Republicans love to point fingers at former President Bill Clinton for his truly awful presidential pardons, but now their boy President George W. Bush has had to reverse a pardon “that he granted the day before to a Brooklyn, N.Y., real estate developer, whose relatives contributed more than $40,000 to Republicans before his clemency petition was filed with the White House,” according to the Washington Post.
Isaac Robert Toussie “pleaded guilty to mail fraud and lying to HUD, admitting that he falsified finances of prospective home buyers seeking HUD mortgages, and was sentenced to five months in prison and five months’ house arrest in July 2003. The New York Daily News also noted that hundreds of former customers filed a federal lawsuit against Toussie, accusing him of luring poor, minority home buyers into agreeing to overpriced mortgages with hidden costs.”
Why in the world would Bush pardon a creep like Toussie? Well, check this out – “Federal election records show $37,700 in donations to Republicans this year by Toussie’s father, developer Robert Toussie, including a $28,500 donation in April to the presidential campaign of (R-Ariz.). The elder Toussie’s wife, Laura, also gave $2,300 each to GOP of Minnesota and of Oregon, records show.”
Bush later claimed that he didn’t know about the contributions. How lame is that? And it turns out that “Toussie is represented by Washington defense attorney Bradford A. Berenson, who served as an associate White House counsel under Bush from 2001 to 2003.”
Bush, like Clinton, has made a mockery of the presidential pardon process. He cannot leave the White House soon enough!
Art,
Do you think that Pres. Bush should pardon Ramos & Compean?
http://ramos-compean.blogspot.com/
junior,
I do! I have always thought they were run up the river…yet another failure by Bush.
Ramos and Compean were convicted by a jury of their peers…in TEXAS no less! If a Texas jury couldn’t find them innocent, then no jury could.
Do the crime, you do the time.
It is awesome that President Bush rectified his “mistake” and,did not do what CLINTON DID, the pardon to his friend Rich for evasion of taxes!!!!!!!!.GOOD FOR BUSH!.