WASHINGTON — Former President Clinton's last-minute pardon of Marc Rich, a fugitive commodities trader, has drawn fire. But a broader look at Clinton's list of 176 final pardons and commutations shows that it was a process that in several cases did not fit Justice Department guidelines.
The outpouring of clemency unleashed the final furor over the Clinton presidency, sparking calls for a congressional investigation and criticisms that have followed him to his new private life in New York.
"It seems to me there were quite a few pardons outside the normal Department of Justice channels, and that's unusual," said C. Boyden Gray, White House counsel in the 1980s for President George Bush.
In extending clemency, Clinton included 48 drug offenders--among them his half brother, Roger--and 20 residents of his home state of Arkansas.
Although many of the people receiving executive clemency went through proper channels, officials voiced concern about how many, in addition to Rich, who did not. In some cases, Justice Department lawyers learned about the actions only late in the process.
At least 10 people, including some who served in the Clinton administration, did not meet the Justice Department guideline of having at least five years of good conduct before seeking a pardon.
Among them were former CIA Director John M. Deutch, who was preparing to plead guilty to keeping classified information on his home computer; former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington, who was negotiating a plea agreement in a bank fraud case; former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry G. Cisneros, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of lying in 1999; and former Arkansas state Rep. Lloyd George, who was convicted in 1997 of selling overpriced equipment to the state prison system.
The commutation of fraud sentences for four members of a New York Hasidic community whose leaders supported the successful Senate campaign of Clinton's wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, also has drawn criticism.
Sen. Clinton has denied she played a role in any of the pardons.
In Rich's case, his former wife, who wrote to Clinton "as a friend and an admirer," also has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic Party causes.
Justice Department officials were stunned by the pardon of Rich, who was indicted in 1983 on charges of tax fraud and illegal oil trading with Iran. He then fled the United States.
