When Al Gore went before voters in November 2000, as a sitting vice president promising to continue President Bill Clinton’s economic policies, the economy was in excellent shape. The unemployment rate had fallen to only 3.9 percent, and middle-class incomes were growing at their fastest clip in a generation. Yet over the course of the 2000 campaign, the economy also slowed markedly. Monthly job growth at the start of the year was almost 300,000; by November, it was only about 100,000. If Mr. Gore had the benefit of an economy functioning at a very high level, he did not have the benefit of one growing at a rapid rate. The outcome of the 2000 election was exceedingly close — roughly as close as the modest ... Continue reading →
Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images file photo) The ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee has called on President Barack Obama to order an investigation into the case of Clarence Aaron, a federal prison inmate whose quest for a presidential commutation was the subject of a ProPublica investigation. The investigation, co-published May 13 with the Washington Post, showed that Pardon Attorney Ronald L. Rodgers, who works for the Justice Department, withheld key information from the White House in 2008 regarding Aaron’s application. Aaron was convicted in 1993, at the age of 24, for his role in an Alabama drug conspiracy –his first criminal offense – and sentenced to three life terms without parole. Documents obtained by ProPublica show that Rodgers did ... Continue reading →