Just for fun

Scandalous euphemisms - read more by clicking on the link.

LINK

What kind of people make up the Republican party?

This is a follow-up to the post just previous to this one. If you're reading these posts from most recent to oldest, check it out.

From the Huffington Post...

Scott DesJarlais Fundraiser Gets Backing From Prominent GOP Colleagues

The Huffington Post  |  By Preston Maddock

Posted: 03/13/2013

A group of prominent Republican congressmen will hold a fundraiser for scandal-plagued Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported Wednesday.

DesJarlais was pushed into the national spotlight in 2012 when details of his unscrupulous past surfaced during his reelection campaign. In October, The Huffington Post reported that the anti-abortion rights congressman had had an affair with a patient and pressured her to have an abortion. During the 2001 divorce proceedings, it was also revealed that DesJarlais had encouraged his wife to have two abortions before their marriage.

Nevertheless, Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), John Kline (R-Minn.) and Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) -- all powerful House committee chairmen -- have agreed to help the congressman raise money to stay in Congress.

What kind of people inhabit the Republican party?

There are all kinds of Republicans - some of them very good people with good moral values. But the party's economic platform focuses on the building of individual wealth and this also attracts people who are willing to go to any lengths to obtain cash. There seem to be an inordinate number of crooks within the party and we need to keep an eye out for them.

Another Republican Bribe Taker

From the political party of family values and reported on by Kansas City.com...

A former congressional staffer was indicted Friday on corruption charges for taking a free trip to the 2003 World Series.

In the latest case to arise out of the scandal surrounding ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, prosecutors charged Fraser Verrusio, 39, who worked under Republican Rep. Don Young when the Alaska congressman chaired the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Officials say Verrusio and another Capitol Hill staffer accepted an illegal gratuity when lobbyists gave them an all-expense paid trip to New York, including the World Series game and a visit to a strip club.

Another Republican's Crooked Ways Come To Light

The Washington Times, which is a conservative newspaper out of D. C. had to admit this one is just not right - another Republican scandal.

"The pharmaceutical industry that long has benefited from Sen. Orrin G. Hatch's legislative efforts has directed large sums of money to a charity he helped found -- and still raises money for -- while also hiring the Republican lawmaker's son as a lobbyist.

Though Congress boasts that it is more transparent after passing new disclosure rules, Americans have had no way of knowing about the drugmakers' largesse to the charity, Utah Families Foundation. No way, that is, until a normally confidential tax filing was mistakenly released by the Internal Revenue Service to a nonprofit database last year."

A Really Sound Marriage

From the Motley Fool...

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we get word of what sounds like a perfect partnership. Bernard Madoff’s wife, Ruth, allegedly withdrew about $15 million from the bank suspiciously close to the moment when her husband’s $50 billion Ponzi scheme came to light. Honey, you’re the best!

Ruth Madoff withdrew $10 million from Cohmad Securities (which, according to regulators, was "intertwined" with Bernie Madoff’s company) the day before her husband was arrested in December. A couple weeks beforehand, she had taken out $5.5 million.

Democratic Scandal

I hate this crap from either side - and I especially despise it from our side. Shame on Murtha - he had the potential to go down in history as one of the good guys. From ABC News...

The FBI raided the offices of a defense lobbying firm with close ties to Democratic Rep. John Murtha (Penn.), sources tell ABC News.

The FBI searched the Virginia headquarters of the PMA Group in November, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. PMA was founded by former Murtha aide Paul Magliochetti and specializes in winning earmarked taxpayer funds for its clients.

Good government groups have long criticized Murtha's cozy relationship with a handful of lobbyists and defense firms, ties that see millions of dollars in government spending go out from Murtha's office, and hundreds of thousands in campaign donations come in. Murtha has said his earmarking has helped revive his economically depressed district.

More From the Party of Family Values and the Christian Right

From the Colorado Independent...

Police arrested the former manager of Sen. John McCain’s Pueblo presidential campaign office Wednesday on charges he sexually assaulted a 5-year-old boy left in his care so the boy’s mother could attend a rally for McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, The Denver Post’s Howard Pankratz reported Thursday afternoon.

Another Crooked Politician

A Democrat this time. Why do they do this? Are most people crooks to some defree, or is just that politics attracts most people with the tendency to be crooks? Maybe they're really good people who get tempted by the big money available when you're a politician?

I don't know but I don't like it. This from the Boston Globe...

Cosmetics executive John Walsh and public works contractor Jay M. Cashman were among the members of Boston's business elite who gave former state senator Dianne Wilkerson contributions to help her pay off personal debts, according to people who have been briefed on the transactions or questioned by federal authorities.

Wilkerson had previously said that any financial help she had received to pay off federal tax debts came from personal friends. But in the case of Walsh, Cashman, and some others previously identified, the donors also had major financial interests in the workings of state government, raising questions about their motives for giving checks as large as $10,000 to the powerful senator.

Walsh, in particular, received key help from Wilkerson when he found himself in a high-profile battle to gain entry into an exclusive Beacon Hill co-op. When residents of the building blocked him from buying an apartment, Wilkerson added her name to Walsh's cause - adding some credence to his allegation that he was the victim of discrimination.

GOP Donors To Pay Fines

Still more scandals within the Republican Party, from AP (click on the link to read more)...

Seven GOP contributors have agreed to pay civil fines for making illegal contributions to President Bush's re-election campaign, the Federal Election Commission said Monday.

The fines are part of a wider political scandal involving Ohio fundraiser Tom Noe, who in 2006 pleaded guilty to federal charges that he illegally funneled about $45,000 to the Bush campaign.

Scandal - In the Judicial Branch

Nothing like a good scandal. This one involves a couple of judges and some private companies operating juvenile detention centers. Don't you just love it when Republicans rant about how much better private businesses run things than government does? I don't think there's a whole lot of difference, myself.

From Carolina Naturally...

Two senior Pennsylvania judges have been sentenced to seven years in prison for taking bribes from juvenile detention centers -- in exchange for the bribes, the judges turned in guilty verdicts for the teens who appeared before them and sent them to 'juvie', thus enriching the operators of the kiddie gulag. For this, the judges received $2.6 million in kickbacks.

Here's more from The Legal Intelligencer.

Scandal!

You know that I love covering scandals. The word I'm reading is now that Bush is out of office and some new lawyers will be taking over as US Attorneys, there will be some more action on the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal of a couple of years ago.

Here's an AP filing that provides us with a taste of some more to come...

A second former staffer to an Alaska congressman has been implicated in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling investigation as the scandal sweeps up a growing number of ex-Capitol Hill aides and lobbyists.

Fraser Verrusio, who worked under Republican Rep. Don Young when the congressman chaired the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, figures in plea deals reached recently by two former Abramoff associates and a one-time congressional aide.

The photo is of Jack Abramoff.

Ken Salazar: Riding To The Rescue

From the MOJO Blog...

Remember the Interior Department's sex, drugs, and oil scandal? After investigating, the Interior Department released a September 2008 report that concluded Minerals Management Service (MMS) employees “frequently consumed alcohol at industry functions, had used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relationships with oil and gas company representatives.” Several employees were terminated, but only there were only two subsequent convictions. (Read more about MMS corruption here and here.)

Well, the new Interior Secretary Ken Salazar plans to reopen the MMS investigations. From the Denver Post:

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday that he has ordered a re-examination of the scandalized Interior Department division based in Lakewood, including why the U.S. Justice Department did not pursue more criminal prosecutions....

Florida: Sansom Resigns As House Speaker Amid Scandal

And now, for something not completely different - Republican scandal.

From the Florida Villages Daily Sun (click on the link to read more)...

Ray Sansom will not be Florida’s next Speaker of the House.

House Republicans Monday night unanimously voted to accept the resignation of their embattled leader, and voted to replace him with Ocala Republican Larry Cretul. Sansom will maintain his House seat, but is no longer the Republican’s designated leader, or next in line to become Speaker of the House.
---
However, with Sansom facing mounting legal pressure, including a grand jury investigation related to his accepting a $110,000 a year job at a Panhandle community college where he funneled $35 million, he decided instead to tenure his resignation as Speaker.

Don't Mourn for Daschle

A Democratic scandal? Surely Tom Daschle lied to President Obama, or Obama did not do a thorough jog in checking out Daschle's background.

I like this opinion piece by John Nichols at The Nation. Click on the link to read the whole article.

Tom Daschle has, under his usual cloud of scandal, withdrawn as President Obama's nominee to serve in the critical Cabinet position of Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Republicans think they have dealt the new president a blow.

In fact, by opposing Daschle so strenuously, and appropriately, Republicans and a handful of principled Democratic senators (who had quietly let the White House know they were not going to back the nomination) have done the new president and the nation a favor.

The scandal over Daschle's lavish lifestyle and failure to pay taxes simply emphasized why the former Senate Majority Leader was exactly the wrong choice to serve in the administration of a Democratic president who aspires to make a break with the worst of the compromises that characterized his party during the Bush-Cheney era.

More Scandal

This stuff makes you sick after a while. One has to wonder if there are so many politicians getting away with bilking the taxpayers that most think they'll get away with it - or do we in fact catch most of this crap and the ones who are caught are just stupid? Any thoughts?

This is from Pennsylvania, posted at WHPTV.com...

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) - Two Luzerne County judges are headed for federal prison.

Federal authorities say President Judge Mark Ciavarella and Senior Judge Michael Conahan were involved in a $2.6 million scheme to place juvenile offenders into facilities in which the judges had a financial interest.

Court documents state that in some cases, Ciavarella ordered children into detention even when juvenile probation officers did not recommend it.

The two have agreed to plead guilty to honest services fraud and tax fraud. Their plea agreements call for sentences of more than seven years in federal prison. They have agreed to step down from the bench.

Ciavarella denied wrongdoing in an interview last May with The Associated Press.

via Crooks and Liars, where Susie Madrak says...

Back when I was a reporter, I once explained to a (Republican) politician that it was against the state ethics law to use his wife as the township secretary, since the two of them could collude to change the public record. He looked at me, shocked, and said, "If you're not in politics to make money for yourself and your family, why would you bother?" Why, indeed.

Republican Scandal - Antonia Novello

Yep, another one. This story from the NY Daily News...

The state's former top doc acted like a diva, abusing staffers, ordering them to take her shopping and pick up her dry cleaning, according to a report due out Tuesday.

The latest scandal to rock Albany involves Antonia Novello, who was U.S. surgeon general under President George H.W. Bush and later was Gov. George Pataki's longtime state health commissioner. Novello is accused by the state inspector general of costing the taxpayers $48,000 in overtime by making her workers carry out personal chores for her, according to the Albany County district attorney.

A Democratic Sex Scandal

More outrage. It takes a special kind of self-confidence to step out as a gay politician and get elected, even in a city as liberal as Portland, Oregon. I'm sure Sam Adams has had to be strong and have an unbelievably strong sense that whatever he does and says is right. But there's also got to be a screw loose when he breaks the law or betrays the trust given to him by the public - that he was a moral person and deserveed public office.

A Democratic scandal - and I'm not very pleased about it. This stuff should be left to the Republicans. And if you're going to behave this way, stay the hell away from running for public office.

From Portland News...

For thousands of gay Portlanders, Sam Adams' election last year fulfilled their most ardent hope: to finally transcend stereotypes of sexual identity.

His ascension to the mayor's office -- not as a symbol of progress but as a smart, hardworking technocrat -- marked a new phase in the relationship between Portland and its gay residents: the difference between having a place at the table and sitting at the head of it.

Now, the revelations surrounding Adams' sexual relationship with a teenager and his subsequent lies about it have sown anguish among gay Portlanders.

Whether they think he should resign or not, they say his fall from grace plays into the ugliest of stereotypes about gay men -- stereotypes that Adams himself decried when a potential primary opponent accused him of having sex with an underage youth.

Joe Bruno Indicted

It's another Republican scandal - this time in New York State. I was never introduced to the man, but I have been in his presence and I have heard him speak. I always thought he was a fairly nasty guy, but that was just me.

From Wikipedia...

Joseph L. Bruno (born April 8, 1929) is an American businessman and Republican politician. He was the Temporary President of the New York State Senate and its majority leader.

On June 23, 2008, Bruno announced that he would not seek reelection to the State Senate in 2008. On June 24, 2008, Bruno stepped down from the positions of Senate Majority Leader and "temporary president of the senate", but remained a State Senator. On July 18, 2008, Bruno resigned from the New York State Senate.

Under the New York State Constitution, the "temporary president of the senate" performs the duties of the lieutenant governor when that office is vacant, or its office-holder is out of state.^[1] He represented the 43rd New York State Senate District.

On January 23, 2009, Bruno was indicted on eight counts of corruption, including mail and wire fraud.^[2]

And from the Albany Times-Union...

A federal grand jury indicted former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno on felony charges Friday, alleging he used his elected position to extract $3.2 million in private consulting fees from clients who sought to use his influence.

A defiant Bruno, who is the sole person charged in the 8-count indictment, criticized the U.S. Attorney's office and an ''overzealous'' FBI for conducting what Bruno characterized as a ''politicized'' criminal investigation of his business dealings. During a brief news conference following his appearance in front of a federal magistrate, Bruno vowed to go to trial to fight the charges as he accused federal authorities of conducting ''a three-year fishing expedition that . . . stinks.''

Christopher Cox Leaves

I hadn't heard this, but it sure sounds like good news to me...

From The New York Times. Read more by clicking on the link.

Word comes from the Securities and Exchange Commission that Christopher Cox left the chairmanship on Tuesday. There was no announcement, although he had said earlier that he would leave at the end of the Bush administration.

Mr. Cox was brought in by President Bush at a time when Republicans were mad that the previous chairman, William H. Donaldson, was voting with the Democrats on contentious issues. His mandate was to restore unity, and at first he seemed an ideal choice. He had been a securities lawyer, many years earlier, and his tenure as a Republican congressman from California had shown him to be more willing than most to compromise across the aisle.

He was determined to avoid a split commission, with the result that little got done. At the insistence of one Republican commissioner, Paul Atkins, the commission slowed down the enforcement process. Some cases languished for months — even after settlement deals were reached — while the commission pondered whether the companies had agreed to pay penalties that were too high.

Mr. Cox had a politician’s nose for public relations, which did not serve him well as the manager of an overtaxed regulatory agency. When reporters reacted with outrage to receiving subpoenas, he withdrew them in a way that held the staff up to ridicule. Similarly, when the Bernard L. Madoff scandal broke, he issued a statement that seemed to him to be an agency apology, and that seemed inside the agency to be a case of a chairman abandoning the people who worked for him.