White House: Bush "Followed the Process" in Brooklyn Developer's One-Day Pardon

Some more spinning from the White House after President Bush pardoned a Brooklyn developer—and then rescinded the pardon the next day. White House spokesman Tony Fratto told Newsday that the President "followed the process" when he first granted the parson to Isaac Toussie but decided to reverse the decision after finding out Toussie's father made contributions to the Republican party and politicians, "It [the contributions] had the potential to create at least the appearance of impropriety."

Still, the Daily News is confused about the White House's actions: "The mystery is how the administration ignored Toussie and his father's background - a tale of payoff and corruption allegations spanning more than 45 years - in pardoning the son for a massive housing scam." The News notes that the big lawsuits against father Robert and son Isaac "involve charges of inflated prices and misleading advertising for some of the Long Island developments and others on Staten Island." There's another News article about the homebuyers who are suing the Toussies: "Homeowner Ronald Gibson was told he would 'have his arms cut off' if he didn't quit complaining about deadly carbon monoxide flowing into the house through a faulty heating system."

The NY Times reports that Toussie's lawyers hope that when his pardon application is reviewed by the Justice Department (the lawyers bypassed the DOJ and went straight to the White House, apparently a more common route these days), he will be granted a pardon. But Rep. Peter King (R-Long Island) told Newsday, "What [Toussie] had done was pretty unforgivable."