Democratic Scandal Scorecard
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http://ussneverdock.blogspot.com/2009/04/democratic-scandal-scorecard.html
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> Remember, Pelosi was suppose to drain the swamp.
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Your Democratic Scandal Scorecard
We are already used to revelations of Democratic lawmakers saying one
thing and doing another, and in some cases, violating the law with
impunity. But for a congressional majority, and later, a president and
administration that ran against a “culture of corruption,” the
breadth, depth, and variety of recent and ongoing Democratic scandals
is pretty eye-opening.
SEN. CHRIS DODD (D., CONN.): Dodd is most notably and recently in
trouble for the provision of the stimulus bill that ensured that
already-existing contracts for bonuses at companies receiving federal
bailout money would be honored. In an interview with CNN, he initially
denied any role in the provision.
As chair of the Senate Banking Committee, Dodd tried to put together
federal aid for the then-troubled mortgage lender Countrywide
Financial. Dodd’s homes in Connecticut and Washington, D.C., were
refinanced to below-market rates under the “Friends of Angelo” program
(meaning he was a friend of then-CEO Angelo Mozilo). He did not
disclose the refinance in the six financial-disclosure statements he’s
filed since then and has failed to keep promises to release more
information about them. He later said he knew he was part of the
company’s “VIP” program, but he didn’t know being a part of the VIP
program meant he would receive favorable mortgage terms. (Really.)
Those noted anti-Democrat partisans on the New York Times editorial
board have declared “his excuses are wearing ridiculously thin.”
NRO and the Los Angeles Times have reported that Dodd’s financial
bailout legislation was “exactly what Bank of America and Countrywide
wanted.”
In Dodd’s Senate ethics filings, he has repeatedly listed the value of
his “cottage” in Ireland as between $100,001 and $250,000. Others have
assessed the value of the property at $1 million or more. He bought it
with a Missouri businessman who was friends with a felon convicted of
insider trading. Dodd helped secure the felon a pardon from President
Clinton, and later bought his partner’s two-thirds share of the
property for $127,000.
In summer of 2008, when he was responsible for oversight of Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac, Dodd argued that to “suggest they are in major
trouble is not accurate.” Fannie and Freddie employees donated
$133,900 to Dodd since 1989, more to him than to any other lawmaker.
REP. JACK MURTHA (D., PA.): Federal agents are examining how nearly
$250 million in defense appropriations were steered to clients of KSA
Consulting, which employed Murtha’s brother Robert, and the PMA Group,
founded by a former Murtha aide. The clients then contributed $775,000
to Murtha in the last election cycle. The lawmaker is also under
scrutiny for steering federal earmarks to John Murtha Airport.
REP. CHARLIE RANGEL (D., N.Y.): He is being “investigated by the
House Ethics Committee in at least four areas, including his reported
failure to properly report income taxes on a Caribbean villa in the
Dominican Republic; use of four, rent-controlled apartments in Harlem;
questions about an offshore firm asking Rangel for special tax
exemptions; and whether Rangel improperly used House stationery to
solicit donations for a school of public affairs named after him at
City College of New York,” Fox News summarizes.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D., N.M.): His nomination as commerce secretary
was “derailed by a federal grand jury investigating whether one of his
campaign donors won state contracts because of pressure from the
governor’s office. The probe is moving along aggressively, sources
close to the investigation said, and it is unclear whether Richardson
could be indicted or what may become of his top aides, some of whom
have been questioned,” the Washington Post reported.
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D., CALIF.): Introduced legislation to steer
$25 billion to the FDIC, days after before CB Richard Ellis Group, a
commercial real-estate firm headed by her husband, Richard Blum, won
the competitive bidding for a contract to sell foreclosed properties
that the FDIC had inherited from failed banks. As the Washington Times
noted, Feinstein is not a member of the Senate Committee on Banking,
Housing and Urban Affairs, which has jurisdiction over the FDIC; and
the agency is supposed to operate from money it raises from bank-paid
insurance payments — not direct federal dollars. (UPDATE: The
legislation was introduced before the contract was awarded to CB
Richard Ellis Group. See Feinstein office response below.)
REP. JIM MORAN (D., VA.) and REP. PETER VISCLOSKY (D., IND.): Along
with Murtha, these two congressmen are under scrutiny for their ties
to PMA Group, a lobbying firm that steered millions of dollars in
donations to their political committees from its lobbyists and earmark-
seeking clients.
REP. JESSE JACKSON (D., ILL.): The Chicago Sun-Times reports that two
allies of Jackson told former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s camp that the
congressman would raise up to $5 million in campaign cash for the ex-
governor if he was appointed to President Obama’s U.S. Senate seat.
Jackson is under investigation by the House Office of Congressional
Ethics.
REP. JANE HARMAN (D., CALIF.): This lawmaker can allegedly be heard on
an NSA wiretap offering to help seek reduced charges for two pro-
Israel lobbyists suspected of espionage in exchange for help from a
suspected Israeli agent in lobbying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to give
Harman a key chairmanship.
STEVE RATTNER: President Obama’s “Car Czar” was one of the executives
involved with payments under scrutiny in a probe of an alleged
kickback scheme at New York state’s pension fund, according to a
person familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reports.
In addition, since the beginning of the year, the House Office of
Congressional Ethics has opened 10 preliminary investigations and six
of them have moved to the “second phase review” stage. The identities
of the lawmakers or staff under investigation are not known, other
than Jesse Jackson Jr.
Then there is the separate category for scandals that have come and
gone, and not been considered sufficient to impede cabinet nominees
from performing their duties — the unpaid taxes of Secretary of the
Treasury Tim Geithner, Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee
Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, and Labor
Secretary Hilda Solis, who overcame questions about $6,400 in tax
liens against her husband’s business. Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer
withdrew their nominations after revelations of unpaid taxes.
And this list is just the folks currently in office. Among those who
have left office are former Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D., Ill.), former
Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick; and former Rep. William “The Freezer”
Jefferson (D., La.).
And also file away the news that the National Enquirer, the first to
break the news of John Edwards’s affair with a former campaign
staffer, reports that a federal grand jury is examining allegations he
paid her hush money with campaign funds.
But other than that, they’re “draining the swamp” and beating back the
“culture of corruption,” as promised . ..
UPDATE: Feinstein's office strenuously objects to the linked Times
article.
The Washington Times on Tuesday published a story by Chuck Neubauer
that aimed inaccurate, untrue and unfair suggestions of impropriety at
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, and her husband, Richard
Blum ("Senate husband's firm cashes in on crisis," Page 1). This hit
piece distorted the truth in an attempt to cast an ethical cloud over
legislation that was designed to help struggling homeowners avoid
foreclosure.
Mr. Neubauer twisted some facts - and ignored others - to cast shadows
of controversy. It is disappointing that The Times saw fit to print
such innuendo, but it's never too late for a fact check.
Mr. Neubauer framed his story by asserting that the senator's
foreclosure-prevention bill was unusual because she "isn't a member of
the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with
jurisdiction over the FDIC." This is completely and indisputably
false. A simple examination of the senator's legislative record
reveals that she often pursues legislation that falls outside the
scope of her committee assignments.
In the last session of Congress alone, she introduced: a bill that
established national licensing standards for the mortgage industry,
although she is not on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
Committee; a bill that closed the Enron loophole, although she is not
on the Agriculture Committee; a bill that banned harmful phthalates
from children's toys, although she is not a member of the Commerce
Committee; a bill to raise fuel efficiency of America's fleet of
vehicles by 10 miles per gallon over 10 years, although she is not a
member of the Commerce Committee; a bill to renew trade sanctions
against the Burmese junta, although she is not a member of the Finance
Committee; and a bill to reduce the tariff on imported ethanol,
although she is not a member of the Finance Committee.
So, there is nothing unusual about her bill to provide $25 billion in
foreclosure relief to struggling homeowners. Senators commonly pursue
bills that are outside the jurisdiction of their committees, according
to researchers at the Library of Congress.
The story also insinuates that there is a correlation between the date
on which Mrs. Feinstein wrote a letter in support of Federal Deposit
Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila C. Bair's foreclosure-prevention
efforts and the date on which a competitively bid contract was awarded
by FDIC career staff to CB Richard Ellis Group, where Mr. Blum is non-
executive chairman. But there is a more logical reason why she sent
the letter Oct. 30.
That day, the Los Angeles Times ran a front-page story about Mrs.
Bair's proposal, describing it as a plan that could "help millions of
families stave off foreclosure." I presented this article to the
senator, who is very concerned with the issue because California has
the highest number of foreclosures in the nation, with 837,665 filings
in 2008 alone. After reading it, she sent the letter. Coincidentally,
an L.A. Times editorial the next day endorsed Mrs. Bair's plan,
calling it a "promising" way to "stave off more foreclosures by
offering federal guarantees to lenders that refinance defaulting
mortgages."
At the time, neither Mrs. Feinstein nor her husband had any awareness
of CB Richard Ellis' bid for an FDIC contract to advise the agency on
the sales of foreclosed properties. Her support of the Bair proposal
was based solely on the urgent need to stem foreclosures. I explained
the correlation between the newspaper story and the legislation to Mr.
Neubauer, but his story downplays the significance. The story also
fails to mention that variations of this proposal passed the Senate by
unanimous voice vote.
The truth is that Mrs. Feinstein was not aware of the CB Richard Ellis
contract until Mr. Neubauer called me Jan. 21 and I brought it to her
attention. There is no conflict of interest - and no connection -
between the senator's foreclosure-relief bill and CB Richard Ellis'
winning a competitively bid contract, which was awarded - unbeknownst
to her - by nonpolitical career staff.
Additionally, a bill to prevent foreclosures would not be particularly
helpful to a company that was bidding for a contract to sell
foreclosed properties.
In any case, President Obama issued an executive order to allocate $75
billion in federal funds for a foreclosure-relief program similar to
the Bair plan, rendering Mrs. Feinstein's legislation unnecessary.
Mr. Neubauer's story also uses a selective description of the FDIC
contract terms in order to make it seem as if CB Richard Ellis
received a unique and lucrative deal. But the terms of its contract
are similar to those that any other firm could have won in the nine-
month-long competitive bidding process.
There is no sweetheart deal, there is no conflict of interest, and
there is no story.
Mrs. Feinstein has the highest ethical standards and complies with all
requirements of the Ethics Committee. Her legislative agenda is
dictated by what she believes is best for the people of the United
States and the people of California. Period. Any suggestion to the
contrary is inaccurate, untrue and unfair.
GIL DURAN
Communications director
Office of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein
Washington
~ RHF
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Old News Repeated Again :
Another Federal Tax Cheat Joins The Obama-Regime©
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The Obama {Chicago Style} Crime Family
-aka- Corruption in the Obama Administration
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/106aca119fe07e79
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Add Another To The Obama {Chicago Style} Crime Family
-aka- Corruption in the Obama Administration
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/b76a5a4bdab6ab99
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More Names Added To The Obama {Chicago Style} Crime Family
-aka- Corruption in the Obama Administration
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/00ea56746ef3cd17
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The Obama-regime© Offers "Such-A-Deal" Pay Your
Back Taxes Without Fines, Penalties, and Interest
+ Plus a $191K Federal Job in the White House
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/3bdb565b18bda3cd
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Bill introduced to Eliminate all IRS Penalties and Interest
for Paying Taxes Past Due -aka- The "Rangel Rule"
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/0a3e8d459c766d57
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FEDS Going After Swiss Bank & Off-Shore Accounts
=Federal Tax Cheats=
Oops They Are 'In' the Obama Cabinet and Administration Already
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/b5e4ee8d0419f2f9
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/f911dc3388089dca
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ObamaTaxes© Paying More Taxes and Getting A Whole Lot Less
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/27081308194cfb3c
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Exposing The Obama-Crime-Family© :
One Non-Tax-Paying 'Cheat' at a Time
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/7d2e469f92d3037b
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insane political pay-back is a b-i-t-c-h ~ RHF
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