BTW Dean Baker from Harvard is making good sense about Obama’s choices and Citigroup on the NewsHour tonight. This is a fairly rare occurrence and should be applauded.

I should have known that Howie already hit the donor angle and came up with a few hits on some of these folks — huge thanks to Howie! Linked above in an update…

fugees-ready or not 1996

Here’s a Fugees music video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ighu4gGlaUE

Dean Baker has been doing some great analysis on all things economic fubar and deserves much applause.

Christy, there are no accidents when it comes to the Bush Regime. Everything is carefully thought out with a label of ‘accident’ on it.

Of course, you have to actually give a crap about what the law and the regs say in order for that to be operative. And we’re talking about Bush/Cheney here, aren’t we?

We’re also talking about a Congress that hasn’t done squat to enforce the laws they wrote, either. To say the least, that thought is not a confidence builder. Much as I admire Rep. Nadler’s gumption, his resolution will clearly go for naught.

Which highlights the quandry… Is Shrub really stupid or shrewd…?

IIRC, a person who has been pardoned also loses the ability to plead the Fifth in any subsequent investigation or proceeding. In the instance of Bush Administration officials, executive privilege would be the only shield. Am I wildly wrong, Christy?

Nope, you are not wildly wrong.

He’s very calculating and stupid, meaning, we can see right through him and he doesn’t realize we can! See? He’s really stupid.

Nadler smelled an opportunity to grandstand, so he picked up the ball and ran with it.

That was the reason that Scooter’s conviction was commutated, not pardoned outright…! So he couldn’t sing like a lark!

This makes me feel a little better. If this is the case, then anyone Bush pardons connected to the orders he gave who haven’t been charged yet, can’t actually plead the 5th but can still be prosecuted? Excellent.

He also saw an opportunity to preemptively spotlight what Bush was rumored to be discussing behind closed doors. Grandstanding, or doing his job so that some public scrutiny and pressure could be brought to bear? You decide…

Instead of following Gerry Ford’s pre-emptive pardon of Nixon model…I wonder if Bush could pre-emptively commute their sentences, while preserving their 5th Amendment rights.

You cannot be prosecuted for any crime which is covered by your pardon. For crimes not covered by a pardon, which are unrelated and separate actions? Yes. Within the purview of your pardon? No.

And thus, the careful drafting of said pardon becomes important. See, e.g., Richard Nixon…

I believe you have to have an actual sentence in place in order to commute it. But I’m not 100% certain on that…

not surprising, the newest binky in their arsenal

Look here: 3 different bobbleheads, three great progressive spokespeople, same ol shiny object

btw, Dolly Pardon, you are incorrigible . . .thank dog!

Evenin’ Everyone !

Then do you think Sen. Stevens will not accept a pardon if offered, because that would mean he couldn’t appeal his verdict?

I’m bitter and clinging to my Lieberman and bourbon.

I think he’s already indicated publicly that he wouldn’t. And any pardon offered him would not remotely meet the DOJ pardon guidelines in terms of time away from conviction, sentencing and serving of time. (Again, not that the Bush folks really give a crap about rules and regs, right?) But Stevens will likely have plenty of grounds for appeal — so his potential acceptance of a pardon would have to be weighed against his desire to have things done and over quickly versus wanting to :clear his name” on appeal.

Let go of the bitter — it only hurts you in the end. Laugh at them instead, and find joy. But keep the bourbon, especially if its a good one. *g*

I don’t know anything about Nadler, but this seems like a logical explanation.

Thanks Christy.

Dugg. Thanks for the link.

IIRC, Marc Rich was a fugitive, and not convicted…!

Yes. I know that. It was a crappy-assed pardon in its day. As LHP has pointed out in detail, I think?

Not bitter, really. Jaded is a better word. Suspicious. Untrusting. Snake bit.

Thanks for the post and conversation, Christy.

Best thing Reagan ever said: “trust, but verify.” Except I modify it to “suspect and prove…every damn day.”

Sure thing. And now — it is bedtime for Peanuts. Wall-E has just concluded and wee girlies need to go to sleep.

Darn it.

I’d read somewhere that the “American Taliban,” John Walker Lindh, was requesting a pardon. With due homage to Douglas Adams and his scheme to pay for a meal at the restaurant at the end of the universe, is it possible to put down a penny bet on that happening? The odds would have to be in a range that would challenge Carl Sagan’s skills at scientific notation. So I’d be a trillion trillion trillionaire on a penny bet .. and I’d only lose a penny.

Didn’t that poor sap plead guilty to a twenty something year sentence? Of course at the time he was John Ashcroft’s prime San Francisco liberal traitor to America and probably faced public drawing and quartering, never mind waterboarding.

P.S. Wasn’t Caspar Weinberger pre-emptively pardoned by Papa Bush? It’s a traditional Bush family value.

Another excellent post, Christy! Aloha!

Why have a “pardon pool” when Bush is going to give a blanket pardon to anyone in his administration? A pardon doesn’t mean that Bush’s fascist allies will not meet justice at some point in time. Just not through a flawed and corrupt U.S. judicial system. Eichman could run but he couldn’t hide. A long memory can do more for the eventual adminstering of justice than a pardon granted by a fool.

I think he’s already indicated publicly that he wouldn’t. And any pardon offered him would not remotely meet the DOJ pardon guidelines in terms of time away from conviction, sentencing and serving of time. (Again, not that the Bush folks really give a crap about rules and regs, right?)

IANAL. And CHS is. So it is with some trepidation that I question CHS. But….

Isn’t it the case that any regs as to pardons are strictly guidelines for the DOJ bureaucrats who make pardon recs to POTUS, but that POTUS’s pardon powers are plenary?

That being the case, if POTUS make ill-advised pardons, there is no power on earth that can stop him, but couldn’t Congress impeach him (thereby removing his eligibility to hold any office of trust under the US govt) even after his term of office ends?