1) Ms. Eleanor Holmes Norton is the non-voting Congressional delegate for the District of Columbia in Congress. At a recent Congressional committee hearing that was looking into potential law breaking by a member of the White House staff, she got real hissy and angrily yelled out that the White House should not be held up to scrutiny. She claimed that Congress, and by proxy the American people, had no right to know what it was doing behind closed doors at the White House, even if illegal acts were being done:
"You don't have a right to know everything in a separation-of-powers government, my friend. That is the difference between a parliamentary government and a separation-of-powers government."
She made these public comments during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing.
The key word here is “oversight.” Contrary to what Ms. Norton has to say, this committee by its definition is responsible for overseeing and making sure that government and its representatives act in accordance with the existing laws of this country. Her rant goes against the false promise of this President that he was going to run the most transparent Presidential administration ever. Hard to do that when Congress is held back from doing its job.
The ignition for her rant occurred because the committee's Republican majority voted to ignore a claim by the White House that David Simas, director of it's Office of Political Strategy and Outreach, was immune to a Congressional subpoena to testify. Republicans believe the office is being used a political campaign operation, a violation of Federal election law. So I guess in her mind it is okay to ignore the law as long as you work in the White House.
Her idiotic comments can be viewed at:
2) We have always been a big fan of term limits. Without term limits, politicians tend to very quickly start worrying about their own self enrichment rather than operating an efficient and effective government. Over time their only focus becomes staying in office in order to reap the financial and other benefits of being in office, both legal and illegal.
That is why when a politician gets caught doing illegal acts it is usually the ones that have been around the longest and have been rigging the system, to their economic well. That is why our term limits website and effort,
is important, it would help get rid of politicians before their corruption reaches the depths that it does now.
The latest example of a long time politician really running afoul of the law is unfolding in Dallas. After being in political office for about four decades, John Wiley Price, a Dallas County Commissioner, was recently arrested along with three colleagues on suspicion of bribery and fraud. According to a local media station‘s news report, KDFW, law enforcement officials say the long time elected official received nearly $1 million in payouts and other improper benefits for at least a decade beginning in 2001.
Details of this and other shady dealings over the years include the following:
- This current Federal indictment claims that the payments were primarily made “to influence and reward Price to take action or refrain from taking negative action, as specific opportunities arose.”
- The arrest comes after an investigation began several years ago, an investigation that involved FBI raids of his home and office, among other locations.
- His arrest came just weeks after prosecutors attempted to reach a plea bargain with Price, which his attorney rejected.
- Local U.S. Attorney Sarah Saldana called the indictment against Price “a shocking betrayal of public trust,” asserting that he received a “steady stream” of illegal kickbacks and bribes.
- The charges include one count each of conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to defraud the IRS, three counts of submitting a fraudulent tax return, and six counts of mail fraud.
- According to the Dallas Morning News, Price’s legal troubles began to surface as far back as the 1970s when he served as the Democratic Progressive Voters League chairman.
- Back then he reportedly pleaded guilty to making false statements during a Federal trial in 1976 but the charges against him were dropped following an appeal.
- During his four decade career in politics, he has been arrested for assault, disorderly conduct, and other crimes, he faced several allegations of outrageous behavior, including shooting a dog and point a gun at its owner, physically attacking multiple police officers, threatening to beat an elderly man, defacing private property, and smashing the windshield of a constituent’s vehicle.
- He was caught on tape threatening a reporter in 2011.
3) This falls into the good news/bad news category. According to New York Times reporting, the governor of New York state, Andrew Coumo, took the bold and correct step when, in the summer of 2013, he established a powerful independent commission to look into and hopefully root out corruption in state politics. Good news, setting up an outside agency to look inwards to state political class corruption.
Now the bad news. The commission was in existence for less than two months when its investigators, hunting for violations of state campaign-finance laws, issued a subpoena to a media-buying firm that had placed millions of dollars’ worth of advertisements for the New York State Democratic Party. Sounds like a legitimate use of the an independent commission’s resources.
Oops. The commission investigators did not realize that the firm, Buying Time, also included Governor Cuomo among its clients, having bought the airtime for his political campaign when he ran for governor in 2010. When news of the subpoena got to a top Cuomo aide, Lawrence S. Schwartz, Mr. Schwartz called one of the commission’s three co-chairs, William J. Fitzpatrick, the district attorney in Syracuse. According to three other witnesses that were present when Fitzpatrick received the call from Schwartz, Schwartz allegedly said: “This is wrong,” namely the subpoena to a Cuomo political operative was wrong. And that the commission needed to: “Pull it back.” with the “it” being the subpoena. As a result of the call, the subpoena was withdrawn and the investigation of potential wrong doing by the media company was halted.
According to the Times reporting, “Cuomo said early on that the commission would be “totally independent” and free to pursue wrongdoing anywhere in state government, including in his own office. “Anything they want to look at, they can look at — me, the lieutenant governor, the attorney general, the comptroller, any senator, any assemblyman,” he said last August.”
So much for doing the right thing, so much for independence, so much for government transparency. Cuomo eventually and abruptly disbanded the commission midway through its expect 18 month tenure and now the FBI is investigating the whole sordid mess. I guess it is okay to investigate political corruption as long as you do not investigate my political corruption.
4) One more piece of insanity for today. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is a U.S. Congresswoman from Florida. She is also the head of the Democratic National Committee.
In that capacity of representing the positions and views of her entire party, you would hope that she would do a little bit of basic research before opening her mouth in a public forum, a forum that she knew she was going to be a part of. But much like one of her peers, Nancy Pelosi, a politician whose quotes have made our monthly political class insanity posts numerous times, Ms. Wassermann-Schultz leaves you shaking your head over saying stuff that she obviously knows nothing about.
The following exchange took place during a TV interview in the state of Nevada:
Wasserman-Schultz: “Just take a state like Nevada. Where you have a governor who refused to implement a state exchange and as a result people who get Affordable Care Act healthcare plans are getting them on the federal exchange..."
TV Interviewer: “Hang on. Let me just stop you for a second, because you’re misinformed about that. Brian Sandoval put in a state exchange. He did. So, whoever briefed you on that is wrong. He did put in a state exchange. He was the first Republican governor to do that.”
Wasserman-Schultz: “OK. That’s not even the point I’m making. I stand corrected. I’m not from Nevada.”
And she supposedly is one of our Congressional leaders. I am sorry, you cannot be considered a leader when you do not even know basic facts about what you are talking about, in this case, the local Obama Care situation in Nevada. Maybe this is why Obama Care is such a disaster, those who wrote it, voted for it, and supported it do not even know or can comprehend basic facts.
The live interview of her ignorance can be viewed at:
That will do it for today. A Congressional representative that wants the White House to do illegal acts while impervious to Congressional and citizen overview, a typically corrupt long term politician, this one in Dallas, a politician that wants to root out everyone else’s corruption but not his, and a Congressional leader that has no grasp of reality or facts. Sounds about right for the first act in this month’s political class insanity.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
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