By Mike Huckabee
Monday, December 7, 2009 2:22 PM

The nation was stunned by the senseless and savage cold-blooded murders of four young police officers in Lakewood, Wash., over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Whenever a police officer or soldier is killed, the loss is even more profound, for they are the ones who stand between our way of life and total anarchy.

Nine years ago, the name Maurice Clemmons crossed my desk. I commuted his sentence from 108 years to 47 years. I take full responsibility for my actions of nine years ago. I acted on the facts presented to me in 2000. If I could have possibly known what Clemmons would do nine years later, I obviously would have made a different decision. If I only had the same information I had then, I would make the same decision.

Each state is different, but in Arkansas, a governor doesn't initiate a parole -- the Post Prison Transfer Board (PPTB) does so after it conducts a thorough review of an inmate's file and request. The board then makes a recommendation to the governor, who decides to grant or deny it.

If the decision is made to grant any form of clemency (the broad term for a commutation or a full pardon), the governor gives notice of intent, and the file is sent to the prosecutor, judge, law enforcement officials, the attorney general and the secretary of state, as well as to the news media. A period of 30 days is allotted for these officials and the public to weigh in, at which point the final decision is rendered.

Despite news reports, no objections were raised during the 30-day response period for this case. In fact, only letters of support for Clemmons' commutation were received, including one from the circuit judge.

Between 1,000 and 1,200 requests for some form of clemency came to my desk each and every year of the 10 and a half years I was governor. An overwhelming majority of the time, I denied the requests. When I did grant them, it was based on the recommendations of all five of the members of the PPTB, with consideration given to input from public officials and my own personal review of each and every file.

Maurice Clemmons was 16 years old when he committed the crimes of burglary and robbery. He was sentenced to a total of 108 years in prison, dramatically outside the norm for sentencing for the crimes he committed and the age at which he committed them.

In 2000, the PPTB unanimously recommended that his sentence be commuted after he had already served 11 years in prison. As per the recommendation, I commuted his sentence to the term of 47 years (still a long sentence in comparison to others for the type of crime he had committed), making him parole eligible. It did not parole him, as governors do not have that power in Arkansas. He would have to separately apply for parole and meet the criteria for it.

Three months after the commutation, Clemmons met the criteria for parole and was paroled to supervision in late 2000. When he violated the terms of his parole, he was returned to prison and should have remained behind bars. For reasons only the prosecutor can explain, he ended up dropping the charges, allowing Clemmons to leave prison and return to supervised parole.

Clemmons moved to his native Washington State and engaged in intermittent criminal activity that increased in violence and frequency. He was arrested on charges of raping a child, yet was allowed to post bail in Washington. While out on bail, he committed the unspeakable acts of murdering four valiant police officers.

I can't explain why he wasn't prosecuted properly for the parole violations, or why he was allowed to make bail in Washington and was not incarcerated earlier for crimes committed there. I take responsibility for my actions, but not for the actions of others, nor for the misinformed words of commentators.

The two professions I value most in our society are soldiers and police officers, with firemen and schoolteachers right behind. The death of the four officers in Lakewood should never have happened. I wish Maurice Clemmons' file had never crossed my desk. But it did. The decision I made is one I now wish could have been made with a view into the future. That decision would have been different.

None of this is of any comfort to the families of these police officers, nor should it be. Their loss is senseless. No words or deeds by anyone will bring them back to their loved ones. Our system is not perfect, and neither are those responsible for administering it. The system and those of us who are supposed to make sure it works sometimes get it wrong. In this case, we clearly did.

Mike Huckabee was governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007.

© 2009 Creators Syndicate.

 Congressional and Senatorial leaders are supposedly trying to bring down out-of-control costs of health care. It is strange to me that I haven’t heard more about the actual, every-day costs for services being charged by providers, all of whom are contributing to the soaring increases in health care costs we are dealing with today. Has anyone ever considered commissioning a team of professionals from the best business management companies in the nation to study the health care industry, and make recommendations to Congress on what they might realistically do to improve things? For instance, recommend realistic and reasonable charges for services?

Since providers of health services are ‘private sector’ entrepreneurs, I’m not sure what control Government has over them, in terms of what they can charge, but certainly the Congress can control what Medicare and Medicaid will pay for services to patients they are responsible for. In my opinion, these agencies have been much too liberal, and probably are partly responsible for increasing the standard for fees and charges of many medical services over the years. If this were not so, bills would not have risen to the point of absolute absurdity that we find them today.

Can anyone truly legitimize a cost of almost $6000 for five hours in an emergency room, most of which was waiting for results of four tests?   Patient went to emergency room on advice of her physician for a simple Electrocardiogram, because she had a ‘strange’ sensation in her chest. She needed to know if she was having a heart attack, or if the EKG indicated any legitimate need for additional testing. The administering technician informed her that the EKG ‘looked’ normal. (EKG 5minutes $482) The ER physician then claimed to see a ‘minor’ anomaly that warranted additional testing: Chest X-Ray 10minutes $241, three or four vials of blood drawn for lab analysis $1311, CT Scan 20minutes $2185, Emergency Room Fee $1307, Drugs Administered in Emergency Room $258, ER Physician Fee $987-Total Charges $6,771!

The example above was real, recent, and it was a Medicare/Advantra patient. Had the hospital involved not expected payment from Medicare somewhere close to the amount billed, or even 60% of the amount, I’m sure they would not have billed it. Two points: First, the charges were over the top excessive, and second, once the EKG indicated no heart attack, the tests, according to a highly regarded cardiologist, were inappropriate. In today’s medicine, and given the age and condition of the patient, a heart catheterization was the surest way to diagnose and determine care for her. Eventually, this procedure was used, revealing a blockage that was corrected by installation of a stint. Had the patient started with this Cardiologist to begin with, Medicare would have been spared the first $5700 for tests that were questionable at best and probably unnecessary.

1deciple

The Economic Recovery Act passed by the Congress today is going to become known as Obama’s Boondoggle!  It almost robs me of the pride of being an American when I see so many of our elected representatives in Washington cave to special interests, "big money" lobbyists and other political pressure to pass a bill none of them had read, thoroughly. They listened to all the ‘pie in the sky’ promises of an almost Utopian future that could be expected to result from passage, and turned a deaf ear to wiser heads, thirteen of whom were courageous and more principled Democrats who warned of the dangers of this bill, and tried valiantly to get the ‘majority’ to consider a better alternative. I commend those sensible members of Congress who opposed this bill, for their courage and patriotism. They acted responsibly and, hopefully, will be rewarded with reelection when their terms are up.

I am grateful to ESPN for their live coverage, and am deeply regretful that all Americans didn’t have the opportunity to hear all the   debate this bill received. It is a sad day for America and will prove to be an even sadder day at reelection time for those       Congressional representatives and Senators who share responsibility for passage of this ‘monstrosity’ ‘Spendulous’ package.   It will serve them right when they are voted out of office. They had a chance to perform a wonderful service for their constituencies and for all America, and they blew it. Before this year is over, my Countrymen and women are going to be asking themselves, “What have they done to us?! Change? What change?"   This was politics as usual and at its shameful worst.

1deciple