Crooked Brooklyn Real Estate Developer Pardoned By Bush (Update: Pardon Rescinded!)

To be fair, President Bush doesn't offer many pardons and I'd be surprised if he bested Clinton's list. However, that doesn't mean some of his choices are a smack in the face to the victims of certain lucky criminals' crimes. Isaac Toussie is one of those lucky people, officially pardoned of duping a particularly nasty predatory lender in Brooklyn.

From The NY Daily News:

Bush pardoned Isaac Toussie, 36, two days before Christmas in a gesture of mercy that outraged ex-customers who said they were duped into buying overpriced, defective homes.

"We're in the middle of a mortgage crisis [and] this is somebody who was alleged to have participated in predatory lending practices," said Peter Seidman, a lawyer who represents 460 people who say they were fleeced.

Why would George Bush think to give this scumbag a pass? How is Isaac Toussie, someone hardly connected to the White House and hardly in the news allowed to be pardoned? The guy served five months in prison with no restitution for his many victims. Who knows if he learned anything from that small sentence that equated justice for so many ruined lives. So what gives?

Federal Election Commission records show Toussie's father, Robert, made his first political donation last April - $28,500 to the Republican National Committee.

Ah, yeah, right. It all comes down to someon's sudden interest in helping finance the Republican Party.

Update:

I guess all that bad publicity had an effect on the White House, so they decided to cancel Isaac's pardon...bravo!

Randy "Duke" Cunningham Begs Bush For A Pardon

With less than six months to go in the Bush presidency, one thing we are coming close to (besides a dramatic change in our country) is Presidential pardon season. Plenty of crooks, criminals and miscreants are writing to George W. Bush to get their prison or parole terms undone. Most likely, the candidates with the best shot of getting a pardon will have had some personal contact with George beforehand. That would include crooks like ex-Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA Arizona minimum security prison).

From The Boston Globe:

LOS ANGELES—Former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who is serving federal prison time for accepting millions of dollars in bribes, has asked President Bush to grant him clemency.

The San Diego Republican has submitted a petition to commute his sentence, Erik Ablin, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, said Monday. No details were provided.

Cunningham was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison after pleading guilty in November 2005 to taking $2.4 million in cash, trips, prostitute services and other gifts as bribes from defense contractors in exchange for government contracts.

I wonder what his former constituents think of this? I'd say they'd be inclined not to endorse a commutation, heck even the new Republican in office there is against it. I hope he gets to serve that entire sentence, he deserves all eight years and four months....and then some. He took advantage of his office fully knowing that what he was doing was against the law. Be a man and suck it up Randy.

The Tight Knit That Is Washington

The White House shot back at the Clinton campaign today over Libby's commutation, saying that Hillary has chutzpah to call Bush on his special treatment for Scooter. After all, Mark Rich got a full pardon from the outgoing Clinton in late 2000. The inside story to all of this is how close Libby was to Mark Rich.

Check out the six degrees of separation from The Contra Costa Times:

Before entering government, Libby was a private attorney who represented billionaire international commodities trader Marc Rich.

Rich was indicted in 1983 by then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani on charges of tax evasion and illegal dealing with Iran during the American hostage crisis.

Rich fled to Switzerland. He also occupied a spot on the FBI's Most Wanted List for many years.

Giuliani, former mayor of New York, is now a leading Republican presidential candidate. He endorsed Bush's decision to spare Libby jail time even though he had tried to put Libby's client behind bars.

"After evaluating the facts, the president came to a reasonable decision, and I believe the decision was correct," Giuliani said in a written statement Monday evening.

Rich's fugitive days ended when former President Clinton pardoned him in January 2001, a move that prompted a congratulatory call from Libby to Rich.

Ah the tangled webs they weave inside the beltway.

Now Your Intelligence Is Insulted??

At a White House press conference yesterday, one brave reporter had the guts to tell Tony Snow to stop insulting their intelligence. It was in reference to the commutation of Scooter Libby prison sentence. My question is, where have you been the last seven years?

The press has given George Bush break after break. It started on the campaign trail in 2000. It became shameful after September 11th and it remains pitiful even today amidst all the scandals. There are few journalists left (like Sy Hersh) that care about having their intelligence insulted so maybe we just had bad odds on having Tony Snow being called out. His job as spokesman for The Decider is to do whatever it takes to put a positive light on the constitutional shredding that Bush and Cheney take part of on a daily basis. So of course he'll try to insult your intelligence.

The role of the fourth estate is to use your intelligence to combat the lies of the Adminstration. Tell the truth and expose the facts instead of giving their side every opportunity to spin their deceitfulness on the American people. Instead of having shouting matches on cable news programs and printing government press releases verbatim in your newspapers, try to interject some truth.

It isn't about giving us your personal opinion, the goal is to not be a tool of the Administration or any governmental official, Democrat or Republican. They have their own ways of disseminating information besides using you in order to look legitimate. The AEI and PNAC will survive without your help, trust me.

Hopefully the brave words April Ryan spoke to Tony yesterday will have some effect on the White House Press Corp and others that cover Washington. Emphasis on "Hopefully." Please quit your jobs as mouthpieces of the Administration and become journalists again.

Victor Rita Vs. Scooter Libby, Its All About Who You Know

Scooter Libby was convicted of obstruction of justice, that is a fact. So was Victor Rita. A decorated soldier who served in Vietnam and the Gulf War got caught by lying to investigators, which led to a 33 month sentence in jail. He is still there, however Libby never saw the inside of a prison before Bush commuted his sentence. According to the President, the sentence was excessive, Libby had a lifetime of service to his country and his family had paid enough already and blah blah blah. So what about Victor Rita?

From Sentencing Law and Policy:

1. The parallel nature of the crimes. Like Lewis Libby, Victor Rita got caught up in a criminal investigation and ultimately was indicted on five felony counts based on allegations that he lied under oath as part of the investigation. And, like Libby, Victor Rita asserted his innocence and exercised his right to a jury trial. (Victor was convicted of all five counts at trial; Libby's was acquitted on one of five counts, but that may not matter much for sentencing purposes.)

2. The parallel personal history. Like Lewis Libby, Victor Rita is an atypical federal defendant because of his career in government service. Rita served 24 years in the Marine Corps, had tours of duty in Vietnam and the first Gulf war, received over 35 military metals and awards. Libby's pre-conviction resume is (equally?) impressive. The federal guidelines do not provide any formal breaks for government service or prior good works. But, with Booker making the guidelines advisory, federal judges have more discretion to consider these matters at sentencing (though Rita's sentencing judge decided just to follow the guidelines).

Since Victor Rita's crimes seems, in context, to be less serious than Lewis Libby's crimes, I view Rita's 33-month sentence as a possible benchmark for Libby's sentence. Moreover, I have heard that Judge Walton has a reputation as a tough sentencing judge, and so Victor Rita's 33 month sentence might even be viewed as just a floor for considering Libby's fate.

This post is from March and the author was wrong in the fact that Libby would get more time, he got three months less. Yet Bush deemed the sentence was excessive. Wouldn't that mean that Mr. Rita's term was also a bit too much? Obviously he does not have the connections to the President....and that is really all that counts.

Fitzgerald Responds To Libby Commutation

Not surprisingly but extremely shocking news today came from the White House when Bush essentially pardoned Scooter Libby, saving him from jail time but not the fine and probation (for now). This is yet another sad day for the rule of law in America. Patrick Fitzgerald, the man that prosecuted Libby weighs in with a statement read by Keith Olbermann.