MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Political analysts say a pardon Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty granted to a sex offender could haunt him if he emerges as a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination.
Pawlenty was on a board that pardoned Jeremy Giefer, who was 19 when he was charged with having sex with his 14-year-old girlfriend, whom he later married. The 36-year-old Vernon Center man is now charged with sexually abusing another girl allegedly more than 250 times, both before and after he was pardoned in 2008.
Larry Sabato of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia says the pardon could become fodder for an attack ad.
Pawlenty spokesman Bruce Gordon says the board would not have pardoned Giefer had it known about the new allegations..
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