Mike Huckabee governed against the grain
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/5398615.html
Against the political advice of his party and his aides, he pardoned or commuted the sentences of hundreds of convicts, including murderers, sometimes over the heated objections of prosecutors and victims.
Months after being sworn in, Huckabee announced his intention to cut Dumond’s prison sentence, prompting furious public protests from Dumond’s victim and from prosecutors.
As it turned out, Huckabee did not grant clemency to Dumond; the state Parole Board released him instead, and several former members of the board have since told reporters that they acted under pressure from Huckabee, a charge he has repeatedly denied.
There were several other cases of convicts who won clemency from Huckabee and then went on to commit more crimes, including Wade Stewart, whose life sentence for murder was commuted in 2004. Stewart was arrested this year, charged with carrying a concealed revolver. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette found that nearly one in 10 who received clemency from Huckabee were later sentenced to prison. Huckabee eventually did bend, if slightly, to criticism and scrutiny. He proved less willing to grant clemency in his second term, especially for violent offenses.
I've seen a few of these articles, and they don't provide any of the data about the cases. Some of the falsely claim that Huckabee granted a pardon to DuMond.
How many were pardons, and how many were other forms of clemency (reduction of sentence, etc.)?
Who got pardons and clemencies? A list should be produced, giving their names, the crime they committed, the date of the offense, any subsequent arrests after the clemency, etc.
When that data becomes available, it will be possible to make an informed judgement on Huckabee's record.
At least one of the pardons - for Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards - was for a long-forgotten offense. How many of the other pardons were of a similar nature? Some of the pardons may have been intended to allow former felons to own firearms and go hunting again.