South Dakota: Pardon (Regular and Huckabee'd Version)

REGULAR VERSION

Gov. Mike Rounds has pardoned Tiffany Klapperich, who was sentenced to 180 days in jail in 2006 for a bar fight. Klapperich was also ordered to pay costs and restitution for a pair of glasses. The governor's press secretary says that he (Rounds) "spends an incredible amount of time considering every pardon request ... and even makes calls on his own to settle any questions he may have." He also does a great deal of "soul searching." See story here.

HUCKABEE'D VERSION

Today, Governor Mike Rounds unilaterally pardoned a violent criminal, charged with a physical assault in public. The governor gave no specific reason for directly contradicting the decision making of judges and prosecutors in the criminal courts of South Dakota, but a spokesperson did make reference to what appears to be some kind of new-age spiritual / religious practice of "soul searching." Whatever the case may be, Rounds is solely responsible for anything else that goes wrong in the recipient's life for at least the next ten years!