Goodbye Pardons Advisory Board, Forgiveness not on Governor Walker's Radar....

Scott Walker is at it again. It's not surprising our sociopathic governor won't help others get their lives back together with his constitutionally granted power of the pardon. Besides, Republicans are all about meting out punishment. "Forgiving" is not. 

In violation of the state constitution…as usual. WPR:

The state Department of Administration is proposing to eliminate the Governor's Pardon Advisory Board, which has been inactive since Gov. Scott Walker took office in 2010. Walker has said he won't grant pardons to ex-offenders because he feels it undermines the actions of the judge and jury that convicted them.

But attorney Donald Bach, who served as legal counsel on the pardon board under Gov. Tommy Thompson, said pardons were never meant to erase a crime. “It erases the disabilities and the penalties of a conviction, so it is the power to forgive,” said Bach. Bach said eliminating executive pardons leaves only one option for offenders who want to clear their records: ask a prosecutor to dismiss charges. It’s something he said most DAs won’t consider.

Bach said the governor’s power to grant pardons is still in the state constitution, and the next governor could decide to begin granting them again.

In a WKOW followup report I never had a chance to post, this wrenching story:

Madison resident and veteran Eric Pizer's 2004 felony battery conviction is preventing him from getting a job as a police officer because he can't carry a firearm.

Walker outrageously detached response?

News 3 asked if it was a job creation issue, given that both of these cases involved people who can't pursue their careers. "No, they can get jobs, they just can't get jobs in an area that prevents them access because of their felony conviction. But they are not limited in other ways." 

In another sad case involving Jessica Cranfield....WISC:

Jessica Cranfield of Chippewa Falls, at 17 … committed a number of crimes, including stealing a purse and clearing a bank account of $100 to buy drugs. For that offense, felony forgery, she went to prison for two years. She is now married with children and in school working toward a bachelor's degree in education, but said she's unlikely to get her desired job as a teacher. 

But Walker is a hypocrite, flip flopping on his morally strong opposition to "undermining the actions of the judge and jury," when he ignored all that legal gobbledygook. I wrote at the time...:

After a court ordered a fired teacher to be reinstated and the state Supreme Court agreed, Scott Walker's respect for the law and courts disappeared. After all, didn't Walker just defeat and vilify teachers?

WSJ: Gov. Scott Walker has asked State Superintendent Tony Evers to begin license revocation proceedings for a Middleton teacher reinstated to his job this month after being fired in 2010 for looking at pornographic images at school. “After hearing from concerned parents..."

Punishment and discipline...that's strong leadership. The new emboldened Republican majority in D.C., according to reports, have decided to "punish" Obama for his executive orders on immigration. That punishment will in effect hurt the American public, but you know, that's the way dictatorships end up governing.