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More proof that pardon scandals rarely get completely forgotten

By Douglas A. Berman

The latest proof that bad pardoning actions can cast a long shadow comes from this new article at Politico, headlined "Clinton scandal figure on Justice team."  Here are a few details: President-elect Barack Obama tapped a major campaign bundler and a former U.S. attorney who got caught up in Bill Clinton's 2001 pardons scandal to serve on the 14-member Justice Department review team announced Friday. Alejandro Mayorkas, a former U.S. attorney in California, drew controversy in 2001 for calling the White House on behalf of Carlos Vignali, a convicted drug dealer who was seeking a presidential commutation.... The House Committee of Government Reform cited Mayorkas in a report critical of Southern California politicians who pushed Clinton to release Carlos Vignali, saying Mayorkas should have been aware of Horacio Vignali's questionable background, according to a Los Angeles Times story published in March 2002...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on November 15, 2008 (boomark / email).