Comments on: Pardon scandal illustrates need for public notice adherence http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2012/01/20/pardon-scandal-illustrates-need-for-public-notice-adherence/ Your Inside Track to Arizona Politics Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:19:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Donna Leone Hamm http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2012/01/20/pardon-scandal-illustrates-need-for-public-notice-adherence/comment-page-1/#comment-70553 Donna Leone Hamm Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:04:33 +0000 http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2012/01/20/pardon-scandal-illustrates-need-for-public-notice-adherence/#comment-70553 The people of Arizona need not worry that something like mass-pardons-as-I-am-leaving-public-office will ever happen here. Arizona has a check and balance system. The Governor is not permitted to grant any sort of executive clemency action (including pardon, commutation of sentence, or reprieves) unless the action is first recommened to the Governor by a majority vote of the members of the Board of Executive Clemency. Likewise, the Board is not empowered to grant such exeutive clemency actions; instead, it can only recommend them to the Governor. There are some who feel the executive clemency process if fraught with politics and want to change the Arizona Constitution to allow the Board to make the final decisions in commutation of sentence matters. However, this could have unintendec consequences. If a Governor knew that his/her Board members held such powers, it would be more likely than not that ultra-conservative or ultra-liberal members -- depending upon the philosophy of the Governor -- would be appointed to such Boards. In the case of ultra-conservatives, it would be reasonable to assume that fewer commutations than are already granted by the Governor would be issued by the Board. In fact, the end result could be that none would be granted. So, the check and balance system has merit. The people of Arizona need not worry that something like mass-pardons-as-I-am-leaving-public-office will ever happen here. Arizona has a check and balance system. The Governor is not permitted to grant any sort of executive clemency action (including pardon, commutation of sentence, or reprieves) unless the action is first recommened to the Governor by a majority vote of the members of the Board of Executive Clemency. Likewise, the Board is not empowered to grant such exeutive clemency actions; instead, it can only recommend them to the Governor.

There are some who feel the executive clemency process if fraught with politics and want to change the Arizona Constitution to allow the Board to make the final decisions in commutation of sentence matters. However, this could have unintendec consequences. If a Governor knew that his/her Board members held such powers, it would be more likely than not that ultra-conservative or ultra-liberal members — depending upon the philosophy of the Governor — would be appointed to such Boards. In the case of ultra-conservatives, it would be reasonable to assume that fewer commutations than are already granted by the Governor would be issued by the Board. In fact, the end result could be that none would be granted.

So, the check and balance system has merit.

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