February, 2013 Political Class Insanity, Part 2 - A Mayor Gets Indicted, Nazi Thinking In New Hampshire, A Crooked Judge In MIchigan, Alternative Energy Cronyism and More

Yesterday, we started our review of the latest monthly insanity from the American political class. We reviewed an opulent Federal bathroom for one government executive that cost taxpayers over $200,000, we reviewed how the Obama administration is likely the worst Presidential administration when it comes to meeting its legally mandated budget deadlines, how Congress keeps spending money even when a government entity (the Defense Department) actually says it does not need any more money, and more.

But as has been the case for the past six months or so, we could not confine the insanity to one post. More insanity prevails today:

1) Although the lawsuit has just been filed and no verdicts or trials have occurred, it would not be a surprise if this was a legitimate lawsuit with a good chance of succeeding, based on the crony politics we have discussed many times before relative to alternative energy and vehicle programs.

The details below come from a Bloomberg article from earlier in January, 2013:

• XP Vehicles and Limnia recently filed complaints against the U.S. and the Energy Department in Federal courts in Washington, contending that the Obama administration’s Energy Department took care of political friends of the administration when it came to handing out taxpayer money and loans for alternative energy projects.
• Specifically, they are seeking damages for alleged abuses of the $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing loan program.
• The two companies are seeking $450 million in damages, specifically: “Defendants used the ATVM loan program as nothing more than a veil to steer hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to government cronies.”
• XP Vehicles, said it wanted a $40 million loan in 2009 to mass produce an SUV-style electronic vehicle with doors and other parts made from foam.
• XP Vehicles was led to understand that review of its application would take “a matter of weeks.” but XPV claims if found out that two of its competitors, Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive, were getting special assistance from Energy Department staff with their loan application process.
• At that time, a member of Tesla’s board of director was Steven Westly, a campaign contribution bundler for Obama.
• The complaint also claims Fisker’s investors included Obama donors.
• Tesla got their taxpayer backed loan of $465 million loan in June 2009 with an interest rate of only 1.6%, according to the complaint.
• Fisker received their taxpayer backed $528.7 million loan but in May 2011 the Energy Department blocked Fisker from receiving the rest of the loan when the company didn’t meet its developmental milestones.
• The Energy Department did not comment specifically on these lawsuits, per their policy, but did state that all protocols and guidelines for being fair were followed in all cases.

Again, only accusations, nothing proven one way or the other. But it would not surprise me if this was the actual biased process used. It would be consistent with how the Washington political class functions, political friends and cronies taken care of first, taxpayer money and wealth wasted in the process

2) If there was a tyranny of the month award, I am pretty sure this New Hampshire state legislator would be in the running.

New Hampshire State Representative Democrat Cynthia Chase encouraged her fellow legislators to use their elected positions to make New Hampshire less welcoming to any conservative or libertarian planning on moving to her state, including those already there.

A potential reason for her paranoia is a project underway in New Hampshire. The project’s aim is to encourage that Americans of conservative tenets to move to New Hampshire, run for office, and work to drive the state toward libertarianism and conservatism. It is called the "Free State Project" and supporters are called "Free Staters." These Free Staters want to make the state motto, “Live Free or Die,” a reality. Seems reasonable, given the motto has been around for hundreds of years.

Writing a web post for a blog on December 21 post, Ms. Chase wrote that, "Free Staters are the single biggest threat the state is facing today. In the opinion of this Democrat, Free Staters are the single biggest threat the state is facing today. There is, legally, nothing we can do to prevent them from moving here to take over the state, which is their openly stated goal.

In this country you can move anywhere you choose and they have that same right. What we can do is to make the environment here so unwelcoming that some will choose not to come, and some may actually leave. One way is to pass measures that will restrict the 'freedoms' that they think they will find here. Another is to shine the bright light of publicity on who they are and why they are coming."

It is tough to imagine an elected American official wanting to restrict freedom of only those that disagree with her political positions or who wants to pass punitive measures, again for just a subset of citizens, that would make their life more miserable. Unbelievable.

The Constitution guarantees equal treatment under the law and by government policies and officials. This fundamental principle is obviously lost on this politician.

I do not like to throw around comparisons to Nazi Germany, it is an insult that is rarely accurate and is often used more as a hate barb than an accurate description of the situation. However, if I change the words “Free Staters” above to “Jewish Citizens” and leave everything else the same, I think you will see how closely Ms. Chase’s words would line up with the Nazi manifesto in Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

Discrimination against only certain citizens and laws to make their lives miserable and “shine the light of publicity on who they are.” Think back to your history class and remember how Jewish citizens were forced to wear yellow Star Of David signs on themselves when out in public and you will better see my point. Again, unbelievable that our political dialog has come to using the power of the government to force others of a different political position to change their lives.

3) A January 18, 2013 Associated Press reviewed how that more than ten years ago, Ray Nagin was elected mayor of New Orleans on a promise to end corruption in a city infested by decades of it. On January 18, 2013 Nagin was indicted on charges he accepted bribe money, payoffs and other payments while the relatively poor city struggled to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

The Federal investigation alleges that city contractors paid Nagin more than $200,000 in bribes and subsidized his trips to Hawaii, Jamaica and other places. In return, they were awarded Nagin’s help securing millions of contract dollars in work for the city.

The charges against Nagin are a result of a municipal corruption investigation that has already garnered guilty pleas by two former city officials and two businessmen and a prison sentence for a former city vendor. Imagine, an American politician using his office for personal enrichment and greed. Who would have thought? This is especially distressing, given how difficult the recovery has been from Katrina and the personal, emotional, and financial suffering that came with it.

4) The Salt Lake Tribune had a very interesting article on January 11, 2013. Before reviewing it, be clear that the following information is just an accusation at this point in time but the FBI and Federal Trade Commission are deeply involved in the investigation of everything going on around the accusations of illegally buying political influence.

Specifically, accusations of political kickbacks related to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are just that, unproven accusations. But the following highlights from the article are certainly interesting and could result in a Nagin-like situation for state and Federal politicians:

• A Utah businessman, Jeremy Johnson, claims that recently elected Utah Attorney General John Swallow helped arrange a deal in 2010 in which Johnson thought he was to pay Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid $600,000 to make a Federal investigation into Johnson’s company go away.
• Johnson said Swallow at first wanted $2 million to enlist Reid’s help but when he claimed did not have that kind of money they eventually agreed on $300,000 upfront and $300,000 later, according to Johnson‘s version of events.
• But when the Federal government still filed a lawsuit against the company for shady marketing tactics, a lawsuit Johnson thought he had paid to go away, he demanded Swallow return some of the $250,000 initial bribe payment.
• When he did not get the bribe money back, just days before the Nov. 6 election, Johnson engaged in a frantic effort to get Swallow to drop out of the race, saying information of the arrangement with Reid would come out and force the Swallow’s resignation from office if he became attorney general.
• According to the article, Federal agents, including the FBI, have been interviewing Johnson and others related to the situation.
• However, as proof of the scheme, Johnson has produced emails and other documents indicating that Swallow intended to put Johnson in touch with another businessman, Richard Rawle, who allegedly had connections in with Reid in Reid’s home state of Nevada, according to Johnson
• In a subsequent article, Reid's office denied any involvement in the alleged bribery scheme: "Senator Reid has no knowledge or involvement regarding Mr. Johnson’s case," his spokeswoman, Kristen Orthman, said in a statement. "These unsubstantiated allegations implying Senator Reid’s involvement are nothing more than innuendo and simply not true."

Whatever the case and whatever the Federal investigators come up with, there are some smoking guns, and smoking emails, that indicate that government favors are for sale, either at the state level, the Federal level, or just as a fraud cover to get money with no bribery involved. But that should not surprise any of us, most of us know that politicians’ priorities start and end with their career and personal financial enrichment.

The original article with the extensive details of bribery and secret meetings can be found at:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home3/55598812-200/johnson-swallow-rawle-attorney.html.csp

6) But it is not just political figures in elected office that are out only for their personal enrichment. Consider a short story that appeared in the January 20, 2013 issue of the Tampa Bay Times. Apparently, Federal authorities have filed a felony fraud charge against Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway in a case involving the sale of an upscale Detroit area home in a short sale arrangement.

The charge contends that Ms. Hathaway hid the ownership of a Florida property in order to get a short sale approved on her Detroit area home. The fraud allowed her and her husband to illegally get out from under a $600,000 debt. The article states a plea deal on the crime has already been reached and she will shortly no longer be a state Supreme Court Justice.

7) Our final political class insanity today comes from France, where it appears that politicians the world over are the same when it comes to their own financial enrichment and greed. According to a January 10, 2013 Associated Press article, the French bureaucrat leading the fight against France’s tax and fiscal fraud problem is now one of those being investigated for such fraud.

French Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac has spent months seeking out and prosecuting corporate multinational tax dodgers, citizens who live abroad to avoid taxes and those within France who stash money in overseas accounts. Now, he is the target in just the sort of investigation he thought would help turn France's finances around, as prosecutors investigate an online journal's allegations that he transferred money from a Swiss account into one in Singapore, avoiding taxes in the process.

He has, of course, denied the allegations from the online news source, Mediapart, and as of now, these are not proven facts, just allegations. More to come but again, who would be surprised if a politician acted holier than thou in public while secretly arranging for his financial gain behind the scenes, in France, in the U.S., or anywhere where government is run by a political class?

That should do it for today, one last dose of political class insanity tomorrow to wrap up this month’s insults to our intelligence and pocketbooks.

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