Carlos Vignali

When former President of the United States Bill Clinton left office he granted 140 pardons. One of the pardons was given to Carlos Vignali, who was serving the 6th of 15 years in prison for organized cocaine trafficking.

The pardon was controversial because there are indications that it was a consequence of Carlos' father Horacio Vignali's monetary contributions to politicians such as Antonio Villaraigosa, Robert Hertzberg and Xavier Becerra, who in turn petitioned Clinton for Carlos Vignali's release. However, Clinton's pardon was ostensibly motivated by the harsh minimum sentencing for drug related offences as part of the War on Drugs, but it seems that Carlos Vignali was a relatively big offender who was probably less deserving of a pardon than many other convicted persons who are not as well connected [1]. Vignali's father possesses large holdings of commercial real estate in Downtown Los Angeles, and Vignali today is active in his father's real estate businesses.

Villaraigosa's petitioning Clinton for Vignali's release was used against him successfully by James K. Hahn as an issue in the 2001 Los Angeles mayoral election. Hahn attempted to use the issue again in the 2005 mayoral election against both Villaraigosa and Hertzberg in the primaries, and against Villaraigosa in the runoff, but was unable to use this issue for political gain again and lost the election.

External links

• Another pardon that stinks - Article in Salon.com about Clinton's pardons and the pardon of Carlos Vignali.
• Who is Carlos Vignali? - Article in ABC News.
• Unpardonable Disparities - Article from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting arguing that Clinton's pardons received much more criticism than the pardons granted by George H. W. Bush, even though the Bush pardons were just as questionable.