From First Read:

Two former parole board members, who served during Huckabee’s time as governor and voted on Wayne Dumond’s parole, told First Read that Huckabee initiated and encouraged Dumond’s parole. Huckabee earlier told NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell that he did not pressure the board in anyway. “My mistake was in thinking that everybody who was talking about him — from the prison system on — was right… I supported the parole. And I regret that. Because it was horrible what ended up happening. But his commutation was actually something that happened when Bill Clinton was governor, and Jim Guy Tucker signed as lieutenant governor. The parole board that paroled him was all Clinton and Tucker appointees. So when people say I pressured the board, that’s nonsense!” But the board members who spoke to First Read disagreed. “He did come and mention the Dumond case. We would have no reason to mention the Dumond case to him,” said Deborah Sutlar, a Democrat and a Gov. Jim Guy Tucker-appointee, who is not shy about the fact that she campaigned against Huckabee when he ran for governor. She served from 1994 to 2001 and said she is supporting Obama in the presidential race. Sutlar said Dumond’s parole had been denied every other time it came up, but Huckabee came to the board and encouraged the board to parole Dumond and that the board then held an executive session to discuss the case. Huckabee met with the board “to encourage them to parole Wayne Dumond,” added Erma Pondexter, a Bill Clinton appointee, who was a part-time board member and considers herself “non-partisan.” She said she is undecided in the presidential race but leaning toward either Clinton or Romney. She said she liked some of the things Huckabee did as governor, but is unsure of him for president, though she said she’d consider voting for him. Pondexter said she wasn’t at the initial meeting with Huckabee, but that at the full meeting “it was shared what the concerns were and the concerns of Governor Huckabee. I was approached by the chair and other board members that Huckabee wanted Dumond paroled, and I went along with the crew.” She added, “I don’t think he’d want that on his shoulders — to pardon him. I’m quite sure from a political standpoint that would be devastating, therefore he used the parole board to do that.” The Huckabee campaign didn’t return an email and phone message for comment.