THE DEATH OF CREDIBILITY
Boston Herald – Editorial

December 9, 2000

President Clinton now says he's "troubled" by racial disparity in application of the death sentence. He wasn't in 1992, when it was just another issue to be exploited in the heat of a political campaign.

Clinton has delayed the execution of Juan Raul Garza, a drug kingpin convicted of the murders of three people, to give the Justice Department more time to study what is alleged to be racial bias here. Garza's could be the first federal execution since 1963. Of the 19 federal prisoners on death row, 15 are minorities.

But the decision to ask for the death penalty is made by U.S. attorneys and approved by the attorney general, all appointed by Clinton. If there is racism, the fault lies with Clinton appointees.

When Clinton was governor of Arkansas and a presidential candidate in 1992, he didn't agonize over whether more minorities were being executed than whites.  Then, death-row inmates were steppingstones to the White House.  Clinton rushed back to Little Rock from the campaign trail to preside over the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a brain-damaged murderer who was black.  Now that he's leaving national politics, the president is trying to mend fences with liberal constituencies, including death penalty foes. As he does so, he again puts his hypocrisy on display.
 
 
 
 

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