http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2009/01/15/libby-pardon-bush-oped-cx_df_0115furchtgottroth.htmlPardon Scooter Libby
Diana Furchtgott-Roth, 01.15.09, 11:05 AM EST
Failure to do so would discourage good people from working for the government.
As President-elect Obama selects his team, it is to America's advantage that he recruit the best-qualified people possible. Yet the treatment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney and now my colleague at the Hudson Institute, may make Obama's task more difficult because it warns good men and women to stay away from government service.
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Bush commuted Libby's sentence but did not pardon him, so he cannot practice law, his chosen profession.
He spent over two years of his life fighting the charges and incurred millions of dollars in legal fees.When government destroys the careers of public officials who did no harm, it does more than punish particular individuals. It ensures that others who might best guide our country in the right direction will not wish to take the risk of serving in government.
:eyes:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123197743355383591.html?mod=googlenews_wsjBush and the Libby PardonAs the curtain closes on the presidency of George W. Bush, the one loose end dangling is the pardon of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. In 2007 Mr. Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, was convicted for perjury and obstruction of justice.
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To the extent the Libby prosecution distracted the White House staff, consumed its working hours,
eroded personal savings on lawyers, and inevitably pitted the president's aides against each other, the strategy worked. The domestic opposition didn't deter George Bush. But like any tireless pack, it hurt him and it hurt his goals.
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Washington is on thin ice. The American people could not be more disgusted than they are with the tenor and conduct of politics in Washington. The long Libby case was more muck. When the vice president's chief of staff was convicted, financially ruined and professionally destroyed on the basis of a conversation, my first thought was,
this is going to make it hard to attract the best people to serve in Washington. Why wouldn't the spouse of anyone offered a similar job argue that if the system can let a Scooter Libby wash over the falls for this, the price is just too high. "You aren't going to put our family's future at this much risk. We won't serve. We can't."