One of the final acts of Gov. Charlie Crist and the Florida Cabinet could be to clear the record of former Doors frontman Jim Morrison, who was convicted for indecent exposure during a concert in Miami in 1969. He died two years later.
Crist has been asked about this several times since former Miami Herald reporter Gary Fineout first raised the issue. As Fineout has pointed out, Crist is a fan of the Doors and Morrison, like Crist, grew up in Florida and attended Florida State University.
Crist is open to the pardon and said today that it would be up to his fellow Clemency Board members. So we asked them.Attorney General Bill McCollum: "It's unusual, but I'm open to listening to it."
Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson: "If the estate would give us the rights to 'Light My Fire' for our prescribed burning program, that would be great. But for someone who is certainly not going to do anything — you know, he's passed away, it's something that happened in 1969 — then sure, I'd be willing to, just for the family, to do that."
Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink: "I'd look at it. It's an interesting case."
The current Clemency Board has one meeting left, Dec. 9 in Tallahassee. It takes just one member vote to put Morrison's case on the agenda, and then the votes of two members plus the governor to approve a pardon.
As it turns out, Morrison's 67th birthday would have been Dec. 8 this year.
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