Mike Huckabee And Mrs. Lot Poem by gershon hepner

Mike Huckabee And Mrs. Lot

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With a bit of luck a bee
can manage to persuade us it is not
a wasp, but Michael Huckabee
now seems to look a lot like Mrs. Lot,
who didn’t seem to find much fault
in criminals whom God had sentenced. She
became a pillar, kosher salt,
and Mike, a pillar of society,
will probably be forced to share
her fate. Our hearts we’re sadly forced to harden,
since voters, just like God, don’t care
for those who give bad criminals a pardon.

Kate Zernicke writes about the political implication that the pardon Mike Huckabee gave Maurice Clemmons may have on his political future, since it appears that Clemmons probably murdered four police officers near Tacoma Washington (“Old Clemency May be Issue for Huckabee, ” NYT, December 1,2009) :
When Mike Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist minister then serving as governor of Arkansas, granted clemency to Maurice Clemmons nine years ago, he cited his age: Mr. Clemmons was 16 when he began the crime spree for which he was sentenced to more than 100 years in prison. Now, Mr. Clemmons is being sought as the suspect in the killing of four uniformed police officers, execution-style, on Sunday as they sat in a coffee shop near Tacoma, Wash., writing reports. Mr. Huckabee, now a Fox News talk-show host, has been leading the pack of possible Republican contenders for president in 2012. But the killings of the police officers are focusing renewed attention on his long-contentious record of pardoning convicts or commuting their sentences. In a decade as governor beginning in 1996, Mr. Huckabee did so twice as many times as his three predecessors combined. He typically gave little explanation for individual pardons. But he spoke often of his belief in redemption, based on a strong religious belief that even criminals are capable of changing their lives and often deserve a second chance. He also raised concerns about the fairness of the Arkansas justice system…
Mr. Huckabee, who rode a brand of prairie populism to finish second in the Republican presidential primaries in 2008, granted more than 1,000 pardons or clemency requests as governor. As his reputation for granting clemency spread, more convicts applied. Aides said he read each file personally.In most cases, he followed the recommendation of the parole board, but in several cases he overrode the objections of prosecutors, judges and victims’ families. And in several, he followed recommendations for clemency from Baptist preachers who had been longtime supporters.Prosecutors told him he was ignoring his responsibility to explain to citizens why he was setting free convicted murderers and rapists. His response, some of them say, was to blame others and strike out against his critics — an off-note from a man they consider a gifted politician. “Victims groups were pretty well ignored, along with boots-on-the-streets law enforcement and good citizens who sit on these juries, ” said Larry Jegley, who objected to Mr. Clemmons’s clemency request as the prosecuting attorney for Pulaski County, where he was convicted.

12/1/09

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