Strike 3 for Mark Green on Jensen pardon

Bruce Murphy of Milwaukee Magazine gives Rep. Mark Green another swing at the question of whether he would pardon Scott Jensen. Green whiffs again:

So yesterday I called Graul to offer the campaign a third chance. Graul e-mailed me this quote from Green: “I cannot see any scenario under which I would pardon Scott Jensen.” To buttress this point, the campaign noted that under the current process, a governor can’t pardon someone until five years after the conclusion of a person’s entire sentence.

But Article V, Section 6 of the Wisconsin Constitution also allows the governor the power to grant commutations – to reduce the length of someone’s sentence. This would seem to leave a loophole for Green to simply commute Jensen’s sentence, rather than issuing a pardon.

The easy way for Green to end this controversy is to just say no – under no circumstances would he give any legal break to Jensen. But remarkably, Green refuses to do so. “This is an ethics no-brainer,” Gov. Jim Doyle’s campaign spokesperson, Melanie Fonder, crows, “and Green has failed it not once, not twice, but three times.”

Green’s loyalty to Jensen could be very damaging. At a time when there is bipartisan disgust by voters with the many politicians convicted for various corruptions, a vague message about ethics won’t do. Green has foolishly let this issue fester for weeks and has given Doyle a huge opening for attack ads. It is still early in the campaign for governor, but this may ultimately be cited as one of the biggest blunders of the race.