To the editor:

George W. Bush has made another of his “considered judgments” (news conference, July 3), commuting the jail sentence of former White House staffer and convicted felon Scooter Libby. Though within his prerogative, this outrageous act of short-circuiting the law enforcement process is just one more of Bush’s poor decisions – the latest in a long and growing list of scandals that are an affront to the American people.

Being within the letter of the law is of little consequence when the president’s decision is at best political cronyism, at worst a blatant quid pro quo to maintain Libby’s silence. There is no rationale that justifies the president’s action in this legal proceeding. Anyone who followed the trial understands the seriousness of the underlying crime that Libby lied about and the investigation he was convicted of obstructing. The president’s judgment, driven by his own partisan political and self-interest motives, has predictably eroded whatever trust we citizens might have had left in this administration.

Mark Stone,

Lawrence