What’s missing from this piece is praise for Gov. Crist, a Republican. The author displays a partisan Libertarian bias by glossing over Crist’s contribution to the man’s release.

That’s a fair criticism. I should have given more praise to Gov. Crist for pardoning Mr. Paey. Gov. Crist did the right thing where his predecessor, Jeb Bush, did not.

Having said that, I don’t believe I was being overly critical of Gov. Crist either. My only disagreement with him as far as this case goes is his statement that the war on (some) drugs isn’t to blame for Mr. Paey’s incarceration. The war on (some) drugs has ruined the lives of many individuals and compromised all of our civil liberties in ways most American’s fail to realize. Drug addiction, if dealt with by the government at all, should be handled as a public health issue rather than a criminal justice issue.

I have no axe to grind with Gov. Crist at this moment. I don’t know that much about him to tell you the truth. As UCrawford pointed out, if Crist continues to take actions we agree with (we meaning myself and the other contributors to The Liberty Papers), he will receive recognition here and elsewhere. The fact that Gov. Crist corrected this miscarriage of justice is very encouraging and a feather in his cap to be sure.

Actually, the authors noted that Crist’s full pardon of Paey exceeded even the defense team’s request and they made reference to Crist’s comments about the idiotic drug laws in Florida. They didn’t gloss over anything, because this piece wasn’t about Crist, nor was it about Crist’s tax reductions…it was about Richard Paey. If Crist takes consistently libertarian stances during his term, I’m sure you’ll be seeing pro-Crist pieces on this or other pro-freedom sites. But there’s no reason to go kissing the ass of a Republican governor just because he makes a smart decision. Even Democratic politicians get it right some of the time.

I recall, Libertarians were very skeptical of Crist’s election, many saying he was no libertarian. Yet, he pushed through property tax reductions through the Florida legislature.

Now, he pardons a medical marijuana patient.

I’d say we have a libertarian-leaning Governor in Florida at the very least.

Then again, you never can tell with “truthers”.