Democrat Culture of Corruption in Congre ss

“To the rubber room with you!!”

“

Hissy Fit 101????? ;-)
last edited: 5/23/06 1:16:00 PM”

“Well today we see the passing of LORD Benson of Texas.

Lets remember the famous "You are no Jack Kennedy" comment to Dan Quayle. LOL. Then we find out from the Kennedy Family that Jack Kennedy DID NOT know Lord Benson, DID NOT CONSIDER him a friend...
My favorite example of the CARING NATURE of the Liberacrats was that while he was running with Dukakis (AKA the LOSER) Lord Benson resigned from an exclusive golf club that did not allow any minorities (race, or religious). THE FIRST thing Lord Benson did upon finding out HE was on a sunken ship was...1. REJOIN THE CLUB.”

“Real classy XL, real classy.”

“Dang near as classy as the Paul Wellstone funeral/party.”

“You two look good together.

”

“yeah, that Benson dude was a nut.”

“Thanks Violin, but when we talk corruption, lets start with Texas, REMEMBER LBJ”

“Video Dr. Frisky says,It's not fair to treat senators like the common man, we didn't come to DC to obay laws, that's for the fools that think they elect us. Yes senators we need to circle the wagens those damn citizens are getting huffy about a few thousand bucks.”

“Hey Denny, I checked my freezer too and I'm not a republican ,I'm a democrate by $60 grand.”

“Officials Defend Raid on Lawmaker's Office
Amid Uproar on Capitol Hill, Gonzales Says Jefferson Search Was Done Carefully

By Dan Eggen and Allan Lengel
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 24, 2006; Page A04

"...At the same time, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and other administration officials sought to quell a growing uproar among Republican and Democratic lawmakers, many of whom view the Saturday night search in the Rayburn House Office Building as a clear violation of constitutional language and case law protecting lawmakers from intimidation by the executive branch.

...House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) complained directly to President Bush yesterday about the FBI raid, while House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) predicted a constitutional showdown before the Supreme Court.

...The attorney general's comments followed a series of sharply worded complaints from Republican leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Tenn.) and Hastert, who said in a lengthy statement issued late Monday that the search raised "important Constitutional issues that go well beyond the specifics of this case." Boehner yesterday referred to the search as the "Justice Department's invasion of the legislative branch."

"I have got to believe, at the end of the day, it is going to end up across the street at the Supreme Court," Boehner said. "I don't see anything short of that."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/23/AR2006052301739.html?sub=AR
last edited: 5/24/06 9:00:29 PM”

“May 24, 2006, 7:40PM
Uncle of Ex-La. Mayor Convicted of Graft


By BRETT MARTEL Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS — The uncle of former Mayor Marc Morial pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing $550,000 from a transit agency, the third conviction in a federal probe of corruption at city hall and in the public schools.

Glenn Haydel pleaded guilty to fraud against a federal program and would serve two years in prison if a judge approves the deal, said U.S. Attorney Jim Letten. The city's transit authority receives federal funds.

The investigation of corruption during Morial's administration has touched several people close to him, but the former mayor has not been implicated. A spokeswoman for the National Urban League, which Morial now heads, said he would not comment.

Haydel, the brother of Morial's mother, is a businessman and consultant. He held a lucrative consulting contract with the Regional Transit Authority when Morial was in office in the 1990s.

Haydel admitted diverting $550,000 from an authority trust account to his own company, Metro New Orleans Transit Inc., and then taking $350,000 for his personal use, Letten said.

Haydel's business partner, John S. Keller, admitted in August to getting paid $10,000 as part of Haydel's scheme.

Haydel's wife, Lillian Smith Haydel, pleaded guilty in 2004 to a conspiracy in which she and other insurance brokers paid kickbacks to an Orleans Parish school official.



http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3886809.html
last edited: 5/25/06 8:14:22 AM”

“funny how they don't give the party affiliation usually when it's a Democrat ...”

“If it's New Orleans, it's a Democrat.”

“The culture of corruption in congress is neither democrat nor republican and at the same time it’s both. To think otherwise is to blind yourself to the corruption of the whole government.”

“Of course it is Nigal.
This thread is just tit for tat.
Violin still screams the Culture of Corruption is only Repubs.
NOT ONE DIME............!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL”

“Then you look like Violin. Congrats. LOL!”

“I'm not really a Far Right Wing Ideologie.
I just play one on TT. ;-)”

“ANyone else notice if a suspect is minority (okay only ONE SPECIFIC minority) they do not report it. LOL...so now it is

The robber was described as a white male approximatly 6' in height.....


The robber was described as a hispanic male .....

The robber was approximatly 6' in height....

GUESS THE RACE (LOL)”

“Former Aide to Rep. Jefferson Gets 8 Years
By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press Writer
Friday, May 26, 2006

(05-26) 11:29 PDT Alexandria, Va. (AP) --

A former aide to Rep. William Jefferson was sentenced Friday to eight years in federal prison for his role in a bribery scandal.


Brett Pfeffer, 37, is cooperating in an ongoing probe and may be eligible for a sentence reduction afterward, a prosecutor said.


He pleaded guilty in January to helping broker deals between the Louisiana Democrat and a northern Virginia investment executive for whom Pfeffer worked. That executive has not been identified in court documents.


"I've gone over in my head 10 million times why I didn't look him in the eye and say no," Pfeffer said during the sentencing in federal court.


He was sentenced on two bribery-related charges, conspiracy to commit bribery, and aiding and abetting bribery of a public official. Jefferson's name did not come up in Friday's hearing, but other documents have made clear he is that official.


Jefferson, an eight-term congressman, has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing.


According to court documents, the scheme fell apart when the Virginia executive became disenchanted with the business deals and approached the FBI. She agreed to wear a wire and recorded conversations with Jefferson in which he used coded conversations to discuss bribes, the documents show.


Jefferson also was videotaped taking a briefcase with $100,000 in $100 bills from the executive's car. The money was found days later in Jefferson's freezer.


Pfeffer worked for Jefferson in the mid-1990s and maintained a professional relationship with him. After introducing Jefferson to his boss, Pfeffer advised her that Jefferson would expect something in return for his assistance in brokering the deal.


Another Jefferson associate, a Louisville, Ky., telecommunications executive named Vernon Jackson, has pleaded guilty to paying more than $400,000 in bribes to Jefferson in exchange for his assistance securing business deals in Nigeria and other African nations.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/05/26/national/w112913D94.DTL”

“http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/05/29/D8HTJL7O1.html

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid accepted free ringside tickets from the Nevada Athletic Commission to three professional boxing matches while that state agency was trying to influence him on federal regulation of boxing.

”

“http://www.humaneventsonline.com/blog-detail.php?id=15250

'Culture of Corruption' Backfires Again
By: Robert B. Bluey
Posted 05/30/06
11:16 AM

How are the Democrats ever going to gain any traction with their “culture of corruption” message if they’re unable to keep from embarrassing themselves?
Up until now, the Democrats’ problems were limited to a few rotten apples in the House. Representatives William Jefferson (D.-La.), Cynthia McKinney (D.-Ga.) and Alan Mollohan (D.-W.Va.) all had their share of problems, but none rose to the level of being a household name.

That’s about to change. With the news that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) was bought off with front-row boxing tickets by the gaming industry, Democrats are left with no choice but to drop the issue that they made a centerpiece of their campaign to oust Republicans from controlling Congress.

Here’s the AP’s report:

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid accepted free ringside tickets from the Nevada Athletic Commission to three professional boxing matches while that state agency was trying to influence him on federal regulation of boxing.

Reid, of Nevada, took the free seats for Las Vegas fights from 2003 to 2005 as he was pressing legislation to increase government oversight of the sport, including the creation of a federal boxing commission that Nevada's agency feared might usurp its authority.

A quick scan of LexisNexis news stories using the term “culture of corruption” shows a significant drop from January, when Democrats began their Republicans-have-no-ethics campaign.

January: 1,204
February: 465
March: 321
April: 562
May: 502

And what should be most alarming for Democrats is the use of the terms in stories about members of their party. The Associated Press, for instance, cited Reid’s use of the term attacking Republicans with connections to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. However, in the same story, the AP outlines the suspect relationship Reid enjoyed with Abramoff:

Reid had separate meetings in June 2003 in his Senate offices with two Abramoff tribal clients and Edward Ayoob, a former staffer who went to work lobbying with Abramoff.

The meetings occurred over a five-day span in which Ayoob also threw a fund-raiser for Reid at the firm where Ayoob and Abramoff worked that netted numerous donations from Abramoff's partners, firm, and clients.
Senate ethics rules make clear the problems of such a relationship. But for Harry Reid, what do ethics matter? After all, as long as it makes a good talking point to bash the GOP, maybe no one will notice the hypocrisy, right? That’s staring to change.


Mr. Bluey is editor of Human Events Online.”

“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/30/AR2006053001236_pf.html

Congressman Tried to Hide Papers, Justice Dept. Says
Court Filing in Response to Jefferson Lawsuit Defends Raid

By Allan Lengel and Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 31, 2006; A04



The Justice Department yesterday vigorously defended the recent weekend raid of Rep. William J. Jefferson's Capitol Hill office as part of a bribery investigation, asserting that the Democratic lawmaker attempted to hide documents from FBI agents while they were searching his New Orleans home last August.”

“Once again, StoveStomper proves that he is dumber than a rock.

How on Earth was Reid "bought off" with boxing tickets if he voted FOR more federal regulation of the boxing industry that the Nevada Commission was hoping to stop?


BTW, it would have been illegal for him to pay for them:

Skip Avansino, current chairman of the athletic commission and a commission member since 2002, said Reid, McCain and the athletic commissioners sat on folding chairs in a small, cramped area, not in the posh ringside seats for which pricey tickets are sold.
[...]
Boxing promoter Bob Arum... said McCain and Reid's seats at the Hopkins-de la Hoya fight,... were credentials from the commission, not tickets from Arum. But McCain, who brought his wife to the fight, sent Arum a check for the price of two ringside seats.

Arum said he didn't know what to do with the money.

"Those credentials cannot be sold," he said. "There's no price on them. (They are given to) governors, attorney generals, boxing commissioners of other states. ... It's illegal to accept money for a credential."

Arum said he couldn't accept McCain's money but McCain wouldn't take it back, so Arum donated it to Catholic Charities.
[...]
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/May-31-Wed-2006/news/7696406.html



You must like to make a fool of yourself on the internets.
last edited: 5/31/06 12:42:43 PM”

“Speaking of stolen papers, why hasn't Sandy Burgler been strung up yet?”

“Once again, violin proves that he is dumber than a rock.

Las Vegas Review-Journal is his source.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Violin must like to make a fool of himself on the internet. ;-)

Defend your crook, fiddle boy.
LMAO!
last edited: 5/31/06 5:08:04 PM”

“Fiddle boy's Reid also refused to return the money that he received from disgraced lobbyist Abramoff clients.
Reid is a slimy, corrupt, cash-and-carry Senator, plain and simple.

If Reid was a Repub, violin would be screaming "RESIGN! RESIGN!"
last edited: 5/31/06 5:29:48 PM”

“Once Again, Violin Proves That He Is Dumber Than A Rock

By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
33 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Reversing course, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid's office acknowledged Wednesday night he misstated the ethics rules governing his acceptance of free boxing tickets and has decided to avoid taking such gifts in the future.

The Nevada senator still believes it was "entirely permissible" for him to accept ringside seats for three professional boxing matches in 2004 and 2005 from the Nevada Athletic Commission but has nonetheless decided to avoid doing so in the future, his office said.

"In light of questions that have been raised about the practice, Senator Reid will not accept these kinds of credentials in the future in order to avoid even the faintest appearance of impropriety," spokesman Jim Manley said.

The announcement came after The Associated Press confronted Reid's office early Wednesday with conclusions from several ethics experts that the Senate leader misstated congressional ethics rules in trying to defend his actions.

The AP reported Monday that Reid accepted the free seats from the Nevada commission as it was trying to influence his support for legislation to create a federal boxing commission. The state agency feared the legislation would usurp its authority to regulate fights and wanted to convince Reid there was no need for a federal body.

Reid voted to set up a federal commission, but Congress never enacted the legislation.

Reid told Las Vegas reporters on Tuesday he would continue to accept such tickets and did not believe he did anything wrong even though fellow Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., who joined him for one of the fights, decided to reimburse $1,400 for his seat.

Reid said he believed it was appropriate to accept the free tickets because the gifts were from his home state and that McCain, R-Ariz., had to reimburse because he was from out of state.

Senate ethics rules generally allow senators to take gifts from any state, not just their home state. But they specifically warn against taking normally permissible gifts if the giver may be trying to influence official action.

Manley said Wednesday night that Reid "misspoke when he said the rule applies only to senators who represent the state agency." But he added he believes Reid still could ethically accept the tickets.

"It was therefore entirely permissible for Senator Reid — a senator from Nevada — to have attended a major Nevada sporting event as a guest of Nevada officials," Manley said.

Several ethics experts disagreed, criticizing Reid's rationale that he felt obligated to take the tickets to ensure boxing was being conducted properly in his home state.

"He is no more obligated to go to boxing matches than he is to a Celine Dion concert in Vegas," said Melanie Sloan, a former Justice Department prosecutor and head of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Fred Wertheimer, a longtime ethics watchdog, agreed.

"The test under congressional ethics rules in these circumstances is not what state a member is from but whether the gift creates the appearance that the gift is motivated by a desire to influence the member or gain favorable official action," Wertheimer said. "If the gift creates such an appearance, it should not be accepted."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060601/ap_on_go_co/reid_ethics

LMAO!!!!”

“

Clutching his hands to his heart, Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, center, calls for lawmakers, and especially Republicans, to clean up the tainted relationship between lawmakers and lobbyists, at a Democratic political event to outline their agenda for reform in the wake of the scandal involving former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, at the Library of Congress in Washington in this Jan. 18, 2006, file photo. From left are: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., Reid, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., and Rep. James E. Clyburn, D-SC. Reid accepted free ringside tickets from the Nevada Athletic Commission to three championship boxing matches while that state agency was seeking to influence Reid's unsuccessful effort to increase federal oversight of boxing.”

“So do you think the Las Vegas Review Journal is a paper friendly to Reid?

You might want to recheck your sources.


Reid has a long history of fighting official corruption. He went after the mob at a time when it wasn't exactly safe to do so.

From the New Yorker:

In 1977, O’Callaghan appointed him to the chairmanship of the Nevada Gaming Commission, which oversees casinos, and that was an experience that made his other work look easy. Before Reid took the job, O’Callaghan introduced him to the outgoing chairman, Peter Echeverria. “Pete was telling us, ‘I’ve had people out here watching me, these gangsters,’ and he said, ‘I think they’ve tapped my phone,’ ” Reid recalled. “I thought he was making all this stuff up. It just didn’t make sense. I had no concept of the Mob. It meant nothing to me.” There had been a decrease in Mob activity, but organized crime was again investing in Las Vegas, and for four years Reid confronted wiseguys like Tony (the Ant) Spilotro, who had been sent to Las Vegas by a Chicago branch of La Cosa Nostra, “the Outfit,” and was known for killing his victims by squeezing their heads in a vise. In 1979, Reid barred Spilotro from all casinos.

In July of 1978, a man named Jack Gordon, who was later married to LaToya Jackson, offered Reid twelve thousand dollars to approve two new, carnival-like gaming devices for casino use. Reid reported the attempted bribe to the F.B.I. and arranged a meeting with Gordon in his office. By agreement, F.B.I. agents burst in to arrest Gordon at the point where Reid asked, “Is this the money?” Although he was taking part in a sting, Reid was unable to control his temper; the videotape shows him getting up from his chair and saying, “You son of a #&%!$, you tried to bribe me!” and attempting to choke Gordon, before startled agents pulled him off. “I was so angry with him for thinking he could bribe me,” Reid said, explaining his theatrical outburst. Gordon was convicted in federal court in 1979 and sentenced to six months in prison.

One day in 1981, Landra Reid noticed that the family station wagon was not running properly, and she discovered a cable under the hood and “something” sticking out of the gas tank. Police found a device that would have exploded had it been correctly grounded. Reid always blamed Gordon for the bomb, and the incident frightened his family—by then there were five children, four sons and a daughter—so that for a year they started the car by remote control.




I'll defend a guy who goes up against mobsters like that any day of the week. You might ask yourself who AP's John Solomon is and who's interests you are serving by smearing Reid.
last edited: 6/01/06 5:16:01 AM”

“SS owns Violink once again.”

“I thought they COULD DO BETTER? This ain't better...it is stupider, kinda like Getting in a DUI wreck, then claiming you weren't drunk but going into rehab anyway...(LOL)

Better, that is getting a third or fourth world foriegn country to buy used parts to 15 year old obsolete missiles then using the money to finance the execution of US policy...which is your job by the Constitution anyway (LOL).”

“It's obviouse that corruption is OK as long as there is a (D) beside their name.”

“http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/counties/philadelphia_county/philadelphia/14711053.htm

2 Fumo aides charged with cover-up
U.S. affidavit indicates the computer techs erased e-mails in following Fumo’s orders.

By Craig R. McCoy, Emilie Lounsberry and Mario F. Cattabiani
Inquirer Staff Writers

Stepping up the pressure in their investigation of State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, federal agents yesterday arrested two low-level aides and charged them with a scheme to obstruct justice by hiding the senator's e-mails from the FBI.”

“You do understand that Reid voted against the interests of the Nevada Boxing Commission, don't you Nigal?

They comped him seats and he voted his conscience.

This makes him corrupt... how?”

“Taking seats is still corrupt, regardless of how he voted. It's still supporting the NBCs bad behavior. If you take money for a "hit", but don't do the "hit", aren't you still in the wrong? "yes"”

“

SOB, now that I got caught I'll never do it again.......”

“Official Apologizes For Saying Bush Should Be Shot Between Eyes

"I apologize to the president of the United States" and to the fellow state politician, Sen. Charles Schumer, Hevesi said. "I am not a person of violence.

"I am apologizing as abjectly as I can. There is no excuse for it. It was beyond dumb."


http://www.wnbc.com/politics/9306297/detail.html
last edited: 6/01/06 8:57:24 PM”

“Day listen wit der tongues like all dat eats der own waste.”

“http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/50thdistrict/20060603-9999-1mi3busby.html

If an election can turn on a sentence, this could be the one: “You don't need papers for voting.”

On Thursday night, Francine Busby, the Democratic candidate for the 50th Congressional District, was speaking before a largely Latino crowd in Escondido when she uttered those words. She said yesterday she simply misspoke.”

“Seven people, including five current or former state lawmakers, were busted as part of an FBI/TBI public corruption sting. The two-year undercover investigation was named “Operation Tennessee Waltz.”


Capitol Hill Corruption: Democrat Roscoe Dixon Convicted
Posted: 6/8/2006 2:01:00 PM
Updated: 6/8/2006 2:34:44 PM

A federal jury in Memphis convicted former state Senator Roscoe Dixon Thursday afternoon of extortion for taking payoffs in the Tennessee Waltz corruption investigation.

The Democratic former legislator had been charged with seeking and accepting payoffs from E-Cycle Management, a fake FBI company that offered bribes to state and local officials across Tennessee.

He was charged with taking $9,500 in bribes to help E-Cycle with what he thought was getting state law changed so the company could buy and recycle used government computers.

Dixon wasn't immediately available for comment.

The jury deliberated the case over two days, returning the verdict at midafternoon Thursday.

Dixon is one of five current or former state legislators charged it the Tennessee Waltz case that rocked the Legislature a year ago. His case was the first to go to trial.


http://www.newschannel5.com/content/capitol_hill_corruption/19911.asp”

“House Democrats vote 99 to 58 to remove Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) from his seat on the Ways and Means Committee prior to an indictment.



Yes - there are bad apples in both parties. However, one party rallies around them and protects them, even after indictment... the other punishes them and strips them of power.”

“He should not have been removed. he hasn't been charged with anything. I see this again as democratic "guilty until proven inocent".”

“violin says toe may toe
nigal says toe mah toe”

“Government of, by and for the money.”

““violin says toe may toe
nigal says toe mah toe”

Naw, I just believe in due process and holding that what's good for the goose is good for the gander. The republicans probably would have found any reason to indict(SP?) no matter how frivolous much like the democrats did with Delay.”

“and violin is interpreting events differently and from a different perspective

toe may toe
toe mah toe”

“....However, one party rallies around them and protects them, even after indictment... the other punishes them and strips them of power.”
Violin
5:07:56 AM
6/17/06

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!
I can just visualize poor violin typing that with a straight face.
LMAO!
last edited: 6/18/06 5:27:50 PM”

“stove fantasizes about violin”