No Holiday Pardon for Libby

_Jeffrey James Bruce, of Chandler, Okla., convicted in 1994 of possessing stolen mail. He served five years probation and paid $4,789 in restitution.

_Jackie Ray Clayborn, of Deer, Ark., sentenced in 1993 to five months in prison, two years of supervised release and $3,000 in fines on marijuana charges.

_John Fornaby, of Boynton Beach, Fla., convicted in 1991 of conspiring to distribute cocaine. He served three years in prison.

_Melton Harrell, of Cairo, Ga., sentenced in 1976 to two years probation and a $200 fine for stealing government property.

_Saul Kaplan of Scranton, Pa., sentenced in 1992 for violating the Federal Election Campaign Act and fined $25,000.

_John F. McDermott, from Moretown, Vt., sentenced in 1995 for receiving kickbacks in defense procurement contracts. He served two years probation and paid a $10,000 fine.

_William James Norman of Tallahassee, Fla., convicted in 1970 for possessing and running an unregistered distillery that did not carry the proper signage and illegally produced alcoholic drinks made from mash. He was sentenced to three years probation.

_James Albert Bodendieck Sr., of New Athens, Ill., sentenced in 1959 to three years probation for transporting a stolen vehicle across state lines.

_Glanus Terrell Osborne of Dallas, Ga., sentenced in 1990 for possessing a stolen motor vehicle. He served three years probation, including 90 days in a community corrections center, and paid a $2,000 fine.

Additionally, Bush cut short the 1992 prison sentence of crack cocaine dealer Michael Dwayne Short of Hyattsville, Md., who will be released on Feb. 8 after serving 15 years of his 19-year sentence. Short's commutation comes the day the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously to allow some 19,500 federal prison inmates, most of them black, to seek reductions in their crack cocaine sentences.

Short must still serve a term of supervised release.

Molly Gill, spokeswoman for Families Against Mandatory Minimums, applauded Bush's decision to spring Short early. She described Short as a first-time convict who played only a small role in a Washington-area crack ring.

"Commutations can only impact individual lives," Gill said. "What we need is systemic change to federal sentencing laws, and that is up to Congress. Congress should address all mandatory minimums so the courts can prevent unfair sentences like Short's from recurring."

Compared to most of his immediate predecessors, Bush has granted far fewer pardons for the length of time he's been in the White House.

President Clinton issued a total of 457 in eight years in office. Bush's father, George H. W. Bush, issued 77 in four years. President Reagan issued 406 in eight years, and President Carter issued 563 in four years.

Since World War II, the largest number of pardons and commutations _ 2,031 _ came from President Truman, who served 82 days short of eight years.

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Associated Press writer Marc Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pa., contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS the year John Fornaby, of Boynton Beach, Fla., was convicted to 1991.)