 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
President Bush
(December 2008)
The ethics verdict on the administration of George W. Bush will be harsh
indeed. But in his waning days in office, President Bush managed an act
of executive integrity that may be unprecedented. It conferred no political
advantage (it was barely reported on by the media) and occurred in a realm
— presidential pardons — where he has been historically (and
unmercifully) stingy. True to form, his action involved not giving a pardon,
rather than giving one. But he did the right thing, for no reason other
than the fact that it was the right thing. President Bush had granted a pardon to Brooklyn, N.Y. real estate developer
Isaac Robert Toussie, who had been convicted of mail fraud and of making
false statements to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. But
the President had not been informed that Toussies relatives contributed
more than $40,000 to Republicans before his clemency petition was filed
with the White House. When he learned of the contributions, Bush withdrew
the pardon that he had granted the day before.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said neither Bush nor White
House Counsel Fred Fielding were aware of the contributions to the GOP
from Toussies father and others until after the pardon had been granted.
” It raises the appearance of impropriety, Perino said, so the president
prudently decided not to go through with the pardon.”
Correctly so. The contributions combined with the pardon raise the specter
of an unethical quid pro quo. With the Governor of Illinois trying to
sell a U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, and bad memories of President
Clintons bought-and-paid-for pardon of fugitive Marc Rich as Clinton
was leaving office, Bush was right to hold himself to an unusually high
standard.
E-mail: ProEthics President
