In today’s Wall Street Journal, Stephen Moore, WSJ and Fox News contributor and Club For Growth founder and former President, writes of NH Governor John Lynch…
"Horton Junior"
New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch looked to be one of the few incumbent Democrats facing a safe reelection campaign up until just a few weeks ago. Now a scandal involving the early parole of violent criminals has Mr. Lynch and Democrats in the legislature scrambling to keep their jobs. The issue could be as radioactive as 1988’s Willie Horton, the famous Massachusetts convict who was furloughed by Governor Michael Dukakis and then committed murder, helping to torpedo Mr. Dukakis’s presidential bid. Says Corey Lewandowski, New Hampshire director of Americans for Prosperity: "This issue is just exploding here in the state. It could cost Lynch his job."
Last year, to close a budget gap, the state’s Democratic legislature passed a bill to save $7 million by allowing early parole of what Gov. Lynch said would be "non-violent" criminals. This month the law went into effect and among those scheduled for early release are several sex offenders — including a three-time offender with a penchant for teen-age girls, and another offender convicted of misconduct with five- and six-year-old girls.
The Union-Leader newspaper has run a series of front-page stories on the parolees. The family of one of the girls who was a victim is now appearing in TV ads [Tom: Cornerstone] denouncing the program, which allows felons to be released nine months before the end of their terms. The parole board has declared publicly it did not want to release one of the sex offenders, Michael Siebel, but it was "handcuffed," as the local media put it.
In an interview with the Associated Press, the state’s Parole Board Director John Eckert was distinctly unenthusiastic about the program, but also injected an unsettling note of a reality: 75% of inmates already are released before they ever reach the last nine months of their terms.
Mr. Lynch was beating Republican John Stephen by 51% to 34% in a poll just before the controversy broke. A pro-GOP group has launched an ad on the parole scandal, timed to coincide with Republican legislative efforts to amend the law.
— Stephen Moore
(H/T: Corey Lewandowski, AFP NH)