Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee stopped by the Clinton School on Tuesday to tout his new book, “A Simple Christmas,” which recounts holiday stories from his life in and out of politics.
The former Republican presidential candidate also took questions about his future political aspirations and his controversial 2000 commutation of the prison sentence of Maurice Clemmons, a former Arkansas inmate who is accused in the recent murder of four police officers in Washington state.
Huckabee defended his decision to commute the sentence of Clemmons, who at age 16 received 108 years for a string of robberies and burglaries. Huckabee said that sentence was excessive for a minor.
“I made my decision on information that I had,” Huckabee said, “not on the information that was to come.
On his life in politics, Huckabee said he is enjoying life as a private citizen and had not decided whether to run for president again in 2012.
A large media contingent turned out to get Huckabee’s comments on the commutation controversy. From the Associated Press report:
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Monday he’s worried that the backlash he’s received from commuting the sentence of a man who later gunned down four police officers will deter other governors from granting clemency.
Huckabee, who pardoned or commuted the sentences of 1,033 people during his 10 1/2 years in office, defended his use of executive clemency and his role in the release of Maurice Clemmons. Seattle police killed Clemmons days after he shot four Lakewood, Wash., police officers dead inside a coffee shop Nov. 29.
“What I fear is the hubbub of this case will make it so that not only in Arkansas, but in states across this country, these files won’t even get looked at,” Huckabee said at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. “When people say how can you sleep at night, I say I sleep better knowing that I at least honestly did my job and looked at every case and I gave it consideration and I denied a lot more than I approved.”
Click here for the full article. Video of Huckabee’s lecture will be posted soon at www.clintonschoolspeakers.com.