Walker Administration Proposes Eliminating Governor’s Pardon Advisory Board

The state Department of Administration is proposing to eliminate the Governor’s Pardon Advisory Board, which has been inactive since Gov. Scott Walker took office in 2010.

Walker has said he won’t grant pardons to ex-offenders because he feels it undermines the actions of the judge and jury that convicted them. But attorney Donald Bach, who served as legal counsel on the pardon board under Gov. Tommy Thompson, said pardons were never meant to erase a crime.

“It erases the disabilities and the penalties of a conviction, so it is the power to forgive,” said Bach.

Bach said eliminating executive pardons leaves only one option for offenders who want to clear their records: ask a prosecutor to dismiss charges. It’s something he said most DAs won’t consider.

“It’s very hard to convince a DA to go back in a case that he or she has prosecuted … and say, ‘Please dismiss the case,’” said Bach.

Bach said the governor’s power to grant pardons is still in the state constitution, and the next governor could decide to begin granting them again.