Romney: No Pardons for Nobodies

When he was 13 years old, Anthony Circosta shot another kid in the arm with a BB gun, which was not a nice thing to do.

And even though Circosta's shot did not break the kid's skin, Circosta was convicted of assault.

Which did not matter much as Circosta worked his way through college, joined the Army National Guard, went to Iraq and led a platoon of soldiers in the Sunni Triangle.

In 2005, while still in Iraq, Circosta petitioned then-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for a pardon so that Circosta could become a police officer when he returned home. And the state Board of Pardons recommended that Circosta receive that pardon.

But Romney refused. Twice.

This has confused and upset Circosta, who clearly does not understand how politics work in this country.

"I've done everything I can to give back to my state and my community and my country, and to get brushed aside is very frustrating," Circosta, 29, told a reporter recently. Circosta now works as a project manager for a disaster restoration company in Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife, Danielle, and 2-year-old daughter, Kylie.

It is not as if Circosta is some serious, unrepentant criminal like, well, like Scooter Libby, for instance, whom Romney says he might pardon if Romney ever reaches the Oval Office.

Romney says he had a standard when it came to handing out pardons as governor: He didn't want to overturn jury verdicts. And so he never granted a single pardon in his four years in office, a fact he is enormously proud of today and repeatedly raises in his speeches.

But Romney's standard is flexible when it comes to Libby, who was Dick Cheney's chief of staff and whose cause has been taken up by the conservative Republican establishment.

And Romney's true standard seems to be: No pardons for nobodies. Somebodies can catch a break.

The Circosta case was first reported by Steve LeBlanc of The Associated Press. On Monday, I talked to Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom, who said: "Briefly, the charge was felony assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Our executive clemency guidelines discouraged pardons for felony firearm offenses if the purpose of the pardon was to obtain a license to carry.

There were many people other than Mr. Circosta in the same boat, and we applied the rule even-handedly to all of them."

But the point of a pardon system, I would think, would be to examine each case individually and take into account that a kid who shot a BB gun, who grew up and went to Iraq and was allowed "a license to carry" a rifle on behalf of his country, might be allowed to become a cop and carry a gun on behalf of protecting the citizens of Massachusetts.

Given Romney's desire to "even-handedly" decide such cases, however, what makes Scooter Libby different? This was not a kid with a BB gun, this was a case about who leaked the name of Valerie Plame, a CIA operative, to the news media and who lied about it.

Romney provided part of the answer on June 5 at a Republican debate in Manchester, N.H., in which CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked the candidates, "Would you pardon Scooter Libby?"

Romney replied: "This is one of those situations where I go back to my record as governor. I didn't pardon anybody as governor because I didn't want to overturn a jury. But in this case, you have a prosecutor who clearly abused prosecutorial discretion by going after somebody when he already knew that the source of the leak was Richard Armitage. He'd been told that. So he went on a political vendetta."

"Was that a yes?" Blitzer asked.

"It's worth looking at that," Romney said. "I will study it very closely if I'm lucky enough to be president. And I'd keep that option open."

So even though it would involve overturning a jury verdict — which is what Romney says was his standard as governor — he would consider pardoning Libby, convicted by a jury of two counts of perjury, one count of obstructing justice and one count of making false statements to a federal investigator.

Which sounds a lot more serious to me than one kid shooting another kid with a BB gun.

"I understand the political side, but I don't see in any way how it could hurt the campaign," Circosta said. "I'm decorated. I have a Bronze Star. I guess he just didn't want to sign it. It's obviously politically motivated, and I don't know why."

If Mitt Romney becomes president and wants to pardon Scooter Libby, I say fine. Just as long as Romney also pardons Anthony Circosta.

Because, every now and then, the nobodies deserves a break, too.

To find out more about Roger Simon, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2007, CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.