From Times Online:
President Bush has been forced into an unprecedented U-turn over a pardon he recommended for a convicted fraudster after it emerged that the conman’s father had given a sizeable donation to the Republican Party this year.
Isaac Toussie, who conned hundreds of poor New Yorkers in a 2001 property fraud, was one of 19 people whose names were put forward for clemency by the outgoing President.
But after it emerged that Toussie’s father, Robert, had given $28,500 to the Republican National Committee in April – his first political donation – the Bush Administration did a rapid volte face.