How am I to buy the notion that Maurice Clemmons was anywhere close to sane in 2000 when then Governor Mike Huckabee commuted his prison sentence and prompted Clemmon’s early release from prison?
“At the time of his arrest in Washington state earlier this year, investigators said Clemmons had visions that he was Jesus Christ and that the world was on the verge of the apocalypse. He also “told the officer President Obama and Lebron James are his brothers, Oprah (Winfrey) is his sister and referred to himself as ‘the beast,”‘ according to court papers obtained by The News Tribune of Tacoma.”
Clemmons has a violent, erratic past, and authorities in Washington state and Arkansas — where then-Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2000 commuted his 108-year prison sentence for armed robbery and other offenses — are facing tough questions about why an apparently violent and deranged man was out on the street.
In a statement posted on the conservative Newsmax.com Web site, Huckabee said: “I take full responsibility for my actions of nine years ago. I acted on the facts presented to me in 2000. If I could have possibly known what Clemmons would do nine years later, I obviously would have made a different decision. But if the same file was presented to me today, I would have likely made the same decision.” ~ AP Seattle
Clemmons was gunned down this morning when he approached a patrol car in south Seattle and the officer recognized him. As Clemmons approached the officer saw him reach to his waist and after warning him, pulled his service revolver and fired several times, killing Clemmons.
And this most recent statement from the full article by Huckabee himself over at Newsmax.com today…12/01/2009
I wish his file had never crossed my desk, but it did. The decision I made is one that I now wish were different, but I could only look backwards at his case, not forward. None of this is of any comfort to the families of these police officers nor should it be. Their loss is senseless. No words or deeds by anyone will bring them back to their loved ones. Our system is not perfect and neither are those responsible for administering it.The system and those of us who are supposed to make sure it works sometimes fail. In this case, we clearly did.“I wish his file had never crossed my desk, but it did. The decision I made is one that I now wish were different, but I could only look backwards at his case, not forward. None of this is of any comfort to the families of these police officers nor should it be. Their loss is senseless. No words or deeds by anyone will bring them back to their loved ones. Our system is not perfect and neither are those responsible for administering it.
The system and those of us who are supposed to make sure it works sometimes fail. In this case, we clearly did.” ~ Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee
And make sure that the system works without the influence to your decision being based on your own self-anointed perception as to who is now “OSAS” (once saved always saved) and who is not.
Mr. Huckabee…thou doth protest too much. Since Sunday you have been treading water by tiptoeing on the heads of others proclaiming yourself nothing more than a bureaucratic pencil pusher who had these reams of pardons cross your desk. I’m not buying what you are peddling.
It is abundantly clear that your evangelical blinders played a very crucial part in the paroles you did approve. How many of the 1,023 approvals you signed were born again inmates? We don’t know. But the fact that you even referred to Wayne DuMond as “Dear Wayne” makes me nauseous!
A little over 10 years ago, the paths of these three men merged in Little Rock, the state capital, where Huckabee was the new governor. With Cole’s urging, and with DuMond insisting he was “born again,” Huckabee played a key role in setting free a rapist who was supposed to serve many more years, say three of the seven members of the state board that paroled DuMond.
After being released, DuMond moved to Missouri, where less than a year later he suffocated the mother of three in a Kansas City suburb. Police suspect that he killed another woman there as well.
“The state parole board acted before he had to make a final call. It was the parole board, Huckabee said, that unlocked the cell door.”
How a convicted rapist went free has become an issue in today’s increasingly heated presidential campaign. As if out of nowhere, Huckabee has surged to a leading spot in public opinion polls in the Republican contest. Amid the new attention, he is facing questions about whether his deep Christian faith — what on the stump he says “defines me” — colored his view of Wayne DuMond’s case.
Cole, the minister who befriended DuMond, said: “The governor felt compassion for Wayne. He was sorry for him. So, I asked the governor to help. I asked him if anything could be done. And Mike had a lot of people on his neck trying to get him to get Wayne released.” LA Times Article 2008
“I became his spiritual director,” Cole said. “He was a nice fella, and it was hard to believe he could have done what he was accused of doing. And Wayne claimed to be saved. So, we’d sit and talk and pray for two hours, and other times he’d call me on the phone a lot. Collect.
Cole said he talked to “probably a hundred people” about his hope of winning DuMond’s release, turning foremost to the evangelical community. He said many evangelicals were encouraged that DuMond had claimed a religious conversion…
“Dear Wayne. . . . My desire is that you be released from prison,” the governor wrote. “I feel now that parole is the best way. . . .” ~ LA Times 2008
Ahhh…and again, it was the parole board that did it…not Mr. Huckabee’s sense of divine knowledge. Is that what you are getting from this? Me neither.
“It was a horrible situation, horrible. I feel awful about it in every way. I wish there was some way I could go back and reverse the clock and put him back in prison,” the candidate said at a news conference.
I am sensing a pattern in his excuses and his expressions of regret that if he could only go back he would not have released these violent criminals.
So I have this question for Mr. Huckabee! Just how many others of the 1,023 criminals that you approved release of are your redeemed born agains?
Tell us! How many more are wandering this world with the potential to rape, harm and murder innocent people? Because now we have a NEW name to add to our list of violent criminals who were lucky enough to receive early parole under your watch in Arkansas! Who? Well he is the driver and accomplice of Maurice Clemmons of course!
Darcus Allen…sentenced to 25 years in prison for a 1990 double murder at a Little Rock liquor store. He was paroled in 2004 having only served 14 years. Gee…criminal minds, paroled and palling. Who could have seen this coming? Mr. Huckabee? And look! There were lots of fraternity brothers in their residence! Where are they now?
“Arkansas prison spokeswoman Dina Tyler says Allen and Clemmons never shared a cell, but lived in the same barracks – along with 50-100 other inmates – at various times during their imprisonment.”
How many others are out there that you are going to come forward and claim “that the system made you do it”…and that if you could go back in time you “would do things differently”?
You have a family Huck! So do I…and as outraged as I am at not only what you did in the name of Jesus, but that you arrogantly decided for the rest of us that our daughters might be raped and brutally murdered by your pet born agains. Or that our loved ones may be randomly assassinated by another Huckabee project.
Do me a favor? QUIT apologizing…quit expressing sympathies to the victims’ families…just quit. Go away…stay at Fox where you are surrounded by your own ilk and never, never govern again…you are a travesty!
I watched Oprah today. And today I cried.
Her guests were Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, a husband and wife team, journalists/activists, and authors of "Half the Sky." They travel to some of the poorest and most dangerous places in the world, trying to be the voices of women and girls who have none of their own. Women and young girls who are beaten and abused, raped, disfigured, sold into slavery and prostitution – women who are left on roadsides to die when they are ill or in troubled pregnancies. It was a heart-wrenching show to watch. But it was also inspiring. There are heroes in this world that make our hearts soar. That give us hope and a reason to keep trying to overcome poverty, disease, and evil. Some of these heroes make the news or Oprah show -most are never known to us. They are overshadowed by politics, celebrities, sports figures, etc. They are unsung heroes dedicating their own lives to making someone else's better.
The Sarah Palins and Mike Huckabees of the world could be heroes. They have the brains, education, health, and money to do good. Instead they choose a different path – one of self exaltation. They seek fame, fortune, luxury, and power. They want their names written in history books. They want to control others – dictated by their personal political and religious beliefs. Instead of uniting, they divide. Instead of loving, they hate. Instead of comforting, they create fear.
America is the richest country in the world. We have the ability to put an all out effort into education, research, job and wealth creation, energy and climate solutions, and making peace. With accomplishes like these, we could stamp out war, poverty, ignorance and most diseases around the world in just one generation. Instead, we are constantly bogged down with the kind of bullshit that people like Palin, Huckabee, Cheney, Ensign, and all the rest of that motley crew keep throwing in our path. They are, to my mind, the worst offenders. In spite of, or in the name of their faith, they lie, steal, waterboard, pardon criminals, commit adultery and pay out hush money.
So do what you must. Call your representatives and senators. Write letters. Show up at protests. Make donations to your favorite politicians and charities. Most important – show up to vote.
And when your done, drop by Oprah's "For All Women" webpage and see what you can do to be an unsung hero. There's lots of suggestions and some don't cost a dime. We may never know your name, or what you chose to do, but somewhere, out there in the darkness, there's a woman or young girl who will live and silently thank you.
http://tinyurl.com/yd9o3nn
Women hold up half the sky. (a Chinese proverb)
Extremely moving post! I cannot add to what you have stated so perfectly…thank you
No Leah – we all thank you. You have been one of those unsung heroes. I know that you have been a lobbyist for women and children and now you lose sleep and money over these creeps trying to run our lives. You and Alex are wonderful role models for all of us – taking a stand and standing for truth. May we all live up to the challenges before us.
Nicholas Kristof has been bringing worldwide attention to many of the people on our planet in the direst of straits and victims of the most horrific brutality via his column in the New York Times for years. He is a must-read.
Regarding The Huckster – I find it appalling that one's religion would factor in to a clemency decision. I would if Huck would have been as sympathetic if the guy had become devoted to Zen meditation?
Agreed, Bree – comparing a Japanese Tea Garden to an American Tea Party should tell us all we need to know.
I'm sure it didn't take long for other offenders to catch on and claim they found God in hopes of a pardon from the gov. as well. Which never should excuse them from societies punishment for their heinous crimes. Earlier in the year I sent dear Huck an email about his lying and hateful rants against President Obama. I told him he didn't care what the truth was after all him and his kind were laughing all the way to the bank as they hop in their limousines. My word verification at that time reflected what I wrote it was something like $4 million corruption. I don't remember exactly but it fit my thoughts about him. Which leads me to wonder how much money was involved maybe from the lawyers or families of the ones he pardoned. That might have been the way God inspired him too.
They certainly do seem to end up reaping great financial benefit from slamming Obama and nurturing a constant sense of fear in their audiences. This is why I have named then the "Phalse Prophets for Profit"…