WELL, PARDON ME!

Today will be a history lesson; we are never too old to learn something new. One out of every two presidential pardons in the last 39 years has come in the month of December. It took President Obama 682 days into his presidency to grant his first pardons (Thanksgiving turkey excepted) which makes him the slowest Democratic president in history to use this power granted by Article 2 of Section 2 of the Constitution. This section gives the President, “Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.”


No one famous or infamous was on the list and, according to the Associated Press, “the White House declined to give details on the cases or comment on why these particular people were selected.” White House spokesman Reid Cherlin did say, "The president was moved by the strength of the applicants' post-conviction efforts at atonement, as well as their superior citizenship and individual achievements in the years since their convictions.”


AP also reported “Obama has received 551 pardon petitions in the course of his presidency, of which he's denied 131, according to the Justice Department. Another 265 petitions were closed without presidential action.” One would think that with the hundreds of thousands of people who have served time in prison, more than a mere 551 would petition.


HERE ARE THE NINE RECENT PARDONS
(followed by a list of the most notorious ones)


James Bernard Banks - Liberty, Utah: Offense: Illegal possession of government property; 18 U.S.C. § 641. Sentence: Oct. 31, 1972; District of Utah; two years of probation.


Russell James Dixon - Clayton, Ga.: Offense: Felony liquor law violation; 26 U.S.C. § 5604(a)(1). Sentence: June 23, 1960; Northern District of Georgia; two years of probation.

Laurens Dorsey - Syracuse, N.Y.: Offense: Conspiracy to defraud the United States by making false statements to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1001. Sentence: Aug. 31, 1998; District of New Jersey; five years of probation and $71,000 restitution.

Ronald Lee Foster - Beaver Falls, Penn.: Offense: Mutilation of coins; 18 U.S.C. § 331. Sentence: Oct. 4, 1963; Eastern District of North Carolina; one year of probation and $20 fine.

Timothy James Gallagher - Navasota, Texas: Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine; 21 U.S.C. § 846. Sentence: Oct. 18, 1982; District of Arizona; three years of probation.


Roxane Kay Hettinger - Powder Springs, Ga.: Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine; 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846. Sentence: March 31, 1986; Northern District of Iowa; 30 days in jail followed by three years of probation.

Edgar Leopold Kranz Jr. - Minot, N.D.: Offense: Wrongful use of cocaine, adultery and writing three insufficient fund checks; Articles 112a and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice. Sentence: Sept. 14, 1994, as approved Nov. 4, 1994; General court-martial convened at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii; bad conduct discharge (suspended), 24 months of confinement and reduction to pay grade E-1.

Floretta Leavy - Rockford, Ill.: Offense: Distribution of cocaine, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute; 21 U.S. C. §§ 841(a)(1), (a)(2) and 846, 18 U.S.C. § 2. Sentence: Oct. 19, 1984; District of Kansas; one year and one day in prison and three years of special parole.

Scoey Lathaniel Morris - Crosby, Texas: Offense: Passing counterfeit obligations or securities; 18 U.S.C. §§ 472 and 2. Sentence: May 21, 1999; Western District of Texas; three years of probation and $1,200 restitution, jointly and severally.


A few years ago Time Magazine compiled a list of the most notorious presidential pardons. It was interesting to study because I had forgotten about most of them.


10 MOST NOTORIOUS PARDONS

Whiskey Rebels, 1794


Citizens of the Confederate States, 1865


Jimmy Hoffa, 1971


Richard Nixon, 1974


Vietnam Draft Dodgers, 1977


Mark Felt (a.k.a. Deep Throat) & Edward Miller, 1981


George Steinbrenner, 1989


Caspar Weinberger, 1992


Patty Hearst, 2001


Marc Rich, 2001


Marc Rich’s pardon by President Clinton, on his last day in office, was probably the most controversial. In 1983, Rich was indicted in federal court of evading more than $48 million in taxes. He was also charged with 51 counts of tax fraud and with running illegal oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis. He fled to Switzerland to evade incarceration and had been a fugitive ever since. The fact that Rich’s ex-wife Denise Rich gave and raised millions of dollars for Clinton’s presidential campaigns and presidential library is what made this pardon so repulsive to many.


I don’t think a President should pardon convicted drug dealers and counterfeiters and that is what the people are who sit on Obama’s list. I am a white-collar crime forgiving type of person.  George Steinbrenner won seven World Series championships as owner of the Yankees. Does that make him worthy of a pardon? Depends on which city you live in.