Nevada Congress members react to Libby decision
WASHINGTON — Rep. Jon Porter said Tuesday that it wasn’t a good idea for President Bush to commute the prison sentence of former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, while two other Nevada GOP lawmakers had less to say.
Though the president has the power to commute a sentence or pardon someone convicted of a crime, “doing so has the potential to tarnish a legacy,” Porter said.
Bush decided Libby’s penalty didn’t fit his crime, but Porter said that decision is best left in the courts.
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., declined to say whether he agreed with Bush’s action.
Ensign “believes this is the president’s prerogative,” his spokesman Tory Mazzola said in an e-mail.
Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., could not be reached, and his office was unable to supply his view.
Bush on Monday commuted a 30-month prison sentence meted out to Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Libby was convicted in March of perjury and obstruction of justice in the case stemming from the leak of CIA official Valerie Plame’s identity.
Libby is appealing his conviction.
Bush said Libby’s sentence was excessive.
But Porter said that judgment “should be left up to the judge and jury. We, as a nation, cannot diminish the credibility of these fundamental institutions.”
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., called the president’s decision to commute the sentence “disgraceful.”
“Libby’s conviction was the one faint glimmer of accountability for White House efforts to manipulate intelligence and silence critics of the Iraq war,” the Senate majority leader said. “Now, even that small bit of justice has been undone.”
Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said Bush’s action “is arguably one of the worst decisions the president has made during his presidency. It shows a total lack of respect for the rule of law in this country.”