Is President George W. Bush likely to issue many pardons during his term?
No. For one thing, his father issued very few (77) when he was in office. For another, during his prior term as Governor of Texas, George W. issued fewer pardons than any Texas Governor since the 1940s (16 up to January 2000, as opposed to 70 for his immediate predecessor Ann Richards, 822 for 2-term governor Bill Clements, and 1048 for John Connally, Texas governor from 1963-69). In a January 2000 interview with reporter Jay Root of the Austin Star-Telegram, Governor Bush explained that his low number of pardons “comes not from political calculation but from pardoning Steven Raney in 1995 for a 1988 marijuana conviction. A few months after being absolved of his crime, the unpaid Ellis County constable was caught stealing cocaine from a drug bust. ‘That caused a complete review of the process,’ Bush said. ‘I have nothing against pardoning. I just haven’t been very aggressive on it. There’s no philosophical reason. It’s just that it kind of slowed us down initially. I said, `Whoa!’ beca
