Posted on 12/17/2007 1:46:43 PM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Sounds like Huck’s got a son that’s Islamic.
You didn’t read the whole article.
“There’s plenty of things we can say about Huck’s positions on the issues. We don’t need to bring up the wrongs done by his family members. . .particularly wrongs done when they were kids.”
Sorry but even kids shouldnt get a pass when they do what he did to that dog. As for this being about Huck’s son and not Huck: Sorry again...
This is about Hucks cover and coverup of the event. His son never faced any legal consequences because Daddy made it so.
And that folks is where the problem lies.
However, I can't condone this kind of attack. You're going to attack a candidate because what his son did at a boyscout camp to a dog? Strikes me as rather nasty. This kind of attack is only going to help the Huckster in Iowa; people are going to assume his opponents put it out, which in turn makes them look sleazy.
We ought to be focusing on his record. Between his high spending, high taxing ways, to his giving clemency to any murder who shouted "Jesus," to his corruption, there's plenty of legitimate things upon which to attack him. His son hurting a dog is not one of them.
(Sorry, no links)
Huckabee son packs pistol — Ex-governor’s son pleads guilty to ‘silly mistake’ after handgun is detected in baggage at airport
Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN)
April 28, 2007
Author: Andrew DeMillo Associated Press
LITTLE ROCK - David Huckabee said he made “a silly mistake” when he forgot to remove a loaded Glock pistol from his carry-on bag when he arrived at the Little Rock airport early Thursday morning.
Huckabee, the 26-year-old son of former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor count of possessing a weapon in a prohibited place.
“It was a silly mistake,” Huckabee told reporters as he left the Pulaski County Jail.
When asked whether it would affect his father’s presidential campaign, Huckabee responded, “It shouldn’t.”
(snip)
CHASTISED ASU STUDENT EDITOR VOWS TO PURSUE STORY
Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN)
December 14, 2001
Author: Melissa Nelson The Associated Press
Despite drawing the ire of the school president, the editor of the Arkansas State University student newspaper says she will continue investigating payments made by the university to the son of Gov. Mike Huckabee.
While reviewing financial records of the Jonesboro university’s Student Activities Board and Union Advisory Board, Shannon Knebel, 22, unearthed more than $5,000 in payments made to ASU student David Huckabee. David Huckabee is president of the Union Advisory Board.
“When we started looking at the budgets, David Huckabee’s name was everywhere,” Knebel said.
(snip)
State politics a Huckabee family matter
Son’s college job could mean battles with dad
The Dallas Morning News
November 24, 2000
Author: Suzi Parker; Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
Conversation at Gov. Mike Huckabee’s Thanksgiving table more than likely skirted one issue - Arkansas State University.
That’s because his son David recently became the university’s student government association president and vowed to fight his father for more funds for higher education. The governor has issued a mandate to state agencies that they hold the line on budget requests for the 2002-03 biennium.
“I’m here to represent Arkansas State University and the students of ASU,” David Huckabee said upon taking office. “My dad has 2.6 million constituents of his own. If 2.59 million of his constituents disagree with what Arkansas State University wants, we will go head to head.”
The governor said he admires his son but also joked about the situation.
“He’s free to go ‘head to head’ on the ASU budget, and I respect his boldness,” Gov. Huckabee said. “I certainly hope he respects my boldness when it comes time for me to pay his tuition. The boy has shown real guts, but I look forward to getting his grades to confirm that he has some brains as well.”
(snip)
HUCKABEES HALT SUIT AFTER APOLOGY FOR POT REPORT
Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN)
August 13, 1999
Author: Joan I. Duffy The Commercial Appeal
Little Rock Bureau
The publisher of a free-distribution newspaper apologized Thursday to the sons of Gov. Mike Huckabee for printing a column that alleged one of them had been found with marijuana in his school locker.
The apology from Little Rock Free Press publisher Dorothy Oliver - along with an undisclosed amount of money paid to the Huckabees - will put an end to a libel lawsuit the Huckabee sons filed after publication of a May 12 media column.
Both sides were prohibited from revealing how much money was paid.
Oliver also agreed to a settlement term that forbids the Free Press from ever writing about the allegations or the issue.
The ``Herbal Tea Party’’ column written by Jack Page, president of the local chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, was an attack on what the writer called hypocritical marijuana laws that selectively target offenders.
In it, he wrote that one of Huckabee’s two sons - he didn’t say which son - had been caught with marijuana in his high school locker two years previously.
John Mark Huckabee, 22, was a student at Ouachita Baptist University at the time. David Huckabee, 19, was a student at Parkview High School two years ago. He currently attends Arkansas State University.
Huckabee likened the published report to a physical attack on his children.
In a settlement announcement issued by the Huckabees’s lawyer, the governor said he was relieved and grateful at the outcome.
``No parent will sit idly by and allow injury to his or her child, whether the injury is physical or verbal,’’ he said. ``(The settlement) should serve notice that it’s one thing to speak out against someone in public office, but that no one has a constitutional right to tell lies about children - even the children of public officials.’’
(snip)
IRATE HUCKABEE SUPPORTS HIS SONS’ LIBEL LAWSUIT
Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN)
June 24, 1999
Author: Joan I. Duffy The Commercial Appeal
Little Rock Bureau
An angry Gov. Mike Huckabee Tuesday defended a libel lawsuit filed by his sons against a tabloid newspaper, and threatened more court action against others who print untrue stories about his children.
``For the same reason I would not sit back and allow someone to shoot, stab, hit with a blunt object or molest one of my children, I’m not going to sit back and allow someone to falsely and recklessly and maliciously accuse my children of behavior in which they have not engaged,’’ Huckabee said at a Capitol press conference.
Huckabee’s sons - John Mark, 22, and David, 18 - filed suit Tuesday against the publishers of the Free Press, a free Little Rock tabloid.
A May 12 media column in the newspaper criticized the mainstream press for ignoring the alleged suspension of Huckabee’s son - no first name was used - for being caught with marijuana in his school locker.
A staff member answering the telephone at the Free Press said publisher Dorothy `Dottie’ Oliver had no comment on the advice of her lawyer.
Jack Page, the author of the column ``The Herbal Tea Party,’’ attended Huckabee’s press conference. He said the newspaper had talked with witnesses to the alleged incident at Parkview High School two years ago.
``We never attacked his son; the attack was on him for covering up for it - him and the Arkansas media,’’ said Page, who also is president of Arkansas’s National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
The lawsuit follows criticism from the governor’s office issued last week about a column in Little Rock’s daily newspaper. The column referred to participation in a high school skip day by Huckabee’s daughter, Sarah, 16. That story said it was unclear whether Sarah was among a number of students suspended for the prank.
Last summer, several Arkansas newspapers published stories about David Huckabee and another teen being fired from jobs at a Boy Scout camp near Mena following the killing of a stray dog.
Huckabee wouldn’t say Tuesday whether other suits were expected.
``I don’t have anything to announce today, but I will say . . . that if someone makes false allegations accusing my children of criminal activity they better be prepared to back it up,’’ Huckabee said.
He denied the allegations that either of his sons had been caught with illegal drugs. He declined to address the dog-killing and school-skipping allegations.
``I want to focus on the top of the lawsuit and it’s very clear those allegations made in that news story are false,’’ he said.
Huckabee’s lawyer, Kevin Crass of Little Rock, said an offer had been made to settle the suit with a retraction, an apology and a cash settlement.
REPORT SAYS HUCKABEE’S SON FIRED FOR KILLING DOG
Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN)
August 8, 1998
Author: The Associated Press
A son of Gov. Mike Huckabee was one of two boys fired from a Boy Scout camp after a stray dog was killed after wandering onto the property, according to a published report.
David Huckabee was released from Camp Pioneer near Hatfield after the dog died July 11, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Friday. The younger Huckabee was 17 at the time and no charges were filed.
The younger Huckabee was certified this week to receive his Eagle Scout badge, indicating the organization’s highest level of achievement. The certification is primarily a clerical review, Scout Executive Marcal Young said.
The Caddo Area Council, which runs Camp Pioneer, declined to say who was fired. The newspaper said a source who asked to remain anonymous told it that Huckabee was one of two youths fired.
The two boys fired said the dog appeared ill, Young said.
Huckabee said Friday that politics was behind the accusation against his son.
``I hope that no parent has to face having political enemies who try to destroy the reputation and the future of a decent child in a desperate attempt to gain a political advantage on that child’s parents,’’ the governor said.
The campaign for Democrat Bill Bristow said it knew nothing of the allegation.
The focus is on the acts of the father-Governor.
Huckabee twisted arms to snuff out an investigation of his kid.
He used his executive power to subvert the Arkansas Justice system and put a family member beyond the law.
Impeachable.
[David Huckabee's animal abuse] prompted the local prosecuting attorney . . . 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.
LLS
LLS
as is satan in the huckster family.
LLS
Because it has been said by those involved, that huckster used his power and position to stop the prosecution of his evil and sick son.
LLS
LLS
Strung it up, slit its throat, and bled it out. That's the version I hard about. I shudder to think there might be more.
It’s OK. I hear the dog was a Mormon and young David was just performing an Exorcism.
These guys never learn...the cover up is always worse than the crime...
One forgets when one is either stoned or drunk.
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