> Arnie was sending a message to the correctional officers union,
> one of the strongest in California, with the carnard about George
> Jackson. Jackson was implicated in the deaths of four COs before
> he was killed, and he is still a hated figure among COs throughout
> the state. Had Schwarzenegger granted clemency to a man on record
> as admiring George Jackson, he would have immediately lost the
> support of the COs union in next year's campaign. In other words,
> Arnold was asked choose Williams' life over his own political life
> - such as it is. No contest.
In two previous decisions (on Donald Beardslee and Kevin Cooper), Schwarzenegger also denied clemency, so I doubt that Stanley Williams' admiration for George Jackson made a difference.
Trying to obtain clemency is really an uphill battle today.
<blockquote>Clemency has become extremely rare. Sarat noted that aside from the mass Death Row commutation extended by Illinois Gov. George Ryan in 2003, there had been only a dozen acts of clemency in the last decade; there were 143 such acts during the 1960s. Ronald Reagan was the last California governor to commute a death sentence, in 1967.
(Mark Martin, "Governor Dreading Decision on Life or Death," November 21, 2005, <http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/21/ MNGUFFRRP11.DTL></blockquote>
Interestingly, concerning criminal justice, Schwarzenegger has been more lenient than Gray Davis in some respects:
<blockquote>[W]ithout much fanfare, Schwarzenegger has shown significant differences on crime and punishment policies from the three governors who came before him.
He added the word "rehabilitation" to the name of the state's prison system, and he has quietly allowed the parole of 114 California inmates charged with violent crimes, including 23 people convicted of first-degree murder.
That record stands in stark contrast to former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, who granted parole to only five inmates in his five years in office and publicly stated he did not believe that murderers deserved a second chance.
(Martin, <http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/21/ MNGUFFRRP11.DTL>)</blockquote>
Yoshie Furuhashi <http://montages.blogspot.com> <http://monthlyreview.org> <http://mrzine.org>