Hillary’s Felonious Friends in Virginia

 

Clinton McAuliffeTerry McAuliffe is a Hillary Clinton pal. He fronted $1.3 million for her house in Chappaqua. We should all have such friends. Thanks to the Republicans who shut down the government in 2013, McAuliffe is now the governor of Virginia, a swing state, and thus in a position to help Mrs. Clinton get another house – on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Any governor has political strings to pull, but Governor McAuliffe is going beyond sharing voter information, get out the vote operations, and other traditional political tools. He’s creating new voters by unilaterally restoring voting rights to 206,000 convicted felons. McAuliffe is focused on this: In 2012, Barack Obama’s margin of victory in Virginia was 3.88 percent, which represented 149,298 votes.

Now, it may or may not be good idea permanently to deny felons the right to vote, serve on juries, hold public office, or serve as notary publics. I’m personally open to the idea of restoring rights to ex-felons. But the law in the state of Virginia is very clear. The elected representatives have declined to change it, though some 69 resolutions to that effect have been offered since the 1980s, one as recently as this year. None passed the General Assembly.

Governor McAuliffe could have used all of the legitimate powers of his office along with his persuasive ability, such as it is, to urge the legislature to pass a bill he could sign. Instead, with the stroke of a pen, he announced that he was granting clemency to a whole class of people.

We’re focused, during this campaign, on the ethical sewer that is the Democratic nominee, but it’s worth recalling that President Obama paved this road. He may not have been for sale in the Clinton style, but he has done something perhaps more sinister in the long run: He has demonstrated that a president can flout the law and pay no price. Remember the moral of Watergate – “the system worked”? Well, it didn’t work in Obama’s case. Though ultimately thwarted by the Supreme Court in some cases, he attempted unilaterally to alter immigration law, environmental law, civil rights law, and much more, especially his own health law. For the most part, he was successful.

The Washington Post’s reporting notes that McAuliffe’s action was popular, with 61 percent of respondents expressing support. What difference does this make to the law? If we’re going to have government by plebiscite, let’s repeal the Constitution and do everything by Survey Monkey.

The Virginia Supreme Court issued a rebuke to McAuliffe that should have settled the matter. It didn’t, which we’ll get to. But here’s a taste of the reproof the court offered:

Scores of restoration orders have been issued for more than a century to specific felons who requested that their civil rights be restored. Never before, however, have any of the prior 71 Virginia Governors issued a sua sponte clemency order of any kind, whether to restore civil rights or grant a pardon, to an entire class of unnamed felons without regard for the nature of the crimes or any other individual circumstances relevant to the request. What is more, we are aware of no point in the history of the Commonwealth that any Governor has even asserted the power to issue such an order.

Former Governor, now vice-presidential candidate, Tim Kaine was asked to do what McAuliffe has done, but decided that a “blanket order restoring the voting rights of everyone would be a rewrite of the law rather than a contemplated use of the executive clemency powers.” Citing his obligations under the Virginia Constitution, he declined.

All prior governors, the court noted, had exercised their power to grant reprieves, pardons, commutations, and rights restorations, on a case-by-case basis. This was consistent with the “cautious approach to any expansions of executive power” the court enforces, and “faithful to the belief that the concerns motivating the original framers in 1776 still survive in Virginia.”

The court ordered state officials to remove from the voting rolls the felons McAuliffe had restored and to keep careful records.

Pretty definitive? Except Gov. McAuliffe is defying the court. On August 22, he announced that 13,000 felons had been added back. So: between July 22, when the court ruling was announced, and August 22, McAuliffe personally evaluated 13,000 cases? No. He doesn’t even claim that. The only change from his previous executive order was the addition of a letter to each ex-offender, and McAuliffe has declared his intention to do the same for the rest.

It may not make any difference to the 2016 election (which is not looking close), but it does undermine the rule of law in a flagrant and disgraceful way.

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  1. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Mona Charen: Thanks to the Republicans who shut down the government in 2013, McAuliffe is now the governor of Virginia, a swing state, and thus in a position to help Mrs. Clinton get another house – on Pennsylvania Avenue.

    No.  This is thanks to the establishment Republicans who withheld support from Cuccinelli, McAuliffe’s Republican opponent.  Get it right, Mona.

    • #1
  2. Petty Boozswha Inactive
    Petty Boozswha
    @PettyBoozswha

    The only thin reed of hope I have for our Republic in the intermediate term is that Hillary gets impeached and maybe Tim Kaine might try to restore some civility to our politics.

    • #2
  3. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    The Left shares the idea of its own entitlement with those they purport to aid. Declare it, and it shall be done. The problem is, Obama has set the example of doing all kinds of things without consequences. So McAuliffe says, why not?

    • #3
  4. Z in MT Member
    Z in MT
    @ZinMT

    Basil Fawlty:

    Mona Charen: Thanks to the Republicans who shut down the government in 2013, McAuliffe is now the governor of Virginia, a swing state, and thus in a position to help Mrs. Clinton get another house – on Pennsylvania Avenue.

    No. This is thanks to the establishment Republicans who withheld support from Cuccinelli, McAuliffe’s Republican opponent. Get it right, Mona.

    Hear, Hear.

    • #4
  5. Sandy Member
    Sandy
    @Sandy

    Basil Fawlty:

    Mona Charen: Thanks to the Republicans who shut down the government in 2013, McAuliffe is now the governor of Virginia, a swing state, and thus in a position to help Mrs. Clinton get another house – on Pennsylvania Avenue.

    No. This is thanks to the establishment Republicans who withheld support from Cuccinelli, McAuliffe’s Republican opponent. Get it right, Mona.

    My first thought, too.  That was insulting.

    • #5
  6. HVTs Inactive
    HVTs
    @HVTs

    Sandy:

    Basil Fawlty:

    Mona Charen: Thanks to the Republicans who shut down the government in 2013, McAuliffe is now the governor of Virginia, a swing state, and thus in a position to help Mrs. Clinton get another house – on Pennsylvania Avenue.

    No. This is thanks to the establishment Republicans who withheld support from Cuccinelli, McAuliffe’s Republican opponent. Get it right, Mona.

    My first thought, too. That was insulting.

    That shut-down government meant several hundreds of thousands of Ms. Charen’s overpaid neighbors suffered the indignity of drawing full pay to stay home . . . you know, the kind of horror millions of Americans suffer through all the time . . . oh, wait . . . the rest of America wishes they too could sing those Beltway Blues.

    • #6
  7. Polyphemus Inactive
    Polyphemus
    @Polyphemus

    Sandy:

    Basil Fawlty:

    Mona Charen: Thanks to the Republicans who shut down the government in 2013, McAuliffe is now the governor of Virginia, a swing state, and thus in a position to help Mrs. Clinton get another house – on Pennsylvania Avenue.

    No. This is thanks to the establishment Republicans who withheld support from Cuccinelli, McAuliffe’s Republican opponent. Get it right, Mona.

    My first thought, too. That was insulting.

    I hate to pile on but I agree that leading with that snide mischaracterization poisoned the well for me reading this article. Sorry, Mona. I saw petty insult followed by wall-of-text. Moving on. I’m too busy.

    • #7
  8. HVTs Inactive
    HVTs
    @HVTs

    Polyphemus: I hate to pile on but I agree that leading with that snide mischaracterization poisoned the well for me reading this article. Sorry, Mona. I saw petty insult followed by wall-of-text. Moving on. I’m too busy.

    So, the difference is that when one lives inside the beltway long enough it’s no longer a petty matter should the Federocracy be inconvenienced.  Goodness . . . hair appointments had to be changed, and a pet grooming was cancelled!!  The disruption was just heartbreaking!

    • #8
  9. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    The GOP Establishment strikes again. It’s hard to know which is more disgusting, Hillary and her friends, or the GOPe.

    • #9
  10. Marion Evans Inactive
    Marion Evans
    @MarionEvans

    McAuliffe is always smiling. That’s indecent. Corrupt pols should be dour and frowning.

    • #10
  11. Kofola Inactive
    Kofola
    @Kofola

    I see that Ted Cruz is still firmly jammed up into Mrs. Charen’s craw.

    • #11
  12. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Kofola:I see that Ted Cruz is still firmly jammed up into Mrs. Charen’s craw.

    Not the Craw — The Craw!

    • #12
  13. Austin Murrey Inactive
    Austin Murrey
    @AustinMurrey

    Polyphemus:

    Sandy:

    Basil Fawlty:

    Mona Charen: Thanks to the Republicans who shut down the government in 2013, McAuliffe is now the governor of Virginia, a swing state, and thus in a position to help Mrs. Clinton get another house – on Pennsylvania Avenue.

    No. This is thanks to the establishment Republicans who withheld support from Cuccinelli, McAuliffe’s Republican opponent. Get it right, Mona.

    My first thought, too. That was insulting.

    I hate to pile on but I agree that leading with that snide mischaracterization poisoned the well for me reading this article. Sorry, Mona. I saw petty insult followed by wall-of-text. Moving on. I’m too busy.

    Don’t feel bad, that’s Mona’s modus operandi.

    Like all mediocre thinkers she’s flabbergasted that people can reach a different conclusion than she does.

    • #13
  14. Dustoff Inactive
    Dustoff
    @Dustoff

    Basil Fawlty:

    Kofola:I see that Ted Cruz is still firmly jammed up into Mrs. Charen’s craw.

    Not the Craw — The Craw!

    Ha!

    • #14
  15. Bill Nelson Inactive
    Bill Nelson
    @BillNelson

    Mona Charen: Thanks to the Republicans who shut down the government in 2013,

    Odd, but I thought it was the Democrats, specifically, Pres. Obama, who shut down the government in 2013 by not working to solve our fiscal problems and desiring to continue to expand the deficit.

    • #15
  16. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    Anyone here thinks Mona or any other contributors read any of these comments by the members? Perhaps there should be a way to make this a requirement when one gets the high honor of this readership.

    • #16
  17. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Bob Thompson:Anyone here thinks Mona or any other contributors read any of these comments by the members? Perhaps there should be a way to make this a requirement when one gets the high honor of this readership.

    No. I like it when they do read and respond to comments, but you would lose some contributors that way, and I wouldn’t blame them.

    • #17
  18. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Bill Nelson:

    Mona Charen: Thanks to the Republicans who shut down the government in 2013,

    Odd, but I thought it was the Democrats, specifically, Pres. Obama, who shut down the government in 2013 by not working to solve our fiscal problems and desiring to continue to expand the deficit.

    You must not be GOPe if you think and talk that way.

    • #18
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