I have to check out some more leads on the Jeremy Giefer story before posting on them, but others are doing fine work on the Pawlenty pardon.
As for the persistent identification of the story by the media with Pawlenty's name: perhaps the narrative remains centered around the Governor's role in the matter merely because of the Eagan Republican's presidential ambitions.
However, when I looked at the Board of Pardons' file on the case when it was sent to me late Monday afternoon, I noticed that neither the Chief Justice's office nor that of the Attorney General had the charge of due diligence in checking out Giefer's application for a pardon extraordinary. Rather, the department of corrections--part of the Pawlenty adiministration conducted the investigation.
I'm checking out several leads that suggest a closer examination of Mr. Gieger would have led the Board to question his claims of being a model family man. More on that later.
Nick Pinto has sunk his teeth into this story at the City Pages' blotter. In Jeremy Giefer, accused child molester, got Pawlenty pardon to open childcare center, Pinto reviews the facts:
One reason Giefer wanted his record cleared? His wife wanted to open a childcare center in the house where they live--the same house where Giefer allegedly molested his young daughter throughout the six years prior.
Go read the whole thing at the Blotter. KEYC-TV Fox reports in Giefer's Next Court Date Set For December 13:
New developments in the case against the Vernon Center man, charged with 12 felony counts for allegedly forcing sex on a minor female relative. Yesterday, a judge set an omnibus hearing on December 13 for 36 year old Jeremy Giefer. Until that time he is out on $250,000 bail.
The Governor's office is taking an interest in the case. It was just two years ago that Pawlenty and other officials pardoned Giefer. That pardon came after he was convicted in the 1990s for having sex with a 14-year-old girl whom he later married. Giefer was 19 at the time.
As we've reported, prosecutors in Blue Earth County are now accusing Giefer of assaulting a second girl hundreds of times before and after he received that pardon. Pawlenty spokesman Bruce Gordon Defended the pardon, saying the vote for approval was unanimous.
Go watch the clip at the link above. Finally, the story has been picked up by the Associated Press; the wire service's Steve Karnowski does a thorough job on the story, even noting that Bluestem first broke the story on Sunday. Go read it.
Finally, blogger extraordinary Karl Bremer points out yet another Pawlenty pardon problem. Read all about how the Pawlenty's pardon problems are piling up on Ripple in Stillwater. A taste:
A criminal sex offender recommended for a “pardon extraordinary” by Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2008 was arrested again in November on multiple criminal sexual conduct and incest charges. But this isn’t the first time Pawlenty’s pardon subjects have run afoul of the law after getting his blessing.
In 2002, Pawlenty sought a presidential pardon for convicted money-launderer/cocaine-and-gun runner Frank Vennes, Jr. That same year, Vennes and his family donated a total of $10,000 to his gubernatorial campaign, and thousands more in 2004 and 2006.
But then on Sept. 24, 2008, federal agents raided Vennes’ $5 million Shorewood home on Lake Minnetonka and his $6 million oceanfront home in Jupiter, Fla., in connection with the Tom Petters Ponzi scheme investigation. According to the federal search warrant, Vennes was alleged to have hauled in more than $28 million in commissions for his role in luring five investors to pony up $1.2 billion in Petters’ giant Ponzi scheme.
On Oct. 6, 2008, the assets and records of Vennes, Petters, Petters’ companies and other Petters associates were frozen by a federal judge, and many seized assets of Vennes’ already have been sold off to compensate victims of the fraud, even though Vennes has never been charged with a crime in the case. Vennes recently proposed a plan to liquidate most of the rest of his assets in exchange for immunity from further lawsuits in the Petters case.
Pawlenty has never responded to requests for an explanation of his apparently close relationship with Vennes. But when the national media begins to scrutinize the struggling presidential candidate’s past a little closer, the subject of Pawlenty's pardon for Vennes is sure to come up.
Read the rest at RIS.
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