Abercrombie pardoned 83, with 50 during his last year

Question: Who did Neil Abercrombie pardon before leaving as governor?

Answer: During his four-year term, the former governor issued pardons to 83 people, most of them in his last year in office.

A pardon officially forgives a crime and restores all civil liberties to the person pardoned.

According to records provided by the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center, which is part of the Department of the Attorney General, Abercrombie issued pardons to 50 people in 2014.

A Honolulu Star-Advertiser story in 2010 — bit.ly/1DHqJFA — said his immediate predecessors, Linda Lingle, Ben Cayetano and John Waihee, also all issued the most pardons in their last years in office.

We note that although 83 people were pardoned by Abercrombie, the actual number of offenses forgiven is far more: 222. That’s because many people are pardoned for multiple crimes.

For example, Ian G.K. Crabbe was pardoned by Abercrombie in 2014 for 13 offenses committed between 1984 and 2003, including spouse abuse, criminal contempt of court, promoting a dangerous drug and harassment.

Lingle pardoned Paul Dennis Watanabe in 2010 for 32 offenses committed from 1967 to the 1990s, including vagrancy, theft, criminal trespass and criminal contempt of court; and Diane Elizabeth Patalano for 32 offenses committed in the 1970s and 1980s, including open lewdness, prostitution and contempt of court.

But those numbers do not compare to the number of convictions forgiven by Cayetano for former state Rep. Gene Albano in 2000: 55, all related to his convictions over voter registration fraud in 1993.

Of the last three governors, Abercrombie pardoned the fewest number of people, but he served only one term.

Records provided by the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center show Lingle pardoned 148 people on a total of 514 charges, while Cayetano pardoned 186 people on 534 charges.

Both served eight years, or two terms, as governor.

For some reason, the figures we were given don’t match those previously reported.

Here are data provided for Abercrombie, Lingle and Cayetano and compiled into a database by Star-Advertiser data news editor Dana Williams: data.staradvertiser.com/pardons/pardons.

We previously explained that gubernatorial pardons are based on screenings and investigations by the Attorney General, Department of Public Safety and Hawaii Paroling Authority. See bit.ly/1FkWQJR.

Question: I’m a senior citizen living on Social Security, and I’ve received conflicting answers to my question. I have a handicap parking placard and have been told that I either need to find a handicap parking stall or feed the meter on public streets. Is that true?

Answer: No.

If you have a valid placard, you may park for free in a metered stall for 21/2 hours or the maximum allowable time on the meter, whichever is longer.

For information on disabled parking laws, go to the website of the state’s Disability and Communication Access Board, health.hawaii.gov/dcab, call 586-8121 or email dcab@doh.hawaii.gov.

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Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.