James T. Ensworth wrote “Why should President Bush not have commuted Libby sentence?” (Record-Bee, July 11)
The answer is that the commutation was a travesty of justice, pure cronyism, letting a pal off the hook on a very serious charge after an exhaustively deliberated fair trial, while others less well-connected must bear the full brunt of their legal punishment.
James T. Ensworth wrote “President Clinton in his last year of his Presidency commuted a lot of bad people like terrorists, drug dealers and money launders.” I”m not sure about the “terrorists”, but there is no question that President Clinton dishonored his office in the abuse of his clemency powers.
However, the upshot of these discussions should not be to justify Mr. Bush”s “in-your-face” insult to the American system of justice on the grounds that Mr. Clinton was a notorious violator as well. Rather, the application of executive clemency needs to be examined and legislation passed defining limits to which the President can ethically override the decisions of the judicial system made in compliance with legislated statutes and legal precedents.
Steve Harness
Upper Lake
