posted December 4, 2008 at 13:33 in Other Props
Political Proposition Odds - Pardon....Who??
It's gotten to the time of George W. Bush's presidency where the greatest suspense resides in who he will grant clemency to. The pardon process is probably the area in which the president has the most absolute power. With one signature, he can essentially cleanse anyone. There is no one to answer to. And there is no way this does not turn into a political process. Since most politicians have a price, money, power and connections are a major factor. And there is some pandering that is done for those who have been "friendly" to political parties or interest groups.
So how about those high-profile figures who are seeking, or who may be considered, for a pardon before the current president leaves office? BetUS Sportsbook put up odds on some of them. We'll go about analyzing them:
Will George Bush grant a Pardon to Conrad Black?
Yes +350
No -700
Conrad Black is a Canadian media mogul who is serving a sentence for fraud and obstruction of justice. He is smug, arrogant, and self-important well beyond even what his status had dictated. He is in prison now, and it doesn't often happen that pardons are granted to someone still behind bars. To me, this is a NO.
Will George Bush grant a pre-emptive pardon to Dick Cheney?
Yes -200
No +150
Will George Bush grant a pre-emptive pardon to Alberto Gonzalez?
Yes -160
No +120
Will George Bush issue a blanket preemptive pardon for his staff before he leaves office?
Yes -300
No +200
I'm going to handle these all at once. Pre-emptive pardons are not unprecedented; for example, Gerald Ford, after taking office, granted one to Richard Nixon for crimes he MAY have committed. I don't really see this kind of pardon happening, though, because it pre-supposes some kind of guilt that requires forgiveness, while all these guys have been in outright denial all the way. So it's a NO.
Will George Bush grant a full Pardon to I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby?
Yes -120
No -120
I see this one happening. Bush has already commuted Libby's sentence. And the sense is that he took the fall for others. This is a YES, but it will still be kind of dicey for the president.
Will George Bush grant pardons to Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos?
Yes -200
No +150
This one is a close call. These are the two border patrol guards who shot a Mexican drug runner in the ass, despite the fact that he was unarmed and running away at the time. Certainly that was a violation of procedure, and the prosecutor in this case, from Texas, has been vehement about the case. Dana Rohrbacher, the congressman from California, is leading the charge on the Hill in petitioning for the pardon. I would lean toward a YES here.
Will George Bush grant a Pardon to Michael Milken?
Yes +250
No -400
This, I think, is the best value on the board. Milken, of course, is the junk bond mastermind who was convicted on charges of securities fraud. He was denied a pardon by Bill Clinton. Since his release from prison, where he got off easy, serving only two years, Milken has rehabilitated his image in many of the artificial ways available, including large donations to charity that aren't really that large, relative to his net worth. A lot of that money has gone into medical research. And Ted Olson, the former solicitor general and long-time Republican who helped grease the wheels for Bush to be elected through the Supreme Court, is the one who submitted the petition. YES, money and influence can buy just about anything. Consider this a done deal.
Will George Bush grant a Pardon to Senator Ted Stevens?
Yes -150
No +110
Stevens is appealing his conviction on corruption charges. He maintains his innocence, but has not yet applied for a pardon, although Bush could conceivably issue the pardon without being petitioned. It would be pretty slimy for Stevens to ask for one, but why would that be below a politician? Considering his defeat in his '08 re-election bid, and the fact that he has doled out a lot of favors during his corrupt Senate career, somebody is bound to arrange a favor to be paid back. I say YES on this one.
Will George Bush pardon more people than Bill Clinton did?
Over 456 Even
Under 456 -140
It is rather noteworthy that Bush has issued relatively few pardons. As of Tuesday, out of 10,000 or so requests, he has given only 171 pardons. Our number for Clinton is 396. This figure is 456. There is NO way Bush exceeds that total. We're with the UNDER.
Will George Bush grant a pardon to Boxing Champ Jack Johnson?
Yes 5/1
My instinct tells me that this is a possibility. However, that doesn't mean I agree with it. In fact, as a boxing writer of some repute, I have penned a 20-page essay on the matter, and debated college professors through national magazines. I guess I've become a leading advocate AGAINST granting Jack Johnson a presidential pardon. So if you'll allow me to editorialize a bit....
Jack Johnson does not deserve a presidential pardon. I doubt it would have even been brought up had Ken Burns not been promoting his documentary, "Unforgivable Blackness," which chronicled some of Johnson's life and career. But since it was, it is worth noting what the U.S. Senate, which passed a resolution for the pardon, as co-opted into doing.
Pardoning Johnson, who has been dead for over sixty years, would set a precedent of sorts, there is one posthumous federal pardon in history, and it's not unreasonable to use the previous one as a reference point.
Henry O. Flipper, Army lieutenant and the first African-American graduate of West Point, had beaten a bogus rap for embezzlement in 1880 but was found guilty for conduct unbecoming an officer and dishonorably discharged.
He went on to serve honorably in government for many years, was posthumously discharged honorably, and has an award at West Point named in his honor. Pardons are generally not granted to dead folks because they are "deeds" requiring a willing recipient, but those who petitioned for a pardon for Flipper referenced the fact that the president (Clinton at the time), as Commander-in-Chief, had a duty to right wrongs of military justice.
There is no requirement to be innocent in order to be pardoned, but to get one posthumously, there would have to be extraneous circumstances, for certain. For example, it helps if the person did not commit other offenses as bad or even worse, whether from a legal or societal standpoint.
Johnson doesn't score well there.
It's been documented by author Randy Roberts, who advocates a pardon, that Johnson administered regular punishment to his bride-to-be, Etta Duryea, to the point where she required hospitalization.
As Johnson's trial for violation of the Mann Act approached, he hired a private eye to track down the key witness against him, prostitute Belle Schrieber, offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who could help him locate her. One can only speculate as to what would have happened had Johnson found Schrieber, but witness tampering comes to mind.
According to Johnson's own words, communicated to reporters, which are reflected in FBI files, he claimed to have bribed federal agents and Department of Justice officials to look the other way as he fled the country.
As has been documented in biographies about him, Johnson actively engaged in attempts to fix his own fights, going so far on one occasion as to threaten that a heavyweight championship opponent of his - Frank Moran - would not be paid his share of the purse if he did not take a dive after eight rounds. Moran went to local authorities, as well as the promoter, and double-crossed Johnson, going the distance. But that was an attempted fraud on Johnson's part. How many more were there?
The Senate resolution to pardon Johnson was filled with falsehoods, namely that Johnson somehow paved the way for other black professional athletes. If anything, he ruined it for them, as Joe Louis' management recognized over twenty years later when they programmed the Brown Bomber to avoid any and all behavior that might result in him being compared with Johnson.
There's much more; Johnson did in fact knowingly violate the Mann Act, and in the end he got off easy for someone who wound up a fugitive from justice. Whether he was initially innocent or not, he was guilty in other ways and not someone of such high character that he deserves such an exceptional consideration.
This is about nothing but political correctness, self-loathing, and above all, marketing on the part of documentarian Burns and PBS. It just shouldn't happen.
(Charles Jay was the 2008 presidential nominee of both the Boston Tea Party and the Personal Choice Party. He is currently a contributor to the BetUS Locker Room.)
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