More Romney and Pardons

Charley Savage of the Boston Globe has written a fine piece today on Mitt Romney and the pardon power. Among other things the article notes:

Anthony Circosta, a decorated Iraq War veteran from Agawam, needed a gun permit in Massachusetts to get a promotion at his security guard job and to pursue a possible career as a police officer. But first he needed to have his record cleared of a childhood felony - shooting a classmate in the shoulder with a BB gun when he was 13. The Massachusetts clemency board investigated Circosta's case and twice recommended pardoning him. But then-Governor Mitt Romney refused, preserving a record of rejecting every clemency request that crossed his desk.

... Romney has blanketed the airwaves for two weeks with ads proclaiming that Huckabee granted clemency requests 1,033 times while Romney "never pardoned a single criminal." The less-funded Huckabee, however, has traveled the state with his own message about pardons - telling crowds Circosta's life story and asking whether they would pardon him. Almost all say they would.

Huckabee's point is clear: Romney is so hardheartedand politically calculating that he would deny a deserving veteran a chance to improve his life just because "he wanted to brag that he never, ever gave out a pardon" when he ran for president.

... In Iowa, Romney said he turned down Circosta because of his own guideline against pardoning firearm-related offenses if the applicant needed a pardon to obtain a gun permit. "My desire was to make sure that I erred on the side of protecting the public," Romney said, adding that Huckabee granted pardons "as far as I know without any guidelines, simply done on the basis of what he may have thought was appropriate."

... But Huckabee talks about the power of rehabilitation, and told an Iowa voter this week who asked about his pardons, "I do believe that you don't just keep punishing people forever."

... Circosta won letters of support from many people, including his National Guard commander, the chief of the Springfield police, US Representative Richard Neal, and Mayor Richard Cohen of Agawam.

... The clemency board "strongly recommended" a pardon for Circosta in 2003.

... Later that year, Circosta's Army National Guard unit was deployed to Iraq, where he spent a year as a combat medic. He was promoted to first lieutenant and was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service.

... In 2005, Circosta again asked for a pardon with the backing of the advisory board. Once again, Romney declined.