Posted on 01/02/2008 8:33:46 PM PST by RebekahT
As a conservative, evangelical, politically-active father of four in Arkansas I believe it is imperative for like-minded voters to become more familiar with the Mike Huckabee that just completed 10 years as our governor.
..
That said, here are 7 key reasons I cannot in good conscience support Mike Huckabee as the Republican nominee for President. This is based on his record here and is not a personal attack - I cannot speak for his or anybody's motives.
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This is the Mike Huckabee we know.
1) Governor Huckabee did lasting damage to the Republican Party and conservative movement in Arkansas.
It's hard to go after Democrats with a conservative message when your Republican Governor is out front releasing violent criminals, providing state benefits to illegals, pushing tax increases, expanding government spending and programs, and constantly walking an ethical tight-rope (more on each of these items to follow). This tied our party's hands - many conservatives got frustrated, apathy set in, and some quit the fight. In addition:
* Huckabee insisted on having "his people" controlling the Republican Party campaign organizations that are set up in Arkansas each election cycle. He also insisted that his guy remain as state party chairman when party leaders planned to make a change. The mismanagement and ineptness that followed was so great that the Republican Party plunged into debt and the Federal Election Commission levied the the largest fine ever against a state political party following an investigation of the 2000 and 2002 election cycles. Obviously, this set back the Republican Party of Arkansas for years.
(Excerpt) Read more at hughhewitt.townhall.com ...
http://www.arkansasleader.com/2005/10/editorial-whats-politics-without.html http://www.arkansasleader.com/frontstories/st_08_11_04/huckabee8.html http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12430 http://www.arkansasleader.com/frontstories/st_07_28_04/huckabee6.html http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2004/07/22/News/261108.html http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iKCu_Pj0_Ek6Wjcimi7fVv96RmUwD8TESSSG0 http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YWFjYjFmOWMwYThjYzcwM2FiYmE5MDcyMmM4NzlkMGQ=&w=MA http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=3983797&page=1 http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071130/NATION/111300094/1002 http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200712/POL20071204b.html http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2005/03/11/News/318458.html http://www.nwanews.com/story.php?paper=adg§ion=News&storyid=106235 http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2005/06/30/News/323746.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pLOC4krZI4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYrGlfkvRV0&feature=related http://www.nwanews.com/adg/national/203850/ http://www.arkansasleader.com/2007/11/editorialswhos-biggest-tax-raiser.html http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2006/11/13/week_in_review/news/saturday/news09.txt http://www.judicialwatch.org/judicial-watch-announces-list-washington-s-ten-most-wanted-corrupt-politicians-2007 http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2007/11/11/DavidJSanders/344030.html http://drudgereport.com/flashhu.htm http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZjM3Zjg5NWYxOGRkNzdmOWY3ZTU4ODQ2OGEyMzRkZmU http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071215/D8THJH880.html
Ping.
What actually surprised me was the poll internals from New Hampshire where 40% of respondents said immigration was a critical issue to them, yet supported John McCain.
That surprised me, too. I am getting so tired of hearing about polls...
Ping.
What will Huckabee do to Hugh Hewitt now? Be afraid, very afraid. Oh, I forgot, it’s too late.
...It's rather interesting that you posted this thread, since earlier today while listening to Rush, a caller from Arkansas claimed the Governor is a 'Conservative', and has a 'conservative' track record. Even when Rush begged to differ with the caller, he continued on, as in Rush's own words, 'making the case for his guy'.
Frankly, I'm a bit worried about this election, especially since the GOP appears to be all over the board with the current crop of candidates. One thing that I truly find disturbing is the penchant among nearly all the potential front runners (Romney, Huckabee, and Guiliani), to make Conservatism more marketable to the Drive By Media Elites. By that I mean straying away from the core principles that gave Ronald Reagan landslide victories during the 1980's (although foolishly, I did not vote for him, but I definitely learned my lesson over the years). If these guys would actually attempt to sit down and talk with the grass roots base of the Republican Party instead of allowing the Drive By MSM to define them, we'd probably have a repeat of those glorious days when truth trumped over spin.
...Unless the GOP gets its act together, we will wind up watching the swearing in of President Hillary Rodham Clinton on January 20, 2009.
http://www.arkansasleader.com/2005/10/editorial-whats-politics-without.html http://www.arkansasleader.com/frontstories/st_08_11_04/huckabee8.html http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12430 http://www.arkansasleader.com/frontstories/st_07_28_04/huckabee6.html http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2004/07/22/News/261108.html http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iKCu_Pj0_Ek6Wjcimi7fVv96RmUwD8TESSSG0 http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YWFjYjFmOWMwYThjYzcwM2FiYmE5MDcyMmM4NzlkMGQ=&w=MA http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=3983797&page=1 http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071130/NATION/111300094/1002 http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200712/POL20071204b.html http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2005/03/11/News/318458.html http://www.nwanews.com/story.php?paper=adg§ion=News&storyid=106235 http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2005/06/30/News/323746.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pLOC4krZI4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYrGlfkvRV0&feature=related http://www.nwanews.com/adg/national/203850/ http://www.arkansasleader.com/2007/11/editorialswhos-biggest-tax-raiser.html http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2006/11/13/week_in_review/news/saturday/news09.txt http://www.judicialwatch.org/judicial-watch-announces-list-washington-s-ten-most-wanted-corrupt-politicians-2007 http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2007/11/11/DavidJSanders/344030.html http://drudgereport.com/flashhu.htm http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZjM3Zjg5NWYxOGRkNzdmOWY3ZTU4ODQ2OGEyMzRkZmU http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071215/D8THJH880.html
Thank you much. I thought I had finally figured it out :)
Please to read this letter, it’s very good in explaining what Huck has actually stood for and done in the past. Apologies for the outburst on that last thread. It was uncalled for.
What first got my attention about Huckabee was that his weakest support -- and strongest opposition -- comes from Arkansas Republicans. As Mr. Thompson points out in his letter posted by Hugh Hewitt, Mike Huckabee inherited a solid red state in his first term. But now after two terms of Huckabee's governorship, Arkansas is the only blue state in the South! No Democrat could have destroyed the Arkansas GOP as effectively as Huckabee did. Perhaps that's why those who know Mike Huckabee best support him least.
People like David Thompson -- a Conservative activist and evangelical Christian who witnessed the Huckabee years as a GOP footsoldier -- should be listened to. We don't need another Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter, and we especially don't need them on the Republican ticket.
From the article:
This is the Mike Huckabee we know.
1) Governor Huckabee did lasting damage to the Republican Party and conservative movement in Arkansas.
It’s hard to go after Democrats with a conservative message when your Republican Governor is out front releasing violent criminals, providing state benefits to illegals, pushing tax increases, expanding government spending and programs, and constantly walking an ethical tight-rope (more on each of these items to follow). This tied our party’s hands - many conservatives got frustrated, apathy set in, and some quit the fight. In addition:
Huckabee insisted on having “his people” controlling the Republican Party campaign organizations that are set up in Arkansas each election cycle. He also insisted that his guy remain as state party chairman when party leaders planned to make a change. The mismanagement and ineptness that followed was so great that the Republican Party plunged into debt and the Federal Election Commission levied the the largest fine ever against a state political party following an investigation of the 2000 and 2002 election cycles. Obviously, this set back the Republican Party of Arkansas for years.
When Huckabee started his first full term in 1998, Arkansas had just elected a Republican Governor, Lt. Governor, U.S. Senator, and 2 Republican Congressmen. Upon his leaving office in 2007, Republicans now hold no statewide offices, have no Republicans in the U.S.Senate, and only one Republican Congressman remains.
It was often said during Huckabee’s term that Arkansas had 3 parties: Republican Party, Democrat Party, and the Huckabee Party.
“He destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas, and left the Republican Party in shambles.” - Phyllis Schlafly, president of the national Eagle Forum
“His support for taxes split the Republican Party, and damaged our name brand.” – Former Arkansas State Representative Randy Minton (R)
“I think if they knew [his record] it would totally de-energize them . . . his policies are just wrong.” – Former Arkansas State Senator Jim Holt’s (R) warning for conservatives around the country who think they have found their candidate in Mike Huckabee.
2) Governor Huckabee’s non-stop clemencies continually hindered the work of criminal prosecutors and miffed Republicans. The numbers are staggering - over 1,000 clemencies and commutations of criminals as governor. Most people now are familiar with his push to parole convicted rapist Wayne Dumond, who went on to rape and murder a Missouri woman less than a year after his release. But there are many more troubling facts regarding Huckabee’s pattern of releasing violent criminals. While I cannot speak for Huckabee’s motives, it seems clear that he used poor judgment and was reckless with this executive power.
Huckabee released more criminals than the combined total of every border state to Arkansas (made up of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana) - even though the combined population of these states is 16 times higher than Arkansas’. He also issued more than double the clemencies of his three predecessors combined.
In many cases, Huckabee’s actions set loose savage criminals convicted of grisly murders over the passionate objections of prosecutors and victims’ families. This American Spectator story details some of these violent cases and explains the resulting difficulties they presented prosecutors working with other victims and their families.
Huckabee and his appointees ignored the laws on the books, including the requirement to notify victims’ families and explain the reasons for those clemencies. He said to fully explain his reasoning would cost millions of dollars and “take money away from education and Medicaid and other things.”
A 2004 investigative article by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette found that prisoners had a better chance of being granted clemency by Huckabee if they had a mutual acquaintance, labored at the governor’s mansion under a prisoner work program, or a minister intervened on their behalf. Prosecutors say Huckabee was more inclined to release or reduce the sentences of prisoners if he had direct contact with them or was lobbied by those close to him.
He often refused to learn the facts of the cases (sometimes not even reading the murderer’s own confession), made no attempt to get the police/prosecutor’s case files, or even get input from the victims’ families before making his decision.
The clemency granted to one multiple DUI offender was likely tied to large political contributions from the offender’s family, including a soft money political organization run by Huckabee’s people.
Good summary article
“Last January, after Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, a Democrat, lost his re-election bid, he issued 16 clemencies, and there was a huge outcry. That’s how many Huckabee averages per month.” – Arkansas Leader, (August 11, 2004)
“He seems to believe that granting clemency to murderers, rapists, drunk drivers and other convicted criminals is a part of the everyday affairs of the governor’s office rather than something that he should approach cautiously and selectively.” – Robert Herzfeld, Saline County Prosecuting Attorney during Huckabee’s tenure
“I know some of the people that Huckabee let loose have reoffended. Some of them we’ve caught and some of them we haven’t caught......I used to be able to tell the families of victims, in all good faith and candor, that it was a rare event when a governor commuted a sentence and let a murderer back out, or a rapist back out or a child molester back out. But I can’t do that anymore.” - Larry Jegley, longtime Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney
“I felt like Huckabee had more compassion for the murderers than he ever did for the victims.” - Elaine Colclasure, co-leader of the Central Arkansas chapter of Parents of Murdered Children.
3) Governor Huckabee’s pattern was to ignore immigration laws, often in the name of Christianity.
Huckabee opposed immigration enforcement as governor on a number of fronts. Immigration enforcement groups call Huckabee’s record on immigration “a disaster” and reference him as they guy who “scares the heck” out of them.
In 2001, Huckabee’s human services liaison Robert Trevino pushed for legislation to provide driver’s licenses for illegals. It was understood by legislators that he acted with Huckabee’s blessing.
In 2001, Huckabee opposed a measure to require proof of citizenship to vote.
In 2005, Huckabee supported a bill that offered illegal immigrants in-state tuition rates and made them eligible for the same merit-based scholarships to Arkansas state colleges and universities as legal citizens. The bill would have violated federal law and was not enacted by the legislature.
In 2005, he opposed a bill that denied some state benefits to illegals and required proof of citizenship to vote (patterned after Arizona’s Prop 200 that has been successful in curtailing illegal immigration in that state). In this story, Huckabee called the measure “un-American….inflammatory….race-baiting and demagoguery.” He added that the bill “inflames those who are racist and bigots and makes them think there’s a real problem. But there’s not.” He then singled out State Senator Jim Holt, also an openly professing Christian, saying, “I drink a different kind of Jesus juice.”
In 2005, Huckabee criticized federal agents for a recent crackdown on illegals, saying that it wasn’t fair to the innocent family members of those targeted in the operation. (No word on whether he also opposes raids on other law-breakers who might also have innocent family members affected by the fruits of their illegal activity.)
In 2005, Huckabee promoted an “open door” policy on immigration as he addressed the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) national convention in Little Rock. LULAC is a left-leaning group that opposes virtually all measures of immigration enforcement.
“He was an absolute disaster on immigration as governor. Every time there was any enforcement in his state, he took the side of the illegal aliens.” - Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, a group that played a major role in rallying the phone calls that helped defeat this year’s Senate immigration bill.
“I would hope he could be trusted to secure the borders, but given his track record in Arkansas, I don’t see the conservative he has portrayed himself to be in Iowa.” - Jake Files, a former Arkansas state representative and current chairman of the Sebastian County Republican Party
ping
The Arkansas GOP has two factions.
One faction supports Huckabee.
The other faction does not, and some of them (e.g., Jim Holt and Randy Minton) are taking money from Ron Paul to attack Huckabee.
HAL9000, good to see you. Thanks for the observations. This missive is a pretty classic set of mudslinging talking points. And you are a dependable FR poster.
Absolutely false. The Arkansas GOP was at it's peak in Arkansas under Huckabee - until Tim Hutchinson dumped his wife to marry a staffer and Win Paul Rockefeller died. Those things were not Huckabee's fault.
But I've figured out the real source of this bogus charge. When the Democrat-controlled Board of Apportionment redrew the districts, Randy Minton's district boundaries were changed. He lost in the next election in the reapportioned district and tried to lay the blame on Huckabee. He went whining about it to Phyllis Schlafly, and she took his word for it without any further investigation. Then Minton went on Ron Paul's payroll and traveled to Iowa on a trash-talking tour against Huckabee.
The Arkansas GOP is much smaller today than it was before Huckabee became governor — a fact which speaks for itself. No statewide office is presently held by the GOP, as Arkansas has reverted to a blue island in a red sea. It’s no wonder only a third of the surviving Arkansas GOP legislators support Huckabee’s candidacy — they know him too well. And as for taking Ron Paul’s money against Huckabee goes, every Arkansan I know is supporting Fred Thompson.
Thanks, and I’ve added a little more info in #17 above.
“What actually surprised me was the poll internals from New Hampshire where 40% of respondents said immigration was a critical issue to them, yet supported John McCain.”
Possible evidence of people that can hold two or more ideas in their minds at once?
(I suspect that many voters see illegal immigration as a problem, yet also regard efforts by Bush and McCain to address the problem as realistic efforts, albeit not successful. Some of those folks actually envision a realistic solution short of rounding up 20 million people for deportation, in combination with stronger border barriers, internal enforcement, etc.).(Notice my intentional ommission of the words “comprehensive” and “citizenship?”)
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