Brutal South Carolina Ad Slams Huckabee for Rape Case
| Fri Jan. 11, 2008 8:43 AM PST
Politics ain't beanbag, as Mike Huckabee likes to say. In South Carolina, it's more like a wrecking ball.
In an ad currently running in the Palmetto State, Mike Huckabee is slammed for the Dumond case. If you are unfamiliar with the case, Wayne Dumond was put in prison for the 1984 rape of a 17-year old girl. When Huckabee became Governor of Arkansas, he bought into the conspiracy theory that Dumond had been railroaded because the alleged victim was a distant relatives of the Clintons. Huckabee announced that he thought Dumond should be released (writing a letter to Dumond saying as much), met with the parole board to make that case, and eventually oversaw Dumond's release from prison in 1999.
A year later, Wayne Dumond sexually assaulted and murdered a 39-year-old Kansas City woman named Carol Sue Shields.
Huckabee issued a lot of pardons and commutations as Governor, demonstrating a mercy and compassion that probably granted new life to an awful lot of people. He deserves credit: Huckabee did this despite the knowledge that he would someday be open to allegations of being soft on crime (see Romney, Mitt). In this instance, though, he screwed up big time.
And now, it's being used against him. And the group who created the ad, Victims Voice, isn't pulling any punches. Starring in the ad: the mother of Carol Sue Shields.
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"Huckabee issued a lot of pardons and commutations as Governor, demonstrating a mercy and compassion that probably granted new life to an awful lot of people."
Shame that Huckabee did not show the same compassion to the victims of the people he let out of prison.
You do realize that Huckabee released murders, rapists, and other violent offenders.
This demonstrated that Huckabee only cares about criminals and does not give a damn about victims of crime.
Submitted by Eric Ferguson (not verified) on Fri Jan. 11, 2008 3:01 PM PST.
I don't know who Victimsvoice527 is. Looking at their web site they look new. There's a lot more to this Drummond story, though it's actually worse than portrayed in this ad. The right wingnut machine agitated loud and long for his release because his victim was related to Clinton (so he must have been railroaded) and he became a Christian. Huckabee fell for it and expended considerable effort in Drummond's release.
Take note though: this 527 group didn't mention that, but merely went after the "rapist got out" line, as if the problem was pardoning at all, not this pardon. They don't say who funds them. My suspicion is these are some of the same conservative activists and sugardaddies who got Drummond out in the first place. At least Huckabee's fellow Republicans are going after him, saving the Democrats the unavoidable necessity of raising it. There's a legitimate issue of Huckabee's judgment and vulnerability to religious appeals.
I don't think Jonathan Stein understands that there is a lot more than just "Christian mercy" on Huckabee's part. It was part of a politically motivated act. Drummond had become a "born-again Christian" and a cause celebre. Huckabee wanted to curry favor.
"The Huffington Post reported on Tuesday that Huckabee's gubernatorial office had been privately warned by numerous women that Dumond had sexually assaulted them or their family members, and would likely strike again. Huckabee pushed for the rapists release from prison anyway, and Dumond went on to rape and murder at least one other woman.
"In a 2002 story I wrote for the Arkansas Times about Huckabee's role in freeing Dumond, four board members -- three of whom spoke on the record -- said that Huckabee lobbied and pressured board members on the matter. This included the 1996 parole meeting at which the board's recording secretary -- who ordinarily tapes the entire sessions -- was asked to leave the room. Several board members and members of the state legislature have said the secret session violated state law."
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/05/former-aide-contradicts-h_n_755...
