Group Lists 13 'Most Corrupt' in Congress

[WA98296]

Today’s LA Times... and all the news is not good.

From the article:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington "was compelled to research and release a report on these corrupt members because the ethics committees in both the House and Senate are completely inert," Sloan said. "The report calls for the House and Senate to act to investigate and take appropriate action against them for these violations of the rules."

snip

Sloan expressed impatience with both parties. "Democrats are just as much to blame as Republicans for the current ethics deadlock. The Democrats won't file ethics complaints against even the most egregious violators like DeLay and Ney…. The Democrats are spineless," she said.

snip

The 13 members of Congress recommended for investigation by the watchdog group are:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ethics25sep25,0,6631010.story?page=1&coll=la-home-nation

[sasha031]

1. Maxine Waters!

Rep. Maxine Waters: The report cites a December 2004 Los Angeles Times investigation disclosing how members of the congresswoman's family have made more than $1 million in the last eight years by doing business with companies, candidates and causes that Waters has helped. Before publication of the Times investigation last year, Waters declined to be interviewed, but said of her family members: "They do their business, and I do mine."

I love Maxine, I would say in her case it is a bit of a witch hunt.

[valerief]

3. A million?

Isn't that a mere pittance to congress members?

[tx_dem41]

17. So alleged graft is ok ...as long as its...

not for big, big money? Oy, vey. That's some twisted ethics you have there.

[WA98296]

4. Love Maxine too..

If there has been a lapse of judgment we should know, whether we like it or not.

[tx_dem41]

15. Would you say the same if it was a Republican representative...

with the same facts attached to them?

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. How can she be blamed for what her family does?

Unless they can directly connect her to their businesses, this is stupid.

[KittyWampus]

29. Thank You, If Waters Wants To Support A Bill That Helps Some

industry, group or whatever, she has to make sure that nooone in her family has ever had any job with said industry, group or whatever?

This is trying to tie a Democrat to something by 6 degrees of seperation. Off to read to see if there are any SPECIFICS.

WHAT company is in question
WHAT action did Waters take that was in support of that company
HOW was Water's family member benefitted financially from said company

[goclark]

2. The LA Times is the toilet IMO

They are really just trying to get at Maxine IMO.

She s with Cindy and Conyers and speaks out.
Rove doesn't like that one bit.

[KharmaTrain]

16. This Wasn't A Times List...

This is a list compiled by "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington"...and it looks rather fair and accurate to me.

We're just learning about the Frist mess as well as Burns, DeLay, Ney and other Repugnicans...the analysis here appears very fair and above board. The same should be said about Jefferson. Why wouldn't the same apply to Waters?

Personally, I love Maxine's politics. She's one tenacious, determined lady. However, politics doesn't means character...and we, of all people, should realize that. I've only read sketchy details about her financial problems and now I am sure I will find out more, but to dismiss both the charges an the messenger on face value is being a tad disengenous.

Sadly, Democrats can be corrupt, too. I'm from Chicago...dare I give you a list?

Of all the papers I read, the LA Times remains one of the last real good papers in the country. They endorsed Kerry last year and was the first national paper to really give ink to Cindy Sheehan. It's one of the rare good papers left.

[goclark]

24. I live in LA and I talk to people that read it every day

When I saw the word TIMES, I immediately thought of my home town. :)


The LA Times is in big trouble.
They are begging people in super markets to get a subscription.
Most of my friends say they are NOT fair to our side on a day to day basis.

Yes, they did a wonderful report on Arnold before he was SELECTED as our Governor.
Yes, Robert Sheer is a shining star.

Yes, Maxine is not perfect,what politician is?
I am not trying to protect Maxine, she is skilled at protecting herself.

Now let's see which voices will be silenced by the LIST?

Since the Rethugs own Diebold and this country, they will have enough money to put up and elect replacements.

And the Democrats? We will have lost a dynamic voice that speaks for the people not George Bush!

[goclark]

27. It was published IN the LA Times however

[KharmaTrain]

18. This Wasn't A Times List...

This is a list compiled by "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington"...and it looks rather fair and accurate to me.

We're just learning about the Frist mess as well as Burns, DeLay, Ney and other Repugnicans...the analysis here appears very fair and above board. The same should be said about Jefferson. Why wouldn't the same apply to Waters?

Personally, I love Maxine's politics. She's one tenacious, determined lady. However, politics doesn't means character...and we, of all people, should realize that. I've only read sketchy details about her financial problems and now I am sure I will find out more, but to dismiss both the charges an the messenger on face value is being a tad disengenous.

Sadly, Democrats can be corrupt, too. I'm from Chicago...dare I give you a list?

Of all the papers I read, the LA Times remains one of the last real good papers in the country. They endorsed Kerry last year and was the first national paper to really give ink to Cindy Sheehan. It's one of the rare good papers left.

[KittyWampus]

31. IIRC, Same Group Did BOOK About John Kerry & His $ From Telecom

industry.

[KarenS]

5. Ms Musgrave!! I knew she'd be on it!!

Due to gerrymandering in Colorado, she became my Rep one day:grr:

[KingFlorez]

6. She's way off her rocker

She just loves James Dobson and Focus on the Family. She does not belong in Congress.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

14. Synopsis of the charges - 11 Repugs, 2 Dems

Both of the Dems have minor charges but if they are wrong, they are wrong and need to be disciplined. But, now, the repugs take corruption to a whole new level that Nixon and his thugs could only dream about. And DeLay isn't mentioned - he is the King of Corruption and deserves his own special classification. For your viewing pleasure -

The 13 members of Congress recommended for investigation by the watchdog group are:

• Sen. Bill Frist: The report accuses him of violating federal campaign finance laws in how he disclosed a campaign loan. It also calls for an inquiry over his recent sale of stock in HCA Inc., his family's hospital corporation. The sale has raised questions about possible insider dealing. Frist aides confirmed Friday that the SEC was investigating. They have denied claims of campaign finance violations.

• Rep. Roy Blunt: The report criticizes him for trying to insert provisions into bills that would have benefited, in one case, a client of his lobbyist son and in another case, the employer of his lobbyist girlfriend, now his wife.


• Sen. Conrad Burns: The report says that questions arose over $3 million in appropriations he earmarked for an Indian tribe in Michigan that was a client of lobbyist Abramoff. The senator received substantial campaign contributions from Abramoff and various clients.

"Sen. Burns did nothing wrong, and any accusation to the contrary is pure politics," said James Pendleton, his director of communications. He said Burns had earmarked the appropriation at the request of the Michigan congressional delegation.

• Rep. Bob Ney: The report says the chairman of the House Administration Committee went on a golf outing to Scotland in 2002, arranged by Abramoff, at a time when the congressman was trying to insert a provision into legislation to benefit one of Abramoff's tribal clients.

Ney reported to the House that the trip was paid for entirely by the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, which denied paying any of the costs. Ney has said he had been duped by Abramoff.

• Rep. Tom Feeney: The report says he incorrectly reported that a golf trip to Scotland with Abramoff in 2003 was paid for by the National Center for Public Policy Research, which denied it. A Feeney aide said the congressman had been misled. Questions also have arisen about two other privately funded trips.

• Rep. Richard W. Pombo: He paid his wife and brother $357,325 in campaign funds in the last four years, the report says. He also supported the wind-power industry before the Department of Interior without disclosing that his parents received hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties from wind-power turbines on their ranch.

Brian Kennedy, a spokesman for Pombo, said that "each of the charges is baseless." He called the watchdog group "a Democratic attack group, and all of their charges should be taken with a grain of salt."

• Rep. Maxine Waters: The report cites a December 2004 Los Angeles Times investigation disclosing how members of the congresswoman's family have made more than $1 million in the last eight years by doing business with companies, candidates and causes that Waters has helped. Before publication of the Times investigation last year, Waters declined to be interviewed, but said of her family members: "They do their business, and I do mine."

• Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.): The report says he encountered controversy over disclosures that Pennsylvania taxpayers paid for his children's schooling while they lived in Virginia. Santorum maintained he did nothing wrong, and has pulled his children out of the school, according to reports.

• Reps. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and William J. Jefferson: Both congressional veterans are under federal investigation.

Cunningham, who has announced that he will not run for reelection, faces questions over his dealings with a defense contractor who allegedly overpaid him when he purchased Cunningham's house. Jefferson is under scrutiny for his role in an overseas business deal. Normally the House ethics committee does not hold inquiries while criminal investigations are underway.

• Rep. Charles H. Taylor (R-N.C.): The report says that questions have been raised about his private business interests, including a savings and loan in Asheville, N.C., and personal business interests in Russia.

• Rep. Marilyn N. Musgrave (R-Colo.) and Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.): Both second-term House members encountered criticisms tied to campaign activities, the report says.

Musgrave was accused of misusing her congressional office for campaign purposes. Renzi was accused of financing portions of his 2002 campaign with improper loans.

*Note this isn't copyrighted, hence the length - it was in a press release.

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. So who is the other Dem

besides Waters?

[Democrat 4 Ever]

28. Jefferson. n/t

[Joebert]

19. I'm afflicted by her too.

She sent me one of those fliers asking what issues I agreed with.

The ones written so you end up having to choose between:

"I support our troops and their mission to bring freedom to the rest of the world."

or

"No, I am a coward that doesn't support our military and longs for the days of Stalin."

I can't stand her.

Even better, my state Rep is the one who connected homosexuality to beastiality. Nice, progressive, open minded kind of guy. Dumbass.

[Fenris]

7. When I hear "ethics" and "Congress"

I start laughing. :(

[MADem]

8. Ya know what caught my eye

The "Democrats are just as much to blame" line. BULLSHIT. If they were JUST AS MUCH to blame, that list would be split down the middle. It is rather hard to have spine when you have to get a GOP cosponsor to get any legislation passed, when the GOP controls the activity on the floors of the House and Senate, and the Democrats are muzzled at every opportunity.

Granted, they could do more, like bitch (and then be accused of whining) but beyond that, they do not have the seats. Yet, anyway.

And calling the list BIPARTISAN? Give me a fucking break. The 13:
FRIST--GOP
BLUNT--GOP
BURNS--GOP
NEY--GOP
FEENEY--GOP
POMBO--GOP
WATERS---wow, at last, a DEMOCRAT!!!
SANTORUM--GOP
CUNNINGHAM--GOP
JEFFERSON--Listed as a Democrat, but a major DINO http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=H1551103&type=category&category=Conservative
TAYLOR--GOP
MUSGRAVE--GOP
RENZI--GOP

That has got to be some of the most incredible spinning of the word "bipartisan" that I have heard since the last time a GOP toady spat it out....

[WA98296]

9. This is what caught my eye

This is precisely what the hell is wrong with Congress, and WHY we can never allow them to investigate the federal response to Katrina:


"The Democrats won't file ethics complaints against even the most egregious violators like DeLay and Ney..."


They are spineless, it's too damn bad but they all are and its nothing new.

[MADem]

12. The Ethics procedures are totally controlled by REPUBLICANS

Unless the Dems can find a GOP type or five, with CLOUT, to go off the reservation and press the case with them, they cannot even GET to the Ethics committee. All they can do is try to bitch on TV, and then they get tagged with the "All they do is complain, but they do not DO anything about it" line...but they CAN'T do anything, because the GOP holds all the cards.

It is a fucking Catch-22 situation.

This link is instructive: http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=478127

The House of Representatives today finds itself is in an unprecedented situation. It has no functioning Ethics Committee at a time when allegations of misconduct are mounting fast against its most powerful leader and serial ethics violator, Tom DeLay (R-TX)....

[WA98296]

22. Then, by all means LET THEM AT LEAST TRY

Or perhaps they should continue to sit back and watch....I'd like to see a little more TRYING. I would rather see them ridiculed for trying to expose the crooks than looking like they are complicit.

[MADem]

25. What can they do?? I mean, really???

They do standups under the Dome, they bitch, they moan, and sometimes even CSPAN cuts away from them to show some stupidass rerun...they cannot get talking head airtime to talk about these issues, because the cables, when they aren't covering Natalee 24-7, have moved on to Katrina and Rita and WILL NOT TAKE THE TIME TO DISCUSS THIS ISSUE SUBSTANTIVELY. Only when there is an indictment do they get the chance to speak of these things, and so long as the GOP controls everything, indictments will be SLOW in coming...how long have we been waiting for the DeLay zit to pop??

They HAVE tried, but NO ONE IS LISTENING.
http://democraticwhip.house.gov/media/articles.cfm?pressReleaseID=989

GOP Shifts Gears on Ethics Rule
House Democrats Assail Change Limiting Ways an Investigation Can Start


by Mike Allen
The Washington Post

January 05, 2005

House Republicans opened a new session of Congress yesterday by pushing through a new rule curtailing the ways ethics investigations can be launched, a day after they retreated on two other ethics moves.

With Democrats objecting, Republicans passed a package of House rules that requires at least one Republican to agree before the ethics committee begins an inquiry. The committee's membership is evenly divided between parties, and previously a deadlock meant an inquiry would automatically begin....

But amid the opening-day pomp, Republicans struggled privately with fissures from their leaders' effort to water down rules.

Ethics committee Chairman Joel Hefley (R-Colo.) broke with GOP leaders on the House floor, saying he thought the changes were a mistake since they were done without bipartisan discussion....
(but he voted for it anyway, probably under pain of death!!!!)

[0007]

13. I noticed that too.

[TankLV]

36. Maxine shouldn't even be on the list. It's a phoney attempt at "balance"

It's baloney.

About 125 thousand dollars a year for MANY persons? Not even just ONE!

Because - gasp - they actually PASSIONATELY SUPPORTED SOME CAUSES AND PROGRAMS SHE BELIEVED IN?!!!!

How "horrible"! Wonder what they said about Liddy Dole and her multimillion dollar stint at politicizing the Red Cross?

At least these persons were passionate and cared about the causes they were put in touch with! As opposed to ALL REPUKES!

This is just BULLSHIT and SLANDER!

[whistle]

10. So, the list includes...

- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.)
- House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)

- Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy)
- Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles)
- Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Rancho Santa Fe)

- Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.)
— Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.)
- Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio)
- Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.)

• Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.)
• Rep. Charles H. Taylor (R-N.C.)
• Rep. Marilyn N. Musgrave (R-Colo.)
• Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz

....but not Tom Delay. I guess he'll get his own special report

[FightinNewDem]

35. "Beyond Delay"

Actually,the name of the report is "Beyond Delay". Essentially, DeLay is in a class by himself when it comes to sleazy behavior.

And folks, don't trash CREW. The wingers are busy doing that. The director of the group is a former Schumer aide, so that means she is in for the full treatment. This group is fighting a hard fight against sleaze. Don't bash them because they pointed out a few bad apples on our side of the aisle.

Ideology ain't ethics.

[OnionPatch]

11. Dems are just as much to blame?

BULL***T!!! The MEDIA is who is complicit in this, not just congressional Dems. The congressional Dems know that most of the time when they start investigations, they go nowhere and worse, the media slams them as partisan attacks. The MEDIA, including the LA Times, are just as much to blame for this. If it were the Clinton administration and his cronies, these reports would have been all over the TV, radio, newspapers, etc. etc. 24/7 starting the day he was elected! And every investigation would be treated with the utmost respect by them. :mad:

[leftofthedial]

23. 11 repukes

out of 13

[MADem]

26. One Dino, and one Dem--that is bipartisan to the lamestream media nt

[KittyWampus]

33. Waters, By What's Written Here, Has Done Nothing Wrong

it's just innuendo.

No specifics.

If there was something there, it would cite WHAT company, campaign or candidate Water's supported and WHO of Water's family members was involved and HOW they were involved and WHEN they were involved.

If Waters supports a bill for solar energy tax breaks and one of her cousins gets/has/had a job at a solar panel manufacturer, is that unethical?

[MADem]

34. Well, when you see family members of every cabinet official

under the Chimp with jobs in government or with lobbyists, by that standard, her conduct in your example would be characterized as pristine.

[Toasted_Halo]

30. Great...

another "dems are spineless" angle!

Thanks, LA Times!:eyes:

[deadparrot]

32. Aw, Daddy Blunt's on there.

His son's screwing my state; Dad's screwing the country. :crazy: