Tim Pawlenty Pardoned Serial Sex Offender So He Could Open A Child Care

Looks like yet another Republican presidential contender is going to bite the dust as information has come to light that he pardoned a sex offender in order to allow his wife to open a child care facility. 

 Tim Pawlenty: tough on sex criminals unless they marry their victims.

Jeremy Giefer served time in 1994 for statutory rape for a sexual relationship that he established with a 14 year old girl.  That girl became pregnant, Giefer married her, and evidently that makes everything "A-OK" because two years ago, Governor Pawlenty wiped Giefer's slate clean so that Giefer's now-adult wife could open a child care without hindrance.

Not many are surprised, then, that allegations are now being brought against him for raping his own daughter, the offspring of the initial sexual relationship that landed him in so much hot water years ago.

"Unlike many other states, where the governor alone is responsible for pardon decisions, Minnesota law gives the power to pardon to a board composed of the governor, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, and the attorney general. The board meets two times a year, and submits an annual report of its actions to the Legislature. All three officials must agree for a pardon to be granted.

"But while the responsibility for the decisions is shared equally by the board members, Governor Pawlenty is likely to feel most of the heat for the Giefer pardon. Pawlenty has gone to great lengths as governor to position himself as a social conservative who's tough on crime and tougher on sex criminals."


Does Giefer, now charged with 250 counts of molestation, count as the type of sex criminal Pawlenty is supposedly tough on? 

[TheBlotter]