Lawmaker files bills to eliminate pardons
Gov. Bobby Jindal said a New Orleans lawmaker is overreaching by asking the Legislature and voters to strip him of the power to grant pardons.
In addition to taking away the governor’s authority, state Rep. Austin Badon also wants to abolish the five-member state Pardon Board.
“We’ll review this legislation as we approach session, but these bills appear to overreach,” Jindal said in a prepared statement.
Badon, a Democrat, said the state is wasting money on a board that merely makes recommendations to the governor on whether hunting rights should be restored, prison sentences should be trimmed and parole eligibility dates should be pushed up.
He said Pardon Board operations cost taxpayers nearly $400,000 a year.
“For a state that is looking for every dollar to offset cuts to higher education and health care, ... for us to waste this kind of money is absurd,” Badon said.
He said he also wants to avoid a situation where pardons are granted “under the cloak of darkness” near the end of the governor’s term.
Badon’s proposal is a constitutional amendment that would require the approval of two-thirds of the Legislature as well as the majority of voters.
His proposals are spelled out in House Bill 84 and House Bill 85. They are to be considered in the legislative session that starts March 12.
As he neared re-election for his second term last year, Jindal had acted on few of the recommendations sent to him by the Pardon Board he appoints.
Jindal had granted 23 pardons and one sentence reduction out of 398 recommendations that the Pardon Board tallied as sent to his desk.
Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour sparked criticism and a legal challenge by granting a flurry of pardons shortly before leaving office earlier this year.
His pardons included convicted murderers who worked at the Governor’s Mansion as trusties.
Among the complaints is whether proper public notice was given before the pardons were granted.
“Look at what happened in Mississippi,” Badon said.
Jindal recently appointed two former legislators to the state Pardon Board. Former state Reps. Mert Smiley Jr., R-St. Amant, and Rickey Hardy, D-Lafayette, each will receive $36,000 a year for their part-time roles.
Badon said Smiley led a push in the Legislature to abolish boards and commissions only to profit from one when he left office.
For Smiley, the Pardon Board is an assignment that he will relinquish when he becomes Ascension Parish assessor in January.
Smiley defended his appointment.
“The governor needed people on the board that had experience, and I was on the (House) judiciary committee for eight years,” he said.
Smiley said he did push to consolidate the pardon and parole boards but could not get the necessary votes.
Badon’s proposals replace earlier versions that he filed then withdrew from the legislative files.
He said he made a mistake in the earlier bills by eliminating the automatic first-offender pardon, which allows automatic pardons on offenses such as purse snatching and aggravated battery for first-time offenders.
Those pardons are not vetted by the Pardon Board or the governor.
Badon said he does not think other offenders should be eligible for pardons, even if it simply means restoring their hunting rights or allowing them to apply for a liquor license.
“You give up privileges when you commit a crime,” Badon said.