RTFA: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/art…

Former House speaker Thomas M. Finneran, seeking to cleanse the stain left by his 2007 conviction for obstruction of justice, is angling for a last-minute pardon from President Bush and has lined up a group of former Massachusetts governors to back his request.

Finneran submitted an application for a presidential pardon last month, and the four governors – Democrat Michael Dukakis and Republicans William F. Weld, Paul Cellucci, and Jane Swift – followed up with a letter to the White House praising his integrity.

Finneran has already been “severely punished,” the governors wrote, citing the loss of his state pension, the suspension of his license to practice law, and his firing from a lucrative private-sector job.

“And he has suffered daily taunts and ridicule of those who believe that every elected official is the equivalent of a common thief,” the governors told the president in their letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Globe. They assured Bush that Finneran has “seen the error of this episode” and is truly sorry.

…he is sorry he got caught …and sorry that the current law prevents Bush from granting this pardon.

Of course, a law preventing something hasn’t stopped Bush in the past!