Posted on 12/15/2007 2:20:04 PM PST by Choose Ye This Day
As Mike Huckabee gains in the polls, the former Arkansas governor is finding that his record in office is getting more scrutiny. One issue likely to get attention is his handling of a sensitive family matter: allegations that one of his sons was involved in the hanging of a stray dog at a Boy Scout camp in 1998. The incident led to the dismissal of David Huckabee, then 17, from his job as a counselor at Camp Pioneer in Hatfield, Ark.
< snip > ... no charges were ever filed. But John Bailey, then the director of Arkansas's state police, tells NEWSWEEK that Governor Huckabee's chief of staff and personal lawyer both leaned on him to write a letter officially denying the local prosecutor's request.
< snip > "Without question, [Huckabee] was making a conscious attempt to keep the state police from investigating his son," says I. C. Smith, the former FBI chief in Little Rock, who worked closely with Bailey and called him a "courageous" and "very solid" professional
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Wrong, and you know it. So you’d give a pass to any father covered up evidence, provided an alibi for, etc., etc., to protect his offspring?
I don’t believe you...
That his son lost his job is more than sufficient punishment.
“This fine Christian pastor can’t even rear his own son to be a responsible citizen, “
This is what a fine, and powerful Mormon religious leader did to his own pet (which survived), what Mitt Romney did to that animal was his own bizarre sick doings, not his son’s.
“The white Chevy station wagon with the wood paneling was overstuffed with suitcases, supplies, and sons when Mitt Romney climbed behind the wheel to begin the annual 12-hour family trek from Boston to Ontario.”
“Tagg Romney commandeered the way-back of the wagon, keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, where he glimpsed the first sign of trouble. ‘’Dad!’’ he yelled. ‘’Gross!’’ A brown liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an Irish setter who’d been riding
on the roof in the wind for hours.
As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust, Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There, he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, then hopped back onto the highway. It was a tiny preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: emotion-free crisis management.”
“but Hillary’s fingerprints are all over this.”
If they are, she did us a favor.
The dog is one dead puppy, and, you, my friend, are
ONE SICK PUPPY!
That is the kind of thing that should be dealt with by one's family and result in one being grounded or receiving a similar punishment.
If the dog belonged so someone, the child and his family should be sued and forced make restitution.
That's what should happen rather than having government involved in the matter.
It’s uncanny to me that so many gifted public men have some psychopathic deed in their or their children’s past. Mexico’s Salinas de Gortari, King Juan Carlos, others.
If I had been unfairly fired, I would have immediately filed a lawsuit and made an issue of it immediately. Is there any evidence Bailey did any of that? If not, he doesn’t have a lot of credibility.
Now if the son came to politician dad and told him what he did, it is a family matter and politician dad should handle it in house.
If the story was just about a stupid son, ok, kinda like Al Gores son smokes pot. It really doesn't reflect that badly on Gore. If Gore however uses his office (when he had it) to stop an investigation into his sons illegal actions he should be impeached. Why should a politicians son be above the law because he's connected.
As far as this coming out, I am for all skeletons coming out now rather after the nomination. If a candidate can walk through the fire and come out clean on the other side he should do well in the general election.
Yikes, that is gross, I could not imagine my 16 year old son doing that, but maybe it was a bunch of kids putting pressure on each other to do it.
I hope.
This is way a below the belt smear, old, and an offspring of the accused. Sounds very familiar. I wonder which candidate has no agenda at all and can only survive/destroy herself through smear?
Hate the sin, love the sinner...
Huckelberry could have pardoned his son. I could live with that. The truth is he didn’t do it to protect his son, he did it to protect himself from the embarrassment.
Just find an old picture of daddy.
The article does not suggest or provide evidence that suggests that Huckabee’s son tortured the dog. The father of his accomplice and the camp director assert in the closing paragraph that the dog in question apparently was very sick. Killing very sick animals unlikely to benefit from affordable veterinary care apparently is considered a common act of mercy. It is possible to perform a hanging rather quickly while inflicting little additional pain, and some states permit hanging as a method of execution for convicts.
Animal cruelty apparently constitutes a misdemeanor in Arkansas, so investigation and prosecution probably aren’t particularly commonplace. If you want to make animal cruelty a felony, then you should take that position to the state legislature. The article does mention that a previous Democratic governor appointed state police chief Bailey, so Huckabee probably already had other reasons to terminate him. In the article, only police chief Baily suggests that his termination relates to the dog execution, and he has more than one reason for a political vendetta.
If you take the time to read the article, you quickly find that this incident probably is inconsequential. It might lead ultimately to some more serious problems, but how clean are the other candidates’ families? If you dig enough, then you can find sins against anyone.
“I could care less about anything Huckabee’s son has done.”
The story is about Huckabee corruptly using his position as Governor to protect his son from justice. It’s a very serious charge
The problem is, Huckabee shut down the investigation before the facts could be fully developed.
That poor dog must have gotten so cold.
You have put the cart in front of the donkey. Deals are made with prosecutors all the time. However, Papa Huckabee obstructed an investigation via intimidation and retribution toward LEO.
Your coldness toward a deviant killing is another matter entirely.
If my kid did something like this, his father and I would take him to the police station OURSELVES.
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