Republican Party Ethics

“I love irony.”

“Well you do live in Augusta which is the epitome of Irony...”

“
Jumbo Shrimp
Airline Food
Republican Party Ethics

”

“Sang backup for Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne. Engaged to Eagles singer-songwriter Don Henley. Devastated by a brother's death in Vietnam.

All are part of the colorful past described by Carrollton Mayor Becky Miller, acquaintances say.

But spokesmen for the famous singers said the three don't know her. And the mayor's father said she never had a brother who died in the war.

Mrs. Miller's challenger in Saturday's mayoral election, Ron Branson, first expressed doubts that her brother had died in Vietnam, and checks by The Dallas Morning News also raised questions about her singing career and whether she attended Western Kentucky University.

The mayor, who is seeking a second term, said that the singers are wrong and that she went by another name when she associated with them during the 1970s. She initially declined to give that name but said Monday that most people at the time called her Pinky.

Her father, Edward Sampson, said his son is alive in Maryland. "He was never in the service," Mr. Sampson said.

And he said the brother that his daughter mentioned couldn't have been a stepbrother or half brother unless his wife of nearly 60 years "has one hidden away I didn't know about."

Mrs. Miller said her 80-year-old father has Alzheimer's disease and either didn't remember her brother or didn't get the facts right.

"He can't remember tomorrow," she said. "My dad comes in and out of clarity."

Later, Mrs. Miller said the "brother" killed in Vietnam was "not my blood brother. ... My mother did not have him."

She said the man had been raised by her family and was as close as a brother. But she wouldn't provide a name that could be checked.

"There are other circumstances surrounding him that my family doesn't want out, so we're not going to go there," she said.

"I get angry when people get into my personal life," Mrs. Miller said. "My personal life does not have a thing to do with my job as mayor or being elected on the City Council for 10 years."

Mrs. Miller has cited as accomplishments helping gain transportation funding for the city, working with developers and landowners to revitalize older shopping centers and attract businesses, and fighting to keep construction of DART's rail line to her city on schedule.

She also heads the Metroplex Mayors Association and the statewide Association of Mayors, Councilmembers and Commissioners.

Mrs. Miller admitted falsely telling Mr. Branson that an 18-year-old killed in Vietnam in 1968 was her brother. She said she deliberately conveyed the name of that soldier, Randolph Sampson, through a friend because she hoped Mr. Branson would use it and she could "catch him in a lie, get him to push this forward" and sue him for slander.

Mr. Branson said that after learning that the Web site the wall-usa.com listed the Army private first class as a "Negro," he informed a supporter of Mrs. Miller, who is white.

Mr. Branson provided the mayor's e-mailed reply: "The information on his being Negro is obvious [sic] a mistake, and those things happen from time to time."

"I took that as verification that she was saying this was her brother," Mr. Branson said.

Mrs. Miller said she misinformed Mr. Branson "out of anger" and "bad judgment."


Talking about Henley

Carrollton residents including former council members Bonnie Kaplan, Fran Brown and Judy Scamardo said they had heard Mrs. Miller say she was once engaged to Mr. Henley. Ms. Kaplan, who was elected to the council in 1999, said she took note of it because she is a "huge" Eagles and Don Henley fan.

Council member Terry Simons said Mrs. Miller told him shortly after American Airlines Center opened in 2001 that she had gone there to see Mr. Henley and that she had once been engaged to him.

Larry Solters, longtime spokesman for Mr. Henley and the Eagles, said the singer had no reunion with a former girlfriend or fiancé at that time.

"Don said he's never heard of her, doesn't know her, certainly was never engaged to her," Mr. Solters said.

In an e-mail to The News last week, Mrs. Miller said: "I have never said that I was engaged to Don Henley. I dated him."

The mayor, who has said she graduated from high school in 1968, has told residents and colleagues over the years, as well as reporters for previous stories, that she sang for Mr. Browne and Ms. Ronstadt.

Her father said he wasn't aware of her ever having sung professionally, and her former husband, Bacil Gibson, said she didn't do so during the nearly nine years they were married.

"Maybe she did after we got divorced [in 1976] and she moved down to Texas," Mr. Gibson said.

Mrs. Miller said Monday that she toured with the artists after her first marriage. She has said she quit singing backup when she met her current husband, Jerry Miller, in 1978.

Cree Clover Miller, Mr. Browne's manager, said the singer had never heard of a Becky or Rebecca Sampson, Gibson or Miller. Richard Bowden, a former lead guitarist for Ms. Ronstadt, said she told him last week that "she remembers nobody by any of those names."

Informed that the singers couldn't recall her singing with them, Mrs. Miller said, "Maybe I was going by a different name. Did you think about that?"

Told that the inquiries had included her maiden name and former married name, she said she had gone by other names.

"There's several," she said last week. "I'm not going to tell you what they are. You have to find that out."

It was when questioned again Monday that she offered the nickname Pinky.

Mr. Bowden said he phoned Ms. Ronstadt again Monday night, and she said she remembered no backup singer matching Mrs. Miller's description, regardless of what first or last name she used, and no "Pinky."

"Linda said unless it was somebody who sang for her on or one two occasions – but again," Mr. Bowden said, "she just doesn't remember anybody by that name."

He said Ms. Ronstadt also told him she employed no female backup singers between 1976 and 1978, the period when Mrs. Miller indicated she worked in that capacity.


College attendance

Mrs. Miller states on her campaign Web site that she attended Western Kentucky University. Laura Dilliha, student records specialist there, said the school has no record of her having been a student. Mrs. Miller's former husband said that he attended Western Kentucky but that Mrs. Miller did not.

Mrs. Miller said Monday that she attended the school for about two months in 1968.

Ms. Dilliha said Tuesday, "Any time after two weeks, we do have a record ... unless they were dropped by the university for failure to pay."

Star Community Newspapers reported last May that Mrs. Miller had said her brother was a songwriter for the Eagles. Asked about that article, Mrs. Miller said by e-mail, "I have never said that my brother wrote songs for the Eagles. He is a songwriter, and wrote for other people."

Mrs. Miller's brother in Maryland, Edward E. Sampson Jr., declined to comment. His name doesn't appear on a list of songwriters for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers or for BMI, which handles royalties for its songwriters, composers and music publishers.

Mr. Branson said that before he filed to run for mayor, a small group of Mrs. Miller's supporters met with him to try to talk him out of it. He said he told them that if they could prove that she had sung professionally and had a brother who died in Vietnam, he wouldn't run.

Mr. Branson, an Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War, said Mrs. Miller's false claim to him that Pfc. Sampson had been her brother angered him.

"It really comes down to character," he said. "I really don't think our city and our council wants somebody they can't trust what they say representing them."

Mrs. Miller said Mr. Branson is an "awful man." "He acts like I use it for political gain, where I haven't," she said. "It shows you how petty he is."

She said she knew things about Mr. Branson but wouldn't reveal them because she didn't want to engage in dirty politics.

"I'm tired of his crap," she said. "He thinks ... this is the only way he can win this election. That infuriates me."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/050708dnmetmiller.38fa010.html”

“Yeah, lying goes on by both parties. Are you that gullible V?”

“tl;dr”

“Lying is both parties.”

“That is almost as bad as saying you were fired on in a combat zone.”

“Someone please start a thread so we know when lying is okay and when it isn't because I'm all confused.


Or am I? Mwuha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!!”

“
CQ TODAY MIDDAY UPDATE
July 29, 2008 – 2:03 p.m.

Sen. Stevens Indicted in Alaska Corruption Probe

Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, the senior Republican in the Senate, was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Washington on seven counts of making false statements on his financial disclosure forms.

The 28-page indictment claims Stevens concealed his receipt of more than $250,000 dollars worth of benefits from oil services company Veco Corp. and its former chief executive, Bill Allen, from 1999-2006.

The benefits allegedly included substantial home improvements to his house in Girdwood, Alaska, household goods and automobiles that were significantly more valuable than ones he offered in exchange.

The indictment also claims Stevens used his Senate position to aid Veco at the request of Allen and other company employees.

Stevens, 84, an icon in Alaska politics since first winning his seat by appointment in December 1968, has denied wrongdoing but his home was raided in July 2007 by the FBI and the IRS, which was reportedly investigating whether Veco may have covered Stevens’ home renovation costs.

Allen and former Veco vice president Richard L. Smith pleaded guilty in May 2007 to providing more than $400,000 in corrupt payments to Alaska public officials.

Two lobbyists and three Alaska state lawmakers have also been convicted in the scandal, including Peter Knott, the former speaker of the Alaska House, who was convicted of extortion, bribery and conspiracy last year and sentenced to six years in prison.

There was no immediate comment from Stevens’ office or his lawyer regarding the indictment.

But his closest friend in the Senate and a fellow World War II veteran, Hawaii Democrat Daniel K. Inouye , said Stevens should be considered “innocent until proven guilty,” adding that the indictment should not impact Stevens’ ability to do his job.

Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator in history, ranks seventh in all-time Senate seniority. He is ranking Republican on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and was chairman of the Appropriations Committee from 1997 to 2005.

”

“I wasn't trying to be sarcastic.”

“Where is the defense? Oh, Rush is on.”

“I'm glad he got busted. Another no good politician outed.”

“The ghost of Richard M. Nixon rises slowly in the mist coming off the swamp.

"And you thought I was a crook!"”

“North, to Alaska
Go north
The Rush is on”

“It's really not nice to post stuff about Stove Stomper's hero like this. We really should be more considerate of Stovie's feelings. It's enough of a shock for him just seeing it on the news.”

“If he's guilty, hope he gets to see the world from behind bars.”

“If guilty I hope Stevens and his bridge have a nice cold winter together.

I don't like crooks. I think that is what separates most Republicans from Democrats.”