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Willie, Mike & Maurice
I have to admit that on a personal level I sort of like Mike Huckabee. I really didn’t follow his career in Arkansas and I really wasn’t a supporter of his during his recent primary campaign for the Republican Presidential Nomination of 2008. Since I didn’t know much about Huckabee I really didn’t know what he stood for, but he did espouse a flat one rate national sales tax that certain economists (79 including a Nobel Laureate) calculated would bring in and equivalent amount of revenue to the Federal Government at the rate of 23% with certain “exemptions” for poor people from paying any of it. At that time “non-partisan” legislation was presented to both chambers of Congress under the enumeration of HR25 & S256.
Also at that time I personally wrote his campaign a letter (unanswered) asking what “Constitutional” changes were going to be implemented “simultaneously” to insure that the Congress (with its insatiable appetite for spending to endear their candidacies to their electorate) from taking that “sales tax” (thank you) and then initiating another “normal” income based tax that would of course be touted as just for the “rich” on top of the sales tax (like the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was touted which authorized the “income based tax” without apportionment in 1913. Note: The original tax return taxed 1% on income over $3,000 to $500,000 when it then moved with a 6% “surtax” on income over a half million dollars, a lot at both ends of the bracket in 1913). I also knew that the Constitutional Amendment process was daunting and lengthy. In truth I knew there was to be no assurance from such action by the Congress so in short I never got on the Huckabee bandwagon. I knew in the long run we would end up with “both” tax systems stacked upon each other.
As a side note: Just recently as the Democrat controlled Congress is contemplating all the budget busting propositions such as Cap’N Trade, Obamacare, Nationalization of certain industries to benefit targeted constituencies, etc along with a long list of tax and mandate increases, Nancy Pelosi is now discussing in addition to all this the “stacking” of a national sales or VAT tax to boot. Hmmm…..
Back in 1988 during the Democratic Primary season as it sought to select its 1988 Presidential nominee, Al Gore, a rival of Mike Dukakis, first introduced the “lax” furlough policy in the criminal justice system of Massachusetts where Dukakis was Governor. The charge was that this policy was dangerous to the population at large. This charge didn’t seem to resonate in the Democratic Primary, but it did in the General Election when it was disclosed that Al Gore was correct in his assessment of the furlough policy because through it in its most egregious case a convicted killer named Willie Horton, who had been sentenced to life (without chance of parole), walked away from furlough and went on to immediately twice rape, beat, pistol whip, knife, bind fiance, steal car and escape. (I’ll score this one as Al Gore being correct in exposing the travesty of the Massachusetts “furlough” program.) Many attribute this situation as contributing heavily to his defeat by George H.W. Bush.
In like manner it came to light this weekend that Governor Huckabee may have a similar albatross hanging around his neck. Namely this concerns the murder of 4 police officers in Washington State in an “execution” style this past weekend “allegedly” by Maurice Clemons (the politically correct phrase for this is “person of interest”). This guy is equally as bad a character as Willie Horton and while it could be argued that when he (unlike Horton) was given clemency by Huckabee he had not “yet” been found guilty of murder, which is true, but he had been declared an “habitual criminal” by the age of 18 and had been given 60 years in prison for his crimes because of this reason. After his “Huckabee” release he was convicted for two armed robberies and incarcerated under a 10 year sentence which he was soon released from. After extensive crime thereafter including raping a child he was arrested and a Liberal Judge in Washington State required that he post a bond that even he could afford. It was during this “bail” period that he completed the 4 executions of the police officers.
The bottom line here is there would be a number of people alive today and children protected from life maring rape if Huckabee didn’t decide to give Clemons (as he said at the time of the clemency) a 2nd chance. Wow, I hate it when I hear that officials have such warm hearts to give second chances to those like Clarence that had already a life of crime and declared a “habitual criminal.” Truth in speaking should at least require that Huckabee call it a 24th or 25th chance (or whatever.)
So, like Michael Dukakis’ fate, I believe this is (or at least should be) a “deal breaker” and future considerations of Mike Huckabee as a Presidential candidate and such plans should be discarded. I believe he has some explaining to do, but to none more appropriately than to the families of the dead police officers and the parents of the raped child (even assuming we let the numerous armed robberies slide).
LATE UPDATE: To be completely fair I should mention that it has come to my attention that Huckabee did not release him from prison but “commuted” his 60 year sentence to 47 years. Aparently in Arkansas 47 years is a term that can be considered by the Parole Board not 60 years. Clemmons applied for release with the Parole Board and it was granted. After his release he committed a couple more serious crimes in Arkansas for which he was arrigned, BUT the Prosecuting Attorney failed to file certain legal papers by a deadline and the courts released him on a summarial basis. THIS IS THE REASON THAT I NEVER HAVE BELIEVED THE CLAIMS OF THOSE ON THE LEFT OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE ISSUES THAT THEY WOULD SUPPORT “LIFE WITHOUT CHANCE OF PAROLE” IN CAPITAL CASES as some type of solution in opposition to Capital Punishment. I want to tell you that such a sentence in all reality does not exist (with the exception of maybe Charles Manson). So in view of this “new” information I must say that where I may find “less” direct culpability of Huckabee than believed above, I still find that he made this all possible with the type of criminal management that has caused thousands and thousands of innocent deaths in order to avoid the very rare phenomenen of “false imprisonment” or erroneous capital punishment not to mention 2nd chances or 24 or 25th chances whatever.
LATER UPDATE: 12/1/2009. Problem solved. This guy got nailed by a cop today and we will no longer have to deal with this low life. So there is usually a bright side of a very dark story.