NewsMax.com
Wednesday, June 6, 2001

In 1996, Hale cooperated with independent counsel Kenneth Starr in the successful prosecution of former Democrat Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and of James and Susan McDougal, partners with Bill and Hillary Clinton in the Whitewater land development deal.

Huckabee, then the Republican lieutenant governor, became governor after Tucker's resignation.

"I don't think you can read anything into the decision," Huckabee spokesman Rex Nelson told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette "Various factors go into each decision the governor makes."

In January of this year, NewsMax.com editor Christopher Ruddy asked readers to contact Gov. Huckabee to ask for clemency on behalf of Hale. [See: Hero of Yesteryear Needs Your Help]

Hale's 21-day prison sentence, which he has not begun, will be commuted to time served, Huckabee said late Monday.

Nelson said the governor would not give reasons for the leniency. The governor's notice begins a 30-day public comment period, he said. Afterward, Huckabee will issue a final decision.

In March 1999, a Pulaski County Circuit Court jury convicted Hale of lying to state regulators about the solvency of his National Savings Life Insurance Co., the Associated Press reported.

Defense lawyers said the infraction was a technicality and that no one lost money as a result. But prosecutor Larry Jegley was angry and demanded a face-to-face meeting with Huckabee.

"Are you serious?" Jegley told the Democrat-Gazette when told about the governor's action. "I'd like to think the governor's politics didn't have anything to do with it. I know him to be a compassionate man. He doesn't need to be compassionate with a scoundrel like David Hale." Jegley said could have pushed for Hale to receive the maximum eight years.

David Bowden of Little Rock, Hale's attorney, has said that any sentence would amount to a life sentence because of his client's poor health.

Though Hale was set to serve 21 days, a quirk in state law meant Hale could have served up to six months in a municipal jail as he waited for a state prison hospital bed.

Hale spent nearly two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to two Whitewater felonies. He once accused then-President Clinton of pressuring him to make a $300,000 loan to Mrs. McDougal. Clinton denied the allegation.

Read Chistopher Ruddy's "Big Victory for NewsMax Readers."

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