Quick disclaimer - rather than use "alleged" many, many times tonight and tomorrow, let's just do a blanket disclaimer upfront and assume that all of the incidents of corruption that are on the CREW website and listed below should be preceded by the word "alleged" even if it does not appear. Also, the following is just a sampling of the alleged corruption, to put all of the accusations into this post would be too long. Thus, assume you are just getting a sampling, you can go to the CREW website to see the complete dossiers.
Roland Burris, Illinois - You did not think we could do a corruption post and not have someone from Illinois involved, did you? Senator Burris took over President's Obama's Senate seat when he was elected President. He received the seat by appointment by ex Governor Rod Blagojevich who is currently under indictment for trying to sell the seat to the highest bidder among other accusations.
Although Senator Burris claimed there was nothing nefarious about his appointment, he offered at least three different explanations under oath about how he got the seat. Unfortunately, Federal wiretaps offered a different picture since they included an incident where Burris offered to raise money for the Governor in exchange for the appointment. He is also heard offering to get his attorney to also make a monetary contribution, potentially in violation of state law.
Vern Buchanan, Florida - Congressman Buchanan is alleged to have coerced employees at his various car dealerships to contribute to his election campaign fund which is against current election law. In one incident, an employee has stated that that Congressman offered use of his Vail, Colorado home in exchange for a contribution. Mr. Buchanan is also said to have used cars from his dealerships' inventory for election purposes, another violation of election law.
Ken Calvert, California - one accusation in this situation is that the Congressman used Federal earmarks to financially increase the value of land he owned, violating the ban against using his position in Congress to enhance his own financial standard. He is alleged to have purchased a parcel of land for $550,000, pushed through local earmarks worth over $9 million which enabled him to sell the original parcel for $985,000 less than a year later despite making no improvements. Mr. Calvert is also under investigation by a Federal grand jury for possibly pushing through at least thirteen earmarks in support of the Copeland Lowery lobbying firm, worth over $90 million, and then accepting campaign contributions from the firm. He is a nine term Congressman.
Charles Rangel, New York - there is way too much detail to go into here but I will list the topics of corruption that CREW has on its website and you can go into the detail and dossiers they have posted online. By far, Mr. Rangel gets the most press from CREW:
- Improper rental arrangements on multiple rent controlled apartments in NYC.
- Improper Use Of Congressional Stationery - violation of House rules.
- Dominican Republic Villa - non-declaration of rental income on financial disclosure forms for seven years, possibly hiding $75,000 in income.
- Nabors Industries - Possibly preserved a tax loophole for Nabors in exchange for a contribution to the Rangel Center.
- Caribbean Trip - possible violation of House rules.
- Financial Disclosures - non-disclosure of assets and unearned income in violation of House rules.
- Improper Vehicle Storage - violation of House rules.
- Ongoing Ethics Probe - covering just about everything listed above and more. By the way, Mr. Rangel is a twenty term Congressman.
- Issues tied to his association with the PMA lobbying groups (see yesterday's post).
- Issues tied to his association with Kuchera Industries, a former defense contractor.
- Issues tied to his association with defense executives and former military personnel convicted of skimming money from government contracts.
- Issues tied to his association with his brother's lobbying clients.
- And finally, allegations that his chief of staff threatened a political opponent.
Mr. Murtha is a nineteen term Congressman. None of these these issues even touch on the massive earmarks spent on the John Murtha airport in Pennsylvania (see a previous post on the wasteful spending that has involved.)
Pete Visclosky, Indiana - Mr. Visclosky is also closely tied to the troubles of the defunct PMA lobbying firm which is alleged to have received many earmarks courtesy of Congressman Visclosky. According to CREW, PMA was usually the biggest contributor to the Congressman's campaign funds and in exchange was rewarded with over $30 million in earmarks for PMA clients. In addition, Mr. Visclosky was instrumental in getting $6.9 million in funding for the Purdue Research Park Northwest Indiana. The facility was supposed to be a place where fledgling companies could get a good start in establishing their business, moving out of the Park once they were up and running. However, the Park is now 25% empty and most of the rented space is rented by former PMA clients whose employees also are contributors to the Congressman's campaign funds. Mr. Visclosky is a thirteen term Congressman.
Maxine Walters, California - Ms. Walters main ethics problem is as a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, she should not have been involved in arranging a meeting between Treasury officials and OneUnited Bank, an institution she has financial ties to. The bank eventually received $12.1 million in TARP funds after a second meeting Ms. Walters arranged. She never disclosed her financial stake in the bank in her correspondence with the Treasury department. She is a ten term member of congress.
Alan Mollohan, West Virginia - According to CREW, Mr. Mollohon ethics problems stem "from misuse of his position on the Appropriations Committee, from which he has steered hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks to family, friends, former employees and corporations in exchange for contributions to his campaign and political action committees." The Congressman is also alleged to have misreported his assets on financial disclosure forms and he is currently under investigation by the Justice Department. And finally, not showing any discretion, the Congressman requested a $1 million earmark to allow the Federal government to expand a wilderness area abutting his property, likely increasing the value of his property. He is a fourteen term Congressman.
It is enough to make you sick. Not only are these actions wasteful of taxpayer money, obvious conflicts of interest, self-serving, and in many cases just plain illegal, there seems to be no sense of regret or remorse, these people seem to view these actions as some sort of entitlement. It is these types of situations that led to the definition of political class in the book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government." Politicians today see themselves as above the law and above the rest of us. Rather than serving the citizens of this country, they are serving themselves.
The above examples involve both male and female, Republicans and Democrats, the House and the Senate, East Coast, West Coast, the South and the Midwest. The overriding commonality on most of these people is the fact that they have been serving in Congress for a very long time. That is why Step 39 in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" is so important. We must have term limits for both Congressmen and Senators in order for them to become so good at ripping off the system, the country, and the taxpayers in their unethical and illegal schemes.
Visit our website at www.loathemygovernment.com to order an autographed copy of the book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government -Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom and Destroying The American Political Class" and to sign up for the cause. The book is also available online at Amazon and Barnes And Noble.
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