HE LET THE PEOPLE GO

Whenever a business, political body or politician issues a news release on a Friday afternoon, it usually means they don’t want the media to pay much attention to it. That type of news is my favorite because then, I want to try to figure out why the entity wanted to “bury” that news. 

Last Friday, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s office released a  statement about the Governor’s latest decisions on executive clemency and pardons. If the facts about the 50 people the Governor granted such petitions actually deserved expungement, why release the statement on a Friday afternoon?  Who are these people? Their names were not released. Why? He released the names of the people he pardoned in April.

According to the Chicago Tribune, “Overall, Quinn has acted on 1,356 clemency petitions since taking office and denied 839 requests, including 111 on Friday, his office said. He has granted clemency 517 times, including 506 pardons. He has also authorized 10 people already pardoned to seek expungement of their convictions and granted one commutation among cases before the Prisoner Review Board.”  So Quinn has approved the petitions of about 38% of the people who have requested them. That percentage seems very high to me, are that many people worthy? On the April list of people who were were pardoned, I did not see any little old ladies who were arrested by mistake.  All of them seemed to be hardened criminals to me.

One of the mandates of The Prison Review Board is to make “confidential recommendations to the Governor relative to clemency petitions.” Why are the recommendations confidential? For those of you who might want to take a look at the application for clemency,  is the web site for the Review Board.

In response to the pardons, The blog of the Illinois Legal Aid Advocate said, “To date the Governor has granted fully 50% of the petitions he has considered. Importantly, he’s not cherry-picking the best matters, but instead starting with the oldest and working his way forward. As we mention in the article (Law Bulletin, December 1, 2009 ,) he is sticking his neck out for our clients and hundreds of other ex-offenders. We are very encouraged.” Of course they are thrilled that all these criminals are being given a fresh start in life.  When they re-offend, the lawyers will make money defending them!

Bleeding heart liberals who think it is important to give people a “second chance” should be giving those who need a “first chance” a priority placement on the employment line.

Former President William Clinton was vilified for the last minute pardons he executed on his way out of the White House door at the end of his presidency. I wrote about those pardons, as well as pardons bestowed by President Obama in my blog of December 7, 2010 called, “Well, Pardon Me!”  But at least in the case of those pardons, we were getting information about… oh… who the people were.  Again, why didn’t Quinn release these people’s names and their crimes? I thought we were supposed to have transparency in Illinois government.