Here's what Mike Huckabee had to say on Sunday about the murderer of the four policemen in Seattle:
"The senseless and savage execution of police officers in Washington State has saddened the nation, and early reports indicate that a person of interest is a repeat offender who once lived in Arkansas and was wanted on outstanding warrants here and Washington State. The murder of any individual is profound tragedy, but the murder of a police officer is the worst of all murders in that it is an assault on every citizen and the laws we live within.
Should he be found to be responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington State. He was recommended for and received a commutation of his original sentence from 1990, making him parole eligible and was paroled by the parole board once they determined he met the conditions at that time. He was arrested later for parole violation and taken back to prison to serve his full term, but prosecutors dropped the charges that would have held him. It appears that he has continued to have a string of criminal and psychotic behavior but was not kept incarcerated by either state. This is a horrible and tragic event and if found and convicted the offender should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Our thoughts and prayers are and should be with the families of those honorable, brave, and heroic police officers."
True enough. But here's what Mike Huckabee failed to say on Sunday -- that he himself was the Governor who granted Maurice Clemmons clemency in 2000. Though Clemmons had racked up a 95-year sentence for committing committed a series of violent crimes, including aggravated robbery and theft, he was helped put back on the street by Mike Huckabee.
As I said a couple of days ago, this will probably finish any ideas Mike Huckabee might have had of running again for the Presidency. It will certainly finish his candidacy if he rashly decided to give it another go. And not because of Clemmons' case alone but because Clemmons was just one of several criminals who were granted pardons by Huckabee based on the criminals' claims of Christian conversion. A governor cannot simply ignore (as Huckabee often did) the arguments of seasoned policemen, prosecutors and judges. It was a bad decision which has now been shown to have had the most terrible of consequences.
Mike Huckabee should recognize this and humbly apologize. It won't bring anyone back -- but it might help other chief executives think long and hard before doing something similar.
