Gov. Bruce Rauner has issued his first two pardons since becoming governor nearly three months ago.
The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports over the weekend
that the pardons by the Republican went to Neil Hebert and Michael Sullivan.
Rauner rejected 57 other clemency petitions.
The 43-year-old Hebert was convicted of theft in Champaign County when he was
20. He served two years of probation. The News-Gazette says Sullivan was
convicted of burglary in Cook County in 1979.
Rauner's office says he inherited nearly 3,000 clemency petitions as he took
over as governor.
The News-Gazette says his immediate predecessor, Democrat Pat Quinn, himself
inherited about 2,500 petitions from Rod Blagojevich. Quinn reviewed more than
4,900 petitions, granted around 1,800 and denied some 3,130.
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