cannabisnews.com: Author Alleging Bush Drug Arrest Reportedly Felon Author Alleging Bush Drug Arrest Reportedly Felon Posted by FoM on October 20, 1999 at 21:34:31 PT By Pete Slover, The Dallas Morning News Source: Dallas Morning News The author of a book alleging that Gov. George W. Bush covered up a 1972 cocaine arrest is himself a felon on parole, convicted in Dallas of hiring a hit man for a failed attempt to kill his employer with a car bomb in 1987, records show. James Howard Hatfield, 41, was convicted of solicitation of capital murder, served five years of a 15-year sentence in a Texas prison and was paroled in 1993, records show.Author J.H. Hatfield flatly denied in an interview that he is that man. But a parole officer in Arkansas confirmed Wednesday that Mr. Hatfield the author is Mr. Hatfield the ex-convict, who is serving parole from Texas through April 2003.In his new book, Fortunate Son, George W. Bush and the Making of an American President, Mr. Hatfield quotes three anonymous sources saying that Mr. Bush was arrested for cocaine possession but that Mr. Bush's father arranged for the charges to be dropped and expunged. The Bushes and Houston courthouse insiders have denounced the account as false. The Bush campaign had no comment on the revelations about Mr. Hatfield's past, said spokeswoman Mindy Tucker.Reached this week in New York during a book tour, Mr. Hatfield insisted that any link to the convicted man was a case of mistaken identity and that his middle name is Hathaway, not Howard."If I've got a secret past, I'm damn sure not going to be going all over the country plastering myself all over the newspapers or TV, or attacking the man who may be the next president of the United States," he said. "It's not me, and we're supposed to be pursuing the governor of Texas."When questioned further, Mr. Hatfield refused to give his birthday, Social Security number or any other information to distinguish him from the convicted man.Told of Mr. Hatfield's background, an attorney for the book's publisher said the company had no knowledge of the criminal history."If it's true, we're going to be shocked," said David Kaye, general counsel for St. Martin's Press, after the conviction was confirmed late Wednesday. He declined to comment further.Dallas court records show that in July 1988 Mr. Hatfield pleaded guilty to paying another man, Charles Ray Crawford, $5,000 to bomb the car of a manager at a financial firm for which he had recently quit working.The bomb exploded in the parking lot of the Cotton Exchange Building in Dallas in February 1987, but the two people in the car were not injured.Sentenced to 15 years in prison, Mr. Hatfield earned extra credit for time served and was released in April 1993. State records show that he was briefly sent to a federal penitentiary in Oklahoma to serve time for a charge related to the bombing, but details were not available.By 1994, he was paroled to Benton County, Ark., where state officials oversaw his Texas parole under an interstate pact that requires them to annually report Mr. Hatfield's status to Texas.The most recent report in his file confirms he is an author but does not specifically link him to the Bush book or any other works by J.H. Hatfield.But, Eddie Cobb, the official overseeing the parole confirmed Wednesday that records show his parolee is the author of Patrick Stewart, a biography of the Star Trek actor written by Mr. Hatfield and touted in the promotional materials for his Bush biography.Saying he could only comment on matters in the official record, Mr. Cobb would not comment on the Bush book or on whether Mr. Hatfield had requested permission to leave the state for his book tour.Mr. Hatfield's other books were "unauthorized" TV and science-fiction trivia books,Even as Mr. Hatfield denied he was the man in the Dallas case, he said it would not be newsworthy if he were that man.And, he suggested that any records showing him to be a convict were not to be trusted."Doesn't it sound a little bit weird to you that all of a sudden, the guy that's accusing potentially the next president of the United States of having hs record expunged, all of a sudden miraculously has a record himself in the state of Texas?" he said. "This is just a little bit too bizarre."10/21/99By Pete Slover / The Dallas Morning News©1999 The Dallas Morning NewsRelated Articles:Bush Denies Allegation of '72 Drug Arrest in Book - 10/20/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3352.shtml Three Support Bush Arrest Denial - 10/20/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3351.shtml Book: Bush was Arrested for Cocaine in 1972 - 10/19/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3342.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #2 posted by Gary Heart on July 21, 2001 at 15:15:41 PT James Howard Hatfield I think that James Howard Hatfield was poisoned by Democrats who were afraid he would talk about being on their payroll during the 2000 electio [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Tom Paine on October 20, 1999 at 22:11:01 PT 5 years for attempted murder. Vs 5 grams crack! If this is true then it is a PERFECT illustration of how mandatory minimum sentences let out violent criminals early in order to keep in non-violent drug offenders! It's a 5 year mandatory federal sentence for only 5 grams of crack. Which some heavy users can use in day or two.____ So if George Bush had been busted today instead of in 1972 before the first Republican Rockefeller laws instituted mandatory minimum drug sentences in New York state in 1973 which eventually spread around the nation, then George Bush would still be in prison while violent criminals were being let out!____ The sweet irony and poetic justice of all this! Bush has been "hit" by a hit-man let out because of his party's mandatory-minimum drug sentences!From page 100 of the 1998 book "Drug Crazy" by Mike Gray:"In June of 1982, Reagan reopened the War on Drugs with abroadside from the Rose Garden. 'We're taking down thesurrender flag that has flown over so many drug efforts. We're running up a battle flag.'"---http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n840.a11.html*8-99. Ireland: OPED: Drugs War Invented By Nixon To Extend His Power. Rabid Republican GOP Drug War, and bible-thumping [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: