Mass. pardon case at center of GOP storm
Huckabee slams Romney's repeated denial of Iraq veteran
Anthony Circosta, a decorated Iraq War veteran from Agawam, needed a gun permit in Massachusetts to get a promotion at his security guard job and to pursue a possible career as a police officer. But first he needed to have his record cleared of a childhood felony - shooting a classmate in the shoulder with a BB gun when he was 13.
The Massachusetts clemency board investigated Circosta's case and twice recommended pardoning him. But then-Governor Mitt Romney refused, preserving a record of rejecting every clemency request that crossed his desk.
Now, Circosta's case is at the heart of what many Republicans consider the key issue in tomorrow's Iowa caucuses, with Romney and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee sparring over when and whether to grant pardons and commutations to convicted criminals.
Romney has blanketed the airwaves for two weeks with ads proclaiming that Huckabee granted clemency requests 1,033 times while Romney "never pardoned a single criminal." The less-funded Huckabee, however, has traveled the state with his own message about pardons - telling crowds Circosta's life story and asking whether they would pardon him. Almost all say they would.
Huckabee's point is clear: Romney is so hardhearted and politically calculating that he would deny a deserving veteran a chance to improve his life just because "he wanted to brag that he never, ever gave out a pardon" when he ran for president.
Circosta, now 30 and married with a daughter, did not return messages seeking comment. A friend told the Globe that Circosta "has moved on" with his life and was not interested in talking about the case.
But despite Circosta's reticence, he is becoming a symbol among Iowa Republicans. With Huckabee and Romney virtually tied in the polls, the fight over their sharply contrasting pardon records has emerged as a telling reflection of their characters.
In Iowa, Romney said he turned down Circosta because of his own guideline against pardoning firearm-related offenses if the applicant needed a pardon to obtain a gun permit.
"My desire was to make sure that I erred on the side of protecting the public," Romney said, adding that Huckabee granted pardons "as far as I know without any guidelines, simply done on the basis of what he may have thought was appropriate."
To underscore the point, Romney's campaign sent out another memo this week that quoted extensively from press reports over the years about Huckabee's reputation for handing out pardons and commutations, including reducing the sentences of convicted murderers.
But Huckabee talks about the power of rehabilitation, and told an Iowa voter this week who asked about his pardons, "I do believe that you don't just keep punishing people forever." An ordained Baptist minister, Huckabee has emphasized that the vast majority of his pardons were to give people with minor offenses, such as writing a bad check years earlier, a chance to get a job.
To push back against Romney, Huckabee is pointing to Circosta, whose case was first outlined in a June 2007 Associated Press story. The Globe has obtained the pardon advisory board's two case summary reports for Circosta that include many previously unreported details.
On Oct. 22, 1991, the 13-year-old Circosta was home alone in his family's apartment in Agawam. Two acquaintances from his middle school class were cutting through the complex. Circosta shouted at them from his balcony to get off the property. When they ignored him, Circosta shot a BB gun at one of the boys, Robert Latif. The pellet hit Latif in his left shoulder, causing a welt.
"There wasn't much of a wound - I wasn't even bleeding," Latif recalled in a phone interview with the Globe.
Angry at being shot "over something so stupid," Latif called the police. Circosta was arrested, pleaded guilty in juvenile court to felony assault with a dangerous weapon, and was sentenced to 364 days of probation. Years later, Circosta would tell the pardon advisory board that he was not proud of the childhood incident, "but it happened."
Circosta grew up. He enlisted in the Army National Guard as a medic, became a volunteer firefighter, and graduated from Westfield State College with a degree in criminal justice. In 2002, he served as a National Guard medic at the Salt Lake City Olympics - whose CEO was a businessman named Mitt Romney.
After the Olympics, Romney and Circosta returned from Utah to Massachusetts. Romney ran for governor, and Circosta filed a petition for a pardon. Circosta said he wanted to be eligible for a promotion at his security guard job and was interested in pursuing a career as a police officer. Both goals required a gun permit, so he needed the BB gun offense wiped from his record.
Circosta won letters of support from many people, including his National Guard commander, the chief of the Springfield police, US Representative Richard Neal, and Mayor Richard Cohen of Agawam. All attested to his maturity and good character. "As children we've all made mistakes, but as an adult he has a very clean record and has done all the right things," Cohen told the Globe in a telephone interview.
The clemency board "strongly recommended" a pardon for Circosta in 2003. But Romney took no action on the petition, which was automatically denied in March 2004 because a year had passed with no action by the governor.
Later that year, Circosta's Army National Guard unit was deployed to Iraq, where he spent a year as a combat medic. He was promoted to first lieutenant and was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service.
At the end of his deployment, Circosta returned to Agawam. But the childhood conviction was still haunting him. He still could not get promoted as a security guard. In addition, he was being offered the command of his National Guard company, but first needed a pardon so he would be eligible for top secret clearance from the military.
In 2005, Circosta again asked for a pardon with the backing of the advisory board. Once again, Romney declined.
Some Iowa Republicans who have heard Huckabee tell Circosta's story say it caused them to look at the two governors' clemency records in a different light. "I was really glad to hear his explanation," said Dan Carver, a fifth-grade teacher in Indianola who attended a recent Huckabee event. "I was really shocked in that case he talked about that Romney turned it down. That didn't make sense to me."
Back in Massachusetts, Latif - who is now a computer technician - called the whole situation sad. He said that Circosta deserves a pardon. "It was such a long time ago, and it shouldn't have to bog the kid down for the rest of his life," Latif said.
Michael Levenson of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents Kelsey Abbruzzese and Amy Farnsworth contributed to this report. 