GOP Candidate Seeks Pardon From Perry

As I reported in an April 29th post on this blog, the Republican candidate, Fabian Tankesly (pictured above) for the Precinct 2 Commissioner's seat in Potter County is a convicted felon. In fact, he's been convicted of four different felony charges (one of which was for Unauthorized Use Of A Motor Vehicle and another was for Theft). He's also served a two year term in a State Jail  facility for at least one of those convictions.

Tankesley is the only Republican who has filed for the seat, so unless he is officially removed from the ballot by the Republican Party of Potter County at least 30 days before the general election, he will be their candidate on the November ballot. So far, the county Republican Party has taken no action -- saying they are waiting for official records of Tankesly's criminal history to get back from Austin.

Even if Tankesly was allowed to remain on the ballot, and somehow was able to get elected in November, he could not serve as the county commissioner -- because Texas state law prevents any convicted felon from holding elective office unless that candidate has received an official pardon for all convictions. Evidently Tankesly either didn't know of the law or didn't think anyone would find out (since on his candidate application he signed a statement saying he had not been convicted of a felony).

Now most people would have been embarrassed by the tumult created by this already and withdrawn their candidacy. But we are dealing with a Republican here, and most Republican candidates don't seem to have a sense of shame (just look at the policies they support). Tankesly is no different. He says he has now hired an attorney and is trying to get pardoned for his four convictions (which he terms as "minor", even though they are felonies).

It will be interesting to see how the Republican leadership in Austin responds to the request for pardons. Texas does have a Republican governor (Rick Perry), and the Board of Pardons & Paroles (who would have to make a recommendation) are all Perry appointees. Normally, the chances of getting a pardon are very slim. In 2010, the Board received 430 pardon applications. They investigated 183 of them, and recommended approval of 33. Perry only pardoned 9 out of that 33 (about 2.09% of all applications submitted).

But none of those people were running for office as a Republican. Will Governor Perry make an exception for a fellow Republican candidate, and grant him an expedited pardon? We'll just have to wait and see. I wouldn't bet against it.