Arkansas Governor Makes Most Of His Final Days In Office, Pardons Son For Pot Conviction

SteveHolt11 years ago

Outgoing Arkansas governor Mike Beebe is capitalizing on his final days in office, using his power and influence to pardon his own son’s marijuana conviction from 2003.

This blatant abuse of power would be funny if Beebe was trying to be shady and keep it out of the public spectrum, but he isn’t. Beebe is open about his intention to remove the small pot-blemish from his son’s record. He says his son, who is now 34, has learned from his mistakes.

From Politico:

“I would have done it a long time ago if he’d have asked, but he took his sweet time about asking. He was embarrassed. He’s still embarrassed, and frankly, I was embarrassed and his mother was embarrassed,” Beebe told KATV, ABC’s affiliate in Little Rock on Wednesday.

Beebe’s son, Kyle, was charged 11 years ago with possession of a controlled substance, marijuana, with intent to deliver, and he was sentenced to three years probation and fined. He wrote a lengthy pardon application to his father, who probably responded with something like:

“Aw, you didn’t have to do this. This is for normals. You’re a politician’s son.”

Beebe, a Democrat who definitely toked at some point in his life, pardoned more than 700 nonviolent crimes during his tenure as governor, which spans the last eight years.

“Kids when they’re young do stupid stuff. He was no different,” said Beebe, who noted that he’s issued more than 700 pardons during his tenure. “Especially young people with drugs if they’ve straightened up, to get their life back on track and have a second chance, so this is no different. It’s different because it’s my son.”

Beebe is a cool dad..

[via Politico]

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