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.

A Democrat Is a Crook

I take great joy when a Republican is outed as a crook and there is great sadness in my heart when it is a Democrat. I feel that we are better than that.

As a result, I hope this bastard gets ten times as much time in the slammer as any Republican would get.

FBI agents this morning arrested Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich (D) and his chief of staff on conspiracy and bribery charges, including allegations that the governor was seeking to benefit financially from his appointment of a successor to the U.S. Senate seat that was vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

The arrest of Blagojevich, 51, and his top aide, John Harris, 46, capped a lengthy investigation into public corruption at the highest levels of state government.

From Where's The Outrage...

Did You Know - Angelo Cappelli is a Crook (R)

Don't you just love all the rascals attracted to the Republican party?

Less than a year ago Angelo Cappelli [Republican] was a hot newcomer on the local political scene, building key allies in his race for House District 52.

Cappelli narrowly lost the election, but his fundraising prowess, Ivy League pedigree and well-established banking job with SunTrust solidified his future with the local Republican Party.

That was until SunTrust began taking a closer look at paperwork coming from his office. After a six-week investigation, police arrested Cappelli on Wednesday morning at his lawyer's office on Central Avenue. He faces grand theft and perjury charges, according to St. Petersburg authorities.

From St. Petersburg Times

Did You Know - J. Stephen Griles

The members of the Bush administration really believe that they have a God-given right to do whatever it takes to carry out their agenda. Don't doubt it for a minute.

A federal judge chastised a senior U.S. government official and doubled his proposed prison term to 10 months Tuesday for lying to senators in a lobbying scandal. He was the highest Bush administration official sentenced in the probe.

J. Steven Griles, the Interior Department's deputy secretary, pleaded guilty to obstructing a congressional investigation, but on Tuesday his lawyers tried to deflect blame for his faulty testimony.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle was not pleased.

"Even now you continue to minimize and try to excuse your conduct," she told Griles before doubling the five-month prison term he and prosecutors had agreed on.

From the International Herald Tribune.

Did You Know - Duncan Hunter

The crooked little man walked a crooked little mile and showed off his crooked little smile...

Rep. Duncan Hunter on Tuesday defended his role in helping steer tens of millions of dollars to a La Jolla-based aerospace firm to develop a military jet the Pentagon did not want. Hunter aggressively supported the program over decades even though the Pentagon repeatedly questioned the jet's feasibility and lambasted the contractor's work.

La Jolla-based duPont Aerospace rewarded Hunter for his support for the program since 1988 with $36,000 in campaign contributions. The Alpine Republican had been chairman of the Armed Services committee before Democrats regained control of the House earlier this year. He currently is running for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

From Sign On San Diego.

Still Crooked

Yep, the Republicans are still sneaky, crooked and voting against the best interests of American citizens, even as they were voted out of the House of Representatives. To wit, the following article from American Progress' Progress Report.

CONGRESS -- HASTERT PROVISION BENEFITING ILLINOIS HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY 'MYSTERIOUSLY' ADDED TO TAX BILL: Last week, the 109th Congress finished with "a mad rush to deal with untended business," including tax legislation that "became a magnet for contentious and expensive bills." In one of his final acts as Speaker, Dennis Hastert (R-IL) used the tax bill to create a "major change in Medicare policy avidly sought by a few health insurers, in particular a multinational company with headquarters in his home state, Illinois." The provision "showed up mysteriously after House and Senate negotiators had finished writing the bill ," and was "added by the House Rules Committee, just a few hours before the bill went to the House floor last week." Aon Corporation, whose headquarters are in Chicago, stands to benefit the most from the change in law. (Aon lobbyist Larry Oday admitted his company was "actively involved in consideration of this piece of legislation.") "It disturbs me that this major policy change -- one that treats some plans unfairly -- was included at the last minute by the House Rules Committee," Senate Finance Committee chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) said of Hastert's move. Last December, Hastert helped to insert a provision in the Defense Appropriations bill that granted vaccine manufactures near-total immunity for injuries or deaths (even in cases of "gross negligence") caused by their drugs during a viral pandemic, such as an outbreak of the avian flu. The legislation was "worth billions of dollars " to a small group of drug makers.

Breakin' the Law

It's so sad it's almost funny. Another conservative Republican running for Congress has been accused of crimes, but refuses to withdraw from the election. Even his own party wants him out for seding letters to Latino voters informing them that they could be arrested if they voted.

I know there are some crooked Democrats out there, but the Republicans have currently lost sigth of what this nation is all about.

Read more here in the LA Times