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West Virginia Democrats burned President Biden’s Choice Those who received last-minute executive pardons said they expected such action from their rival, President-elect Trump.
In a statement released late Monday, local party leaders said they commended Biden for leading the United States “to address significant economic challenges” but condemned the reduction of sentences for people convicted of public corruption.
“public corruption It’s a betrayal of trust. When officers abuse their power for personal gain, they not only harm the communities they are supposed to serve, they also undermine confidence in our institutions of government,” wrote Kanawha County State Rep. Mike Pushkin, chairman.
“Even more troubling is that this pardon is exactly what we would expect from President-elect Donald Trump, not President Biden.”
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A sign welcomes travelers leaving the East River Mountain Tunnel on Interstate 77 near Princeton, West Virginia. (Fox News/Charles Kretz)
In a statement from the state, Pushkin, the Kanawha County state representative, criticized Trump’s first-term pardons of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, General Michael Flynn, political strategist Stephen K. Bannon and former Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz.
“By following the same path, President Biden is legitimizing the idea that public officials who violate their oath of office are above the law,” Pushkin said.
“Worse, if Trump returns to the White House, he will be emboldened to issue more pardons for political corruption.”
Pushkin and other Democrats were particularly critical of Biden’s decision to pardon Shame Pennsylvania Judge Michael ConahanKey figure in the “kids for cash” scandal.
Conahan was convicted of taking kickbacks for sentencing young people to for-profit prisons.
Representative Hollis Lewis, a Charleston Democrat, told Fox News Digital that he also took issue with Biden’s decision to grant clemency to Conahan.
“What upsets me is the judge who was involved in the Cash for Kids case,” he said.
“Anytime you have an individual preying on our most vulnerable populations, which are children and the elderly, that’s very problematic.”
Former Luzerne County Court Judges Michael Conahan (front left) and Mark Ciavarella (front right) leave U.S. District Court in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on September 15, 2009. (AP Photo)
Presidents of both parties have made questionable clemency choices, Lewis said, adding that pardons are an important tool that have their place.
“I don’t think anyone needs to walk around with a scarlet letter of a felony, depending on the specific crime they committed, if that part is what allows them to move on with their life,” he said.
“But particularly when it’s a crime involving the elderly … and children or a crime that has a pattern of violence where the evidence is clear and beyond a reasonable doubt, then maybe we should think twice before exonerating these people.”
In its statement, WVDP also criticized Biden’s clemency for former Dixon, Ill., comptroller Rita Crundwell, who was convicted of embezzling $54 million in the country’s largest municipal fraud case. be punished.
The third case mentioned involves former Cleveland County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, who participated in a pay-to-play scheme.
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Fox News Digital reached out to West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who is now an independent but remains in the Democratic caucus.
West Virginia has been in the news before during presidential pardon season when former President Bill Clinton issued a widely condemned pardon to then-fugitive financier Marc Rich.
Rich was accused of tax evasion and circumventing sanctions against Iran and apartheid South Africa.
However, Rich also held a stake in an Ohio River aluminum manufacturer that at the time was accused of barricading 1,500 workers and hiring scabs, alleging that such a move was illegal because the plant allegedly carried out shutdown.
west virginia union member Picket lines reported In front of Rich’s office in Switzerland.
Clinton’s pardons of Rich and business partner Pincus Green earned him a federal investigation initially led by New York prosecutor Mary Jo White.
When White’s term ended in 2002, she was replaced by a young federal prosecutor whose name would resurface years later in another Clinton controversy: James Comey.
