It didn’t take long for the Clenis to get invoked for his supposed pardon on Mel Reynolds. Only problem–it wasn’t a pardon, but a commutation. Reynolds served all five years on the criminal sexual assault and other state charges. He was serving 6 1/2 years in Federal Prison for violations related to campaign finance. Clinton’s commutation still required him to serve the last two years in a halfway house as the Fed sentence was concurrent to the state sentence.
The primary reason cited for the worthiness of the case was that Reynold’s family needed him out to support him. I don’t buy that as many a convict had worse situations, but it was even supported by some Republicans. I don’t have it handy, but I believe Bob Michels wrote to support commutation as well as the primary sponsor, Jesse Jackson. The story isn’t one of just some random political supporter getting a break, but the club protecting one of its own.
All that said, let’s make something clear–Mark Foley wasn’t just let off early, he was let off and allowed to remain in the position he could exploit.
For those who think this is some sort of serious argument, keep it up. It’ll just reinforce how clueless the Republican leadership is if this is the counterattack. What’s stunning is that the leadership doesn’t seem to get how angry the rank and file are amongst Republicans.
Lots of scandals are hard to understand or complicated or easy to ignore because everybody does it. Buggering, or even trying to bugger a kid isn’t any of those things.