Anthony Circosta, a decorated Iraq War veteran from Agawam, needed a gun permit in Massachusetts to get a promotion at his security guard job and to pursue a possible career as a police officer. But first he needed to have his record cleared of a childhood felony - shooting a classmate in the shoulder with a BB gun when he was 13.
The Massachusetts clemency board investigated Circosta's case and twice recommended pardoning him. But then-Governor Mitt Romney refused, preserving a record of rejecting every clemency request that crossed his desk.
Romney's position was certainly draconian, and I think he should have at least bothered examining the requests for pardons on a case-by-case basis rather than just ignoring every one of them to keep a perfect record of ignoring them.
However, if I were Huckabee, the last thing I'd want to do is bring up my record of pardoning people.
New sources, including an advisor to Gov. Mike Huckabee, have told the Arkansas Times that Huckabee and a senior member of his staff exerted behind-the-scenes influence to bring about the parole of rapist Wayne Dumond, who Missouri authorities say raped and killed a woman there shortly after his parole.
So yeah, it's true that Romney could have been a little more lenient in handing out pardons. Then again, Romney never pardoned known murderers, and didn't order the release of someone who would murder again.
Also, this is rather unrelated to the above point, but I found this passage in the Boston Globe article rather bizarre:
But Huckabee talks about the power of rehabilitation, and told an Iowa voter this week who asked about his pardons, "I do believe that you don't just keep punishing people forever."
Really? 'Cause isn't that exactly what your god says he'll do? So if you don't believe one should do that, then why are you a freaking minister?
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