You Reap What You Sow

There was a real chance that Árni Johnsen would not make it into the Althing this time.  17% of the people who voted for the Sjáfstædisflokkurinn list crossed his name off. But he only dropped down one seat so he is still in.  Árni has repeatedly  been the top person to have his name crossed off since returning to politics in 2006 following his conviction AND PRISON SENTENCE for corruption, fraud and embezzlement.  A great summary of what Árni did can be read in English here- http://icelandweatherreport.com/2006/11/corruption-thy-name-is-arni-johnsen.html

The best part of Árni's story is not his conviction (although it is quite a good story) but how he was pardoned for his crimes by his own party.  Apparently the President of Iceland is the only one who can pardon an individual but (get this!) when the President is outside the country (as he was in August 2006) the Prime Minister (from Sjáfstæðisflokkurinn) et al. assume his power and guess who they decided to pardon?  You guessed it.  For along time Sjáfstæðisflokkurinn got away with many corrupt and questionable moves like the pardon of Árni Johnsen and yesterday they finally paid the price.  What else could they have expected than what they deserved.  As the saying goes- "You reap what you sow."

GTB

Árni Johnsen niður um þingsæti

Athugasemdir

[Heimir Tómasson, 27.4.2009 kl. 16:26]

Unfortunately, crossing Árni off has nothing to do, except maybe deal a blow to his considerable ego when he drops down one seat. But the real problem is that even though I dislike the man intensely, you have to give the devil his due. He has undertaken mammoth tasks for his district, as well for him self.

Still, nothing can "forgive" this - scuse my french - asshole.