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| Will he grant himself a pardon? |
| By The Associated Press |
| Published: 10/27/2008 |
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The Rev. Edward Pinkney's congressional campaign has many obstacles to overcome, not the least of which is that he's currently behind bars. Pinkney, who turns 60 on Monday, is the Green Party candidate for Michigan's 6th Congressional District. Among his opponents is 55-year-old incumbent Fred Upton, a Republican who has occupied the seat since 1987. Besides battling for a spot in the U.S. House of Representatives, Pinkney also is fighting what he considers to be a corrupt legal system that has imprisoned an innocent man. The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan is working to overturn his convictions on election fraud and other charges. "Life is tough here. It's definitely not peaches and cream, that's for sure," he told The Associated Press during a recent telephone interview from the Ojibway Correctional Facility in the Upper Peninsula. The state prison is about 10 miles from the Wisconsin line and roughly 600 miles from the district he'd like to represent in Congress. Pinkney, a Benton Harbor resident and longtime community activist, was sentenced to five years of probation after a jury convicted him in March 2007 of felony and misdemeanor fraud charges stemming from a successful recall election of a local official that he led in 2005. He was accused of paying some people to vote absentee and of improperly handling valid absentee ballots. Then in June of this year, Pinkney was sent to prison for three to 10 years after being convicted of violating his probation by writing something in a progressive Chicago newspaper that a judge ruled as a threat to a fellow judge. Pinkney and his Detroit attorney, Hugh "Buck" Davis, say he was only paraphrasing some Bible verses from the book of Deuteronomy. "As far as I know, Pinkney's the first preacher in the history of America to get locked up for quoting the Bible," Davis says. Davis is appealing the conviction and supporters have presented a clemency petition with several thousand signatures to Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Pinkney says he's being harassed for his outspoken opposition to an upscale, 530-acre residential and commercial development in southwestern Michigan. Pinkney is upset that Benton Harbor city leaders are allowing the developers to use 22 acres of a city park that borders Lake Michigan for three holes of a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course that is the heart of the project. Pinkney decided to run for Congress to bring attention to his situation and "stand up for what is right." "The only way that we can get the word out and bring these people to justice is if I ran for office," Pinkney says. Others running for Upton's seat include Democrat Don Cooney, 71, of Kalamazoo and Libertarian Greg Merle, 41, of Vicksburg. Pinkney's lawyer, Davis, says there is nothing in federal election law prohibiting Pinkney or any other convicted felon from seeking, winning or holding elected office, regardless of whether that person is incarcerated. Only one person has been elected to Congress while incarcerated. Matthew Lyon of Vermont was re-elected to Congress in 1798 while serving time for sedition after criticizing President John Adams. More recently, James Traficant of Ohio ran for re-election as an independent from a prison cell in 2002 but lost. Also, Socialist Eugene Debs ran for president from prison in 1920; James Michael Curley was elected to the Boston Board of Alderman in 1904 while serving time for fraud -- and later became mayor of the city; and earlier this year Michael McGee lost a re-election bid to the Milwaukee Board of Alderman while serving time on corruption charges. While Pinkney isn't given much shot of winning, he says he's still trying to do some good where he can. As a minister, he says he often counsels other inmates about their problems and, with his wife, Dorothy, tries to help them find support when they get out. "The people here have accepted me with open arms and they understand why I'm here and the reason behind it," he says. |
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