Christopher Ruddy
Tuesday, March 6, 2001

I use the words the "the latest" carefully, because any student of the Clintons knows they used pardons for their own benefit long before they arrived in Washington.

To understand the Clintons and their modus operandi, one must really look back and examine their days as first couple of Arkansas.

For more than a decade Bill and Hillary dominated this small state and learned every sneaky trick in the book. Later, they would mimic their act in Washington with great success.

The pardon game, of course, was one their tricks.

Take for example the story of Say McIntosh and the pardon he won for his son.

Say was the owner of a small soul food takeout shop called Say’s Place in Little Rock. Say was also a leader in Little Rock’s strong African-American community.

Say, a man I met more than once, was a hard-working small-business owner. Some called him the Al Sharpton of Little Rock. I always felt Say was a decent man who worked hard for his people and was not involved in shaking down politicians.

An early supporter of Bill Clinton during Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, Say turned vehemently against Clinton. The reason?

Say’s son had been imprisoned on drug-related charges. As is usually the case with poor folk in Arkansas, the system threw away the key.

Say understood the hypocrisy of the system where the governor’s brother Roger, a major drug dealer, was caught and out of jail in no time. Meanwhile, Say’s son was caught on a minor drug offense and was put away forever.

Say asked Clinton to intervene and help, and Clinton rebuffed him. What did he need Say for? Clinton was finished with Arkansas and had his sights set on the White House.

Say took to the streets and with other African-Americans protested Clinton’s appearances.

Clinton, who liked to think he had the black community in his back pocket, was furious. Arkansas State Trooper Larry Patterson told me Clinton would go ballistic at the mention of McIntosh and refer to him using the "N" word.

Clinton was worried about Say. During the early days of the 1992 campaign, Say ran around Little Rock passing out fliers of a young mulatto child named Danno Williams. Say said little Danno was Bill Clinton’s love child.

At his restaurant Say had paper placements made up with a picture of Clinton and the title "Governor D—k." Does the story sounds familiar? It should, as this true story closely resembles the so-called fictional story of "Primary Colors."

As you will recall, author Joe Klein wrote about a Southern governor running for president who had to keep secret a child he had with a 14-year-old African-American girl.

Klein’s fictional account was not derived from his imagination. Say was well known, as were his allegations, to the national press corps in Little Rock.

Then one day in the middle of the 1992 campaign, as election day drew near, Say simply disappeared. Clinton critics were looking for him, but no luck. He was just gone.

Soon after Clinton’s victory in November Say resurfaced in Little Rock. And he had little to complain about Clinton. We later found out why. In 1993 on the day Clinton resigned as governor, he did so hours before his lieutenant governor, Jim Guy Tucker, took the oath to replace him.

For several hours, the most senior member of the Arkansas Senate, its senator pro tem, held the office of governor.

Usually nothing would happen in such a short period of time, but not this time. The senator, serving as the acting governor, pardoned Say's son.

It was Clintonesque. Clinton could pardon a drug convict and pay off a political opponent. He could do so keeping his name unattached to the last-minute pardon and without leaving this black mark on his successor's blotter.

Tomorrow: Another Clinton drug friend gets a pardon.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Pardongate
Clinton Scandals

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