Huckabee: Scandal Already?

I don't know if this is a mountain or a molehill, so I'll just post it and let you decide.

Arkansas Josesph: Huckabee Under Ethics Violation and Possible Criminal Prosecution:

According to an AP release dated Feb 2, 2007 and posted to the todaysthv.com web site at 1:53 pm CST - the Commission is investigating a complaint from Jim Parsons of Bella Vista, Arkansas that Huckabee violated state FOIA statutes when he ordered the destruction of computer hard drives in the Governor's office before he turned the office over to the new Democratic Govenor Mike Beebe. Parson's has also filed a complaint with the Pulaski County (Little Rock) prosecutors.

Arkydem has more. Seems the Arkansas news media are not too happy with Huckabee - and not just because of broken computers. From Arkydem's diary, here's "John Brumment, the award winning and highly respected political reporter for the statewide Arkansas News Bureau":

Nevertheless, I will oblige Huckabee's request should the opportunity arise for me to speak of him. I will be careful, even if he isn't.

I will not tell reporters or civilians in other states that he was a failed governor. I will say he was an uncommonly uneven one, blending progress, compassion, detachment, meanness and irresponsibility.

I will not call him unethical, and certainly not corrupt. I will describe him as one who likes to receive gifts and sees no reason to decline them in deference to the appearances, if not necessarily the practice, of ethical conduct.

I will not call him a demagogue. I will say he is one to whom impressive words come easily and flow smoothly, even if the facts don't always match up.

I will not call him a liar. I will label him chronic hyperbolizer given to petulance, huffiness and an overly dramatic woe-is-me combativeness, one by which he always seems to see morality plays with himself as the good guy or martyr.

I will not say he turned Wayne DuMond loose. I will say Wayne DuMond got turned loose by the Parole Board during Huckabee's governorship after Huckabee said in a letter to DuMond, "It is my desire that you be released."

I will not call Huckabee unfit for the presidency. I will say I can no longer be sure how low that bar can go.

Whether or not the ethics investigation turns out to have legs, it's clear that Huckabee-Land is not quite as sunny as it seems on the stump.

Labels: 2008, Mike Huckabee, Presidential election, scandals

  ¶ Posted by Paul Curtis 5:42 PM