Which is funny because it’s a totally mixed-bag from state to state in terms of which states let you run for any kind of office after becoming a felon.

I’m sure the worst of the two Zazu’s from The Lion King would agree that this guy shouldn’t be allowed to run for office:

Solomon Peña overwhelmingly lost a bid for the New Mexico statehouse as a Republican and is accused of paying four men to shoot at the homes of four Democratic officials. He had denied his loss and made baseless claims that the November election was “rigged” against him, even though he received just 26% of the vote against the longtime Democratic incumbent.

But, I have to imagine that this penguin, poorly disguised as a rough 3 human on the hotness scale (a British 5 if you will), would think that this guy really didn’t need to go through all the trouble he did.

Sam Titus, 66, defeated the incumbent Democrat in his Burt County supervisor race in November. But to take office, he had to wait until his pardon was granted more than a month later by a panel that included the governor, secretary of state and attorney general.

Titus had two felony convictions from years ago, including for buying a stolen planter for his farm, which he described as a “poor decision.” He served probation and thought the convictions had been expunged. He discovered the pardon requirement after winning a race in 2020 for the local airport authority board and learning he could not be sworn in.

[…]

“Our lawmakers truly need to realize how important it is to help those that have changed their lives, understand their wrongs, are good people, want to move forward, want to do the right thing and want to give back to those people that they have hurt,” he said.

You’ve got to find the line somewhere, John!