Kentucky Governor's Pardon Deemed Valid

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2006/may/18/051800036.html

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - The Kentucky Supreme Court on Thursday invalidated a string of indictments charging members of Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration with rewarding political supporters with state jobs, leaving only the misdemeanor counts against the governor himself.

Fletcher had pardoned his entire administration - other than himself - for any charges that could result from a probe into allegations of hiring misconduct.

The state's high court said Thursday that Fletcher had the authority to issue the blanket pardon, something prosecutors had questioned.

"A gubernatorial pardon operates to cease any further legal proceeding concerning the pardon conduct including indictments," Justice Martin Johnstone wrote in the court's 4-2 opinion.

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they are as evil and corrupt as him.

I believe a Governor has the same privilege in his state that the Prez has in the Fed Gov't. Their pardons stand.

Which has already been played partly in declaring treaties and laws null an void(remember the Geneva Convention?) and granting cover to all doing their will.

This how the administration ends. Not with a bang but a "Pardon me."

His daddy pardoned himself and everybody in the Reagan/Bush administrations for all the stuff they did in Iran-Contra etc. Baby Bush will have to out do his father though, he has the worst case of penis envy.

How can a governor or a president be allowed to issue these preemptive pardons? Why isn't the pardon restricted to a pardon for convicted crimes? Not to give them ideas, but doesn't this mean that the executive can just preemptively pardon everyone in the administration at the beginning of the term, and then let the looting and mayhem begin? What is wrong with that analysis, what is stopping them from doing that?

Why, why won't courts restrict the pardon to a pardon for crimes convicted?

but I believe that you can only pardon someone for past crimes. You can't issue a pardon for something someone hasn't done yet, so you wouldn't be able to pardon people for the looting and mayhem they are about to do.

You can add U.S. state governors and U.S. presidents to the select company.

A couple on the court are buddies of Gov Ernie.

A couple on the court are buddies of Gov Ernie.

that crooks find loopholes in and then exploit the hell outta the system! When will someone stop this madness? How many times must America stumble and fall due to rich crooks running things? I'm wasting my breath, right? :(

The guy runs a corrupt to the core administration, then pardons all his co-conspirators. The only redress is the people's: to make sure that no GOP administration gets its grubby paws on the government of the State of Kentucky again. Of course, you know that won't happen. Half the freepers want to give this douchebag a medal.

…then they could also be subject to Federal charges,
which the governor's get-out-of-jail-free card would not cover.

For those of us of a certain age, we remember when Ford pardoned Nixon for everything he might have ever done, even though Tricky Dick hadn't yet stood trial for his crimes. This became part of the GOP's version of the Nazi "stab in the back" myth: After World War I was concluded, the Nazis rose to power in part because they claimed that their government had stabbed the good German soldiers in the back by signing the punitive Treaty that concluded the armistice. Likewise, Nixon was never tried, never convicted, but pardoned anyway, leading to revisionist speculation that he had been "hounded" from office by a "partisan witch hunt." It's possible Nixon could have turned down the pardon and insisted on his day in court, but for some reason, that legal maneuver never quite came to fruition to clear Nixon's good name (/sarcasm).

Taking his cue from history, the first President Bush pardoned the remaining Iran/contra figures, notably the late Caspar Weinberger and Eliot Abrams in the dead of night on Christmas Eve 1992. Bush had already been defeated by Clinton and was the lamest of ducks when he cleared the accused, who were set to begin their criminal trials in just two weeks. There has long been speculation that the evidence developed at those trials would have shown the elder Bush's claim that he was "out of the loop" on Iran/contra to be so much hokum. But the power of the executive to pardon is absolute, and courts will not overturn them.

I'm sure that Bush the Younger is assiduously taking notes on the Kentucky situation.

in a WH safe just waiting to be released.

No one from this administration will ever see a jail cell - no one.

One of the poster children for our growing 3rd world status....

(actually, a good bit of Kentucky never really left 3rd world status).

So his staff can go out rape and murder and there is not a damn thing we can do about it.

Hubris!

electronic voting machines.

I found that the judge said the blanket amnesty is only legal for events before Aug 29 2005. Any crime committed after that date is fair game.

At least we were in '04.

I don't see what's wrong with every precinct in the country using those. Works for SAT/ACT testing, worked for tests in high school. Worked for the elections here for years.

severe motor control issues couldn't operate the machines. We are using the eSlate.

trying to calibrate touch points to account for tall people and short people alike.

I used to work for a consulting/development firm that developed touch-screen quality control software for manufacturing plants. I'm only 5' 8" and my boss was like 6' 1" or so. I'd calibrate a screen and he'd come along and touch various portions of the screen and, near the borders of each area, he'd either miss or hit the area next to it. If he'd calibrate the screen, then I'd run into the same problem. The only solution is allow the screen to be moved up/down to maintain eye-level with the user.

several times or push real hard to get them to work.

here's the eSlate. That white wheel is easy for able-bodied users, but old arthritic hands have a tough time with it.




I have suggested attaching a joystick through the sip/puff port. What the problem with the wheel is: it is too sensitive for some, and not sensitive enough for others. Several of the people I helped controlled their wheelchairs with a joy stick. They were the ones who had difficulty with the wheel. Their muscles are trained for a joy stick. Also reaching is difficult for some. The joystick can be attached easily to their chair or gurney.

I believe he pardoned his staff for "future charges" on past crimes, as in those crimes which they already committed but they have not been charged for yet. Any crimes committed after the pardon was issued would not be covered.

claim the 5th amendment since you can no longer incriminate yourself????

exercise the fifth. The situation as obtains when a person is granted use or
transactional immunity by the court, they cannot assert the Fifth.

that the indictment of Gov. Fletcher is 'just politics'. So, first, ...I totally agree.
Second,....so fing what? To the victor go the SPOILS!!!!!!!! And a democrat was the
victor in the race for Atty. Genl. Hence...he is free to exercise the law if his
opponent is stupid enough to violate it.

SO FING what?

Gov. Fletcher is the same TURD that struck out at gays on 'diversity' day.

JERK.

My favorite "Fletch" moment, was when he set off the National Guard and Jets etc., when
he came flying into Wash. DC for Ron Reagans Funeral and didn't have a transponder
working. The military scrambled jet fighters and the capitol was evacuated as he flew
over. Did WONDERS for the KENTUCKY IMAGE to the nation.
JEESH!!!

for his own sake. He may need to do the same thing soon. :)