Clinton goes on pardon spree setting free his criminal buddies

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A Former Giant of House Is Pardoned

By Bill Miller Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, December 23, 2000 ; Page A01

President Clinton granted a pardon yesterday to former representative Dan Rostenkowski, the Illinois Democrat and onetime chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee who served a 17-month prison term after pleading guilty in 1996 to two counts of mail fraud. In a burst of holiday season clemency, Clinton pardoned 58 other people for various crimes.

Rostenkowski, 72, was by far the highest-profile recipient, having built a long career that once made him one of the most powerful figures in Washington. But he wasn't the only political figure getting mercy. Clinton also pardoned Archibald R. Schaffer III, a Tyson Foods Inc. executive active in Arkansas politics who was facing a one-year sentence for providing an illegal gratuity to then-Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy.

Clinton has granted relatively few pardons during his two terms in office, but he is now facing intense pressure to act before he leaves the White House. The lobbying is coming from numerous directions on behalf of a wide range of people, including Whitewater figure Susan B. McDougal, convicted spy Jonathan Jay Pollard, former Wall Street financier Michael R. Milken and Leonard Peltier, the Native American activist convicted of killing two FBI agents in a 1975 shootout. A group of clergy members is urging Clinton to commute the prison sentences of nonviolent drug offenders. Some requests have gone through the Justice Department, and others directly to the White House.

Sixteen of those pardoned yesterday had been convicted of drug offenses. Others were convicted of various white-collar crimes, such as bribery, fraud and tax offenses. Numerous pardon requests remain under consideration, according to White House officials.

In addition to yesterday's pardons, Clinton commuted the prison sentences of three people, including Kemba Smith, 26, of Richmond, who was serving a 24 ½-year term with no chance of parole for helping her late boyfriend in a drug ring. Smith has contended that she didn't use or sell drugs and was in an abusive relationship.

Rostenkowski's downfall came over the use of public funds to pay employees who did little or no work and to cover the cost of personal gifts. Unlike some candidates for pardons, who have waged public campaigns, Rostenkowski did not solicit Clinton's help. His name hadn't even come up in recent days amid widespread speculation about who might benefit from a flurry of pardons in Clinton's final weeks in office.

A senior White House official said Clinton granted the pardon at the urging of former president Gerald R. Ford, former House minority leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.), Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and others. Ford issued one of the most controversial pardons in American history in 1974, a month after he took office, when he pardoned former president Richard M. Nixon over the Watergate scandal.

In Chicago, Rostenkowski told reporters that he was gratified by Clinton's action. He said he believes the pardon validated the good works he had done while in public service, telling the Fox News Channel: "I was hoping for this, but I was never sure of it."

Rostenkowski, who headed Ways and Means for a dozen years, was indicted in May 1994 on charges that he misused his office and its perks in a pattern of corruption covering nearly all of his 36 years in Congress. The same year, he suffered a humiliating defeat to a novice Republican in his overwhelmingly Democratic district.

At the time of his guilty plea, Rostenkowski insisted that he had committed no more than a "technical" violation of the law, the kind of act that everyone in Congress had committed at one time or another. But the judge who sentenced him said he "capriciously pursued a course of personal gain for you, your family and your friends."

Rostenkowski served most of his sentence at a minimum-security federal prison in Oxford, Wis., wrapping up the term at a halfway house; he was also fined $100,000.

He was released in October 1997 and returned to Chicago, launching a new career as a colorful television commentator and political consultant. He has kept in touch with old friends in Washington, visiting here roughly once a month. He said yesterday that he has been at the White House several times since his release from prison. In an opinion piece in the Chicago Sun-Times last Sunday, he called on Democrats to unite with Republicans and give President-elect Bush an opportunity to succeed.

Justice Department officials said the pardon will not expunge Rostenkowski's conviction but will restore any civil rights he lost as a result of it. The Constitution gives presidents unlimited power to pardon -- or officially forgive -- criminal wrongdoing.

One of Rostenkowski's former lawyers, Robert S. Bennett, called the pardon "the right decision."

"Rostenkowski made many contributions, and I think this was well-deserved," Bennett said.

Not everyone supported the move, however. Larry Klayman, chairman of Judicial Watch, a conservative legal watchdog group, said Clinton set the "wrong example," adding: "It's an example of the privileged class taking care of each other."

Schaffer, a senior vice president at Tyson Foods, was convicted in 1998 of violating the Meat Inspection Act, a 93-year-old federal law. An independent counsel accused him of giving Espy $2,500 worth of air transportation so Espy could attend a 1993 Tyson family party in Arkansas, arguing that the poultry giant hoped to curry favor. In a separate trial, a jury acquitted Espy of gratuities charges.

A judge sentenced Schaffer in September to a year in prison, but he had yet to report because of pending appeals. Led by Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), numerous politicians -- both Republican and Democratic -- from his native Arkansas lobbied on his behalf; even the judge expressed serious misgivings about the case.

"I could not be happier, coming as it does a few days before Christmas," said Schaffer, 52. "We're thrilled by it, and most appreciative of President Clinton for ending the nightmare we've gone through the past six years."

Clinton also pardoned Martin J. Hughes, a former international vice president of the Communications Workers of America, who was convicted in 1987 of violating federal law by falsifying union records and assisting in the filing of false income tax returns. Former Ohio governor Richard F. Celeste (D), now U.S. ambassador to India, was among Hughes's backers.

Another pardon went to Philip J. Grandmaison, a New Hampshire alderman convicted of mail fraud. Grandmaison's brother, Joseph, a former state Democratic chairman in New Hampshire, was one of Clinton's earliest supporters there in 1992.

Holiday season pardons are a long-standing tradition for presidents. On Christmas Eve 1992, for example, President George Bush pardoned former defense secretary Caspar W. Weinberger and five others after they had either been indicted or convicted in the Iran-contra affair. Nixon issued a pardon two days before Christmas 1971 to former Teamsters union president James R. Hoffa.

All told, Clinton has now granted 255 pardons and commuted 25 sentences in nearly eight years in office. By contrast, Bush pardoned 74 people and commuted three sentences in four years in office. Ronald Reagan issued 393 pardons and commuted 13 sentences during his two terms, while Jimmy Carter pardoned 534 people and commuted 29 sentences during his term.

Staff writer John F. Harris contributed to this report.

© 2000 The Washington Post

Clinton goes on pardon spree setting free his criminal buddies

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), December 23, 2000

Answers

Clinton’s ‘Criminal Buddies’? There’s an oxymoron in there somewhere.

-- Barry (bchbear863@cs.com), December 23, 2000.

Too bad he isn't going to pardon Bush before he takes office, it will be much more fun to impeach him!

-- Hee hee hee haa haa haa (he gets @ the last. laugh), December 24, 2000.

Impeach for what? Wagging your intelectual weenie doesen't get you impeached. Our clown is actually smarter than you clown. The shits ain't it?

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), December 24, 2000.

"Impeach for what?"

LOL - you're kidding me right?

We've got all kinds of crap on this scumbag, but we're going to wait until he gets into office and embarrass him all over the international media. ROTFL, payback is a bitch. ;-)

-- Larry Flynt (shit.will@hit.fan.soon), December 24, 2000.


Clinton goes on pardon spree setting free his criminal buddies

President George Bush pardoned former defense secretary Caspar W. Weinberger and five others after they had either been indicted or convicted in the Iran-contra affair.

President George Bush on pardon spree setting free his criminal buddies so they could hold office with his son Georgie Weenie Bush.

And yes, this is contempt I have for that poor excuse for an American citizen. He gives new depths to the "ugly american".

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), December 24, 2000.



Cherri, you forgot to add the part wherein the ones Bush, Sr. pardoned could have testified against him ;-)

Apparently, in the eyes of Ain't and his Compassionate Conservative buddies, this was perfectly OK because lying about a BJ is so much worse than, say, trading arms for American hostages.

-- Patricia (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), December 24, 2000.


Let’s see if I’ve got this right. On one hand, we have an administration that was negotiating secretly to free ‘Americans’ being held hostage in a foreign country. On the other hand, we have a sitting President (pardon the pun) that has oral sex with a young female intern in the oval office of the White House.

To excuse the latter as the lessor of two sins demonstrates the depths to which our moral character has plunged. If this is the view of the average liberal in this country then thank god they are no longer in a position of leadership.

If I ever find myself being held hostage, I pray that my President will be working hard to free me rather then getting sucked-off on the public’s time.

-- Try (2B@better.person), December 24, 2000.


"If I ever find myself being held hostage, I pray that my President will be working hard to free me rather then getting sucked-off on the public’s time."

Idiot, do you have any idea what giving weapons to terrorists does for our National Security, let alone the security of the entire world?

Jeopardizing the security of billions of others for political gain is not the correct way to negotiate with terrorists! DUH.

-- Try (not.being@an.idiot), December 24, 2000.


If I ever find myself being held hostage, I pray that my President will be working hard to free me rather then getting sucked-off on the public’s time.

-- Try (2B@better.person), December 24, 2000. =================

Sorry, but what do you think selling weapons to a state sworn on our destruction really does to our overall safety and security??? In any other book, this is called TREASON. eight years ago, president bush chose to pardon 6 people who were engaged in a treasonous act, two of whom hadn't even gone to court yet to hear the charges.

-- try (2b@smarter.person), December 24, 2000.


Try (2B@better.person),

Let’s see if I’ve got this right. On one hand, we have an administration that was negotiating secretly to free ‘Americans’ being held hostage in a foreign country.

You forgot to mention that was illegal negotiating by an administration that was consciously defying the will of the American people as expressed in the laws passed by Congress in accordance with the constitution of the United States.

On the other hand, we have a sitting President (pardon the pun) that has oral sex with a young female intern in the oval office of the White House.

To excuse the latter as the lessor of two sins demonstrates the depths to which our moral character has plunged.

To ignore that the former was punishable by federal prison time demonstrates the extent to which conservatives view themselves as being above the law.

If this is the view of the average liberal in this country then thank god they are no longer in a position of leadership.

If that was the argument of the average conservative in this country then kiss your constitutional system goodbye.

-- -- Try (2B@more-informed.person), December 28, 2000.



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