A Son’s Past Deeds Come Back To Bite Huckabee

NEWSWEEK ^ | Dec 15, 2007 | Michael Isikoff and Holly Bailey

[Aristotelian]

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. It also prompted the local prosecuting attorney— bombarded with complaints generated by a national animal-rights group—to write a letter to the Arkansas state police seeking help investigating whether David and another teenager had violated state animal-cruelty laws.

The state police never granted the request, and 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.

Bailey, a career officer who had been appointed chief by Huckabee's Democratic predecessor, said he viewed the lawyer's intervention as improper and terminated the conversation. Seven months later, he was called into Huckabee's office and fired.

"I've lost confidence in your ability to do your job," Bailey says Huckabee told him. One reason Huckabee cited was "I couldn't get you to help me with my son when I had that problem," according to Bailey.

"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.

[Barney Gumble]

April of this year, he was arrested—and paid a fine—when he forgot to remove a loaded gun from his carry-on luggage at Little Rock airport.

How do you forget? When do you put a gun in a carry-on luggage anyway? Was he using carry-on luggage on a camping trip? Then the luggage sat around your house with the gun in it until you decided to fly? He sounds very irresponsible.

[steve-b]

this particular piece is about his son, not about Huck

It is very much about the Huckster, unless he can refute the evidence that he used his influence to get his son off the hook.

[skeptoid]

LOL

.... "if Roger Clinton ate Billy Carter". .. ....(at the Picture Source)

[Gator113]

No doubt this will come done to what the meaning of “hanging” is, is.

What a disgusting and demented little pig. The Prickster ain’t going to ever get this stink off of his boot.

I happen to be a dog lover, the kind that would sooner see this kids life completely destroyed, than allow him a chance to kill another innocent dog. I only wish he had tried it with one of my dogs, they would have removed his fat throat.

Mark my word, someday you’re going to see that freaks face in another photo——with a booking number at the bottom, and it wont be for killing a dog.

[af_vet_rr]

This has got to be fake, right? The son is clearly an idiot (”forgetting” a gun in his carry-on - you or I would be in deep doo-doo, he wasn’t), but I can’t see any sane person killing a dog like that. I don’t like Huckabee, and while his son and some of the things he’s done for him really makes me wonder, Huckabee’s got much worse baggage than this.

[Mears]

“I guess I will find out in a few years!”

---

You sure will,I did.My five were close in age so I actually had them all in their teens for a couple of years. Just remember,never,ever say “”No child of mine would behave that way”.

They were fun years,though——enjoy them.

[Gator113]

done=down

I don’t do well with red in my eyes.

[Aristotelian]

[VOA]

I sure hope GOP primary voters are paying attention to all the dirt
coming out about the Huckster.

I hope they aren't.

All they need to know to cast an intelligent vote is to look
at Mike Huckabee's record in Arkansas, in toto.

Static about his son is just a distraction from Huckabee's
outstanding record as a advocate for illegal immigrants.

[VOA]

And he looks more like he should be Giuliani's kid, LOL!

Thanks for the photos.
I think I now know how Mick Huckabee REALLY lost all that weight.

Huckabee must have been such a close match with his son that he donated
his fat for transplatation into his son!
(/joking)

[ReignOfError]

It’s not the crime. It’s the cover-up.

Ya gotta wonder when politicians will learn that simple lesson.

Jeb Bush didn't lose any political ground when his daughter got into trouble -- because he didn't interfere, and she stood up and faced the music.

[VOA]

Uday Huckabee

Dear heavens...I hope the Secret Service doesn't arrest people
for laughing at the family/friends of legitimate contenders for
the offices of President/VP.

Otherwise, I may be headed directly to jail!

[GovernmentIsTheProblem]

” Dude, seriously...let’s not go there.”

People who torture animals have serious mental problems.

[af_vet_rr]

We don't need to bring up the wrongs done by his family members. . .particularly wrongs done when they were kids.

I have to step in and say 17 is not some little kid. If you raised your kid right, at 17 they'd know that murdering dogs is a no-no. At 17, they are old enough to enlist with your permission, and are a year away from doing it on their own.

This isn't some little 10 year old or 12 year old who maybe slow on grasping the difference between right or wrong (and even then, murdering animals like that is a clear sign that there is something going on in the kid's head that's not right).

But this particular piece is about his son, not about Huck.

If this is true, and this is the head of the Arkansas State Police, among others making the claim, and if Huckabee tried to intervene on his son's behalf, then this is all about Huckabee. I don't even care if it's his son (although he does raise questions where he got the idiea that this was an okay thing to do). If it was anybody that murdered a dog like that, and Huckabee tried to get them off the hook, then this needs to get out, and people need to know about this, because this is no better than Bill Clinton.

I like to think Republicans have higher standards than the dems and that we hold people responsible for their actions, not try and get them off the hook...

[VOA]

It’s not the crime. It’s the cover-up.

Numbers 32:23 (King James Version)

23 But if ye will not do so, behold,
ye have sinned against the LORD:
and be sure your sin will find you out.

You'd think the last phrase of that verse would be a guidepost
for politicians. Especially one that has been a preacher (Huckabee).
Even if the "sin" is now being found out via secular channels.

[KarenMarie]

First of all 17 years old is not a kid. Secondly, we are not talking about breaking a window. We are talking about murdering an animal.

Thirdly, how can this NOT be a reflection of the Huckster’s parenting skills? I think how he parents tells a lot about him as a person.

Finally, he is being accused of using his power to cover it all up.

And what does Huckerbee have to say to all of this?

[ReignOfError]

It is very much about the Huckster, unless he can refute the evidence that he used his influence to get his son off the hook.

Evidence will have to be presented before it can be refuted. All the article cites is an uncorroborated statement from a guy Huck fired.

[af_vet_rr]

Jeb Bush didn't lose any political ground when his daughter got into trouble -- because he didn't interfere, and she stood up and faced the music.

I'm not a fan of the Bushes, but I and a lot of others gave Jeb credit for letting his daughter take responsibility for her own actions. A democrat in Florida might have tried to cover it up.

[Harrius Magnus]

"...just strikes me as petty nit-picking."

BOY SCOUTS KILL DOG!

ACTION NEEDED: DEMAND INVESTIGATION

(Miller County, Arkansas) Two boy scout counselors, 17 year old Clayton Frady and 18 year old David litickabee, the son of Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, have admitted to catching a stray dog during their summer session at Camp Pioneer in Hatfield, AR, and hanging the dog by his neck, slitting his throat and stoning him to death.

Camp officials, who did not report the crime to law enforcement officials, have admitted that the act did occur and have fired the boys from their positions. However, no charges have been filed against the young men.

Arkansas State Police conducted a perfunctory investigation, but did not attempt to locate witnesses to the crime.

http://www.utopiarescue.com/oldsite/stop_animal_torture.htm

[KeyLargo]

“LOL, the anti-Hucksters are in full force......”

Yes, I have my reservations about this candidate, but the acts of a 17 year-old male should generally not be held against a parent.