Archive for posts ‘corruption’

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Here Is That Sentence with “Eliot Spitzer” and “Ethics” In It That You Thought You’d Never See

As a prosecutor, he was an expert on ethics. As a john, he is an expert on corruption.

  • Client #9, or “Eliot Spitzer” as he is sometimes known, is giving a lecture at Harvard’s Center for Ethics!…? However: “He’s not speaking about ethics. He’s here to talk about a research project we’re launching on institutional corruption.” So, you know, speaking from experience, then. (Boston Globe)
  • What is the most offensive thing someone could say in 140 characters or less? Oh, how about equating Barack Obama with the Muslim terrorists who crashed planes full of Americans into things on 9/11? That should do it. (Denver Post)
  • Lou Dobbs is quitting CNN, so probably he will just go on FOX to be appreciated for hating Mexicans. Who will CNN choose as their new token racist? (Politico)
  • Haha, looks like birther lawyer Orly Taitz has suborned perjury–a.k.a. encouraged witnesses to go on the stand and lie under oath! But everyone knows that “facts” and “truth” (not to mention the entire American legal system) are all in on Obama’s conspiracy! (TPM Muckraker)
  • There is only one way to get on Santa’s “nice” list this year, and that is to obtain these Sarah Palin Christmas ornaments and hang them from your Christmas tree! Of course, if Santa really wanted to help America, he’d quit delivering presents now and go on a book tour. (Wonkette)

11/12/09 7:41 pm | Comments disabled. | Permalink | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Barack Obama, Spaceman

Barack H. Obama, Jr.

  • The Mayor of Secaucus resigned today after being charged with bribery as part of last week’s arrest of all of New Jersey and some Jews from Brooklyn. (Bloomberg/New York Daily News)
  • A renter has been sued by her landlord, Horizon Realty, for a post on Twitter. The judge will issue his decision in 140 characters or less. (CNET)
  • Two billion people will be infected with the swine flu according to WHO officials. That’s not too bad. I mean, it’s only a third of humanity. (Voice of America)
  • Terrible WaPo columnist Richard Cohen is sad that he doesn’t get to have a beer with President Obama. (WaPo)
  • Your National Review (which is most certainly not in the “liberal media”) is totally part of the conspiracy to hide the fact that Barack Obama is an alien from outer-space whose species is known for its exceptionally big ears. (NRO via Wonkette)

7/28/09 4:15 pm | Comments disabled. | Permalink | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Illinois AG Takes Blagojevich to Court

Looks like there’s trouble in Blagoland:

llinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed a motion with the state Supreme Court about Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s “inability” to do his job, Madigan spokeswoman Robin Ziegler said Friday.

Madigan will hold a news conference Friday about the matter, her office said.

Madigan said Thursday that stepping down is the “right thing” for Blagojevich to do.

She added, “If he fails to, the two other options are obviously the Legislature moving forward on impeachment, or I have the opportunity to actually go to our Illinois Supreme Court and ask them to declare basically that our governor is unable to serve,” she said.

In that case, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn would become acting governor, she said.

Madigan had said she wouldn’t wait “terribly long” to take action.

Well, this should be fun.

12/12/08 10:47 am | Comments disabled. | Permalink | Tags: , , ,

Friday Morning Update

  • Well, the Big 3 bailout failed in the Senate last night because Senate Republicans didn’t want to pay auto workers a fair wage, to which the auto workers shockingly objected. Anyway, it now falls to the White House to take some of the money previously allocated to bailing out millionaire bankers and use it to bail out some $50k-per-year blue collar workers. Good luck selling that one to the millionaires. (Washington Post/Politico)
  • Convicted felon Sen. Ted Stevens is a sore loser. He refuses to meet with Mark Begich, the man who will replace him in the United States Senate in January. Maybe Stevens tried to send him an email, but it got tangled up with all these things going on the Internet commercially. (Anchorage Daily News/Wikipedia)
  • Clinton supporters are putting pressure on NY Gov. David Paterson not to appoint Caroline Kennedy to fill Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat, noting that Kennedy has never been elected to any office. I thought dashing good looks and poltical experience were hereditary in the Kennedy family? (NY Daily News)
  • Illinois House Democrats and Republicans are meeting to discuss the logistics of impeaching Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Huzzah for bipartisanship! Also, Illinois newspaper editorial boards are humorously conflicted over whether Blaggy should resign or be impeached. Hmmmm…. (AP/FOX News)

12/12/08 10:18 am | Comment (23) | Permalink | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday Update, More Blagojevich Edition

 

What else is hiding under all that hair?

What else is he hiding under all that hair?

  • Well, it’s just another day at the Governor’s office, working on the budget, helping Illinois families, dodging questions about his indictment. You know, the usual. (ABC News)
  • Howard Dean says Blago has committed a “disgraceful abuse of the public trust” and should resign in order to save the legislature the trouble of impeaching him. Howard Dean is going to go to Illinois to root out corruption. And then he’s going to go to New Hampshire! And South Carolina! And New Mexico! Yaaaaahhhh!! (TPM Election Central)
  • Also jumping on the “Blago should resign” bandwagon: all fifty Democratic U.S. Senators. Thanks, Rod, for helping create this impressive display of Democratic unity. (Politico)
  • Hilariously, the state with the most corruption per capita is… North Dakota! Yes, tiny North Dakota has a whopping 8.3 corruption convictions per 100,000 residents, compared to Illinois 3.9. Of course, this just means that North Dakota is better a prosecuting corruption, which doesn’t bode well for the morals of Illinois juries. (USA Today)

12/11/08 2:33 pm | Comments disabled. | Permalink | Tags: , , , , ,

Illinois Voters Want Blago to Resign, Don’t Think He Will

Polls show that the people who elected him think Rod Blagojevich is a dick:

Eighty-four percent (84%) of Illinois voters say indicted Governor Rod Blagojevich should resign, according to a Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state Wednesday night. Just nine percent (9%) disagree.

Seventy-nine percent (79%) say Blagojevich should end up in jail.

Despite the strong desire for the governor to resign, only 18% believe he is Very Likely to step down. Another 22% say a resignation is Somewhat Likely.

Just seven percent (7%) say the governor is doing a good or excellent job in office while 83% rate his performance as poor.

Blagojevich who was arrested Tuesday on federal corruption charges including an attempt to sell the U.S. Senate seat recently vacated by President-elect Barack Obama has consistently been one of the nation’s most unpopular governors, if not the most unpopular, in previous Rasmussen Reports surveys. Fifty-nine percent (59%) say that their Governor is less ethical than most politicians. This is the first time in more than a decade of asking this question that a politician challenged on ethics has been seen as less ethical than his or her peers. Most recently, following the conviction of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, 67% of Alaska voters said Stevens was at least as ethical as his peers.

What a corrupt asshole this guy is. Hopefully he’ll just resign and save himself the trouble of being impeached by the legislature or ousted by the state Supreme Court.

12/11/08 10:10 am | Comments disabled. | Permalink | Tags: , ,

Illinois Gov. Blagojevich Arrested

It was only a matter of time:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris were arrested today by FBI agents on federal corruption charges.

Blagojevich and Harris were accused of a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy [PDF] that included Blagojevich conspiring to sell or trade the Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama in exchange for financial benefits for the governor and his wife. The governor was also accused of obtaining campaign contributions in exchange for other official actions.

The sonofabitch put a big For Sale sign on a U.S. Senate seat. Here’s hoping the fine people of Illionis can impeach him before he has a chance to make an appointment.

Update: In case you were curious, here’s what a Senate seat is worth:

At various times, in exchange for the Senate appointment, Blagojevich discussed obtaining:

  • a substantial salary for himself at a either a non-profit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions;
  • placing his wife on paid corporate boards where he speculated she might garner as much as $150,000 a year;
  • promises of campaign funds – including cash up front; and
  • a cabinet post or ambassadorship for himself.

Just last week, on December 4, Blagojevich allegedly told an advisor that he might “get some (money) up front, maybe” from Senate Candidate 5, if he named Senate Candidate 5 to the Senate seat, to insure that Senate Candidate 5 kept a promise about raising money for Blagojevich if he ran for re-election. In a recorded conversation on October 31, Blagojevich claimed he was approached by an associate of Senate Candidate 5 as follows: “We were approached ‘pay to play.’ That, you know, he’d raise 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him (Senate Candidate 5) a Senator.”

Update 2: Fun fact! Barack Obama’s approval rating is over 60 points higher than Rod Blagojevich’s. In any event, meet Pat Quinn, the guy who will hopefully end up appointing Obama’s replacement.

Update 3: Looks like Obama wasn’t going to play Blagojevich’s game:

In a conversation with Harris on November 11, the charges state, Blagojevich said he knew that President-elect Obama wanted Senate Candidate 1 for the open seat but “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. [Expletive] them.” The complaint does not mention her name, but the description makes clear that Blagojevich is referring to Valerie Jarrett.

Update 4: Oh dear holy God, the man is insane:

Throughout the intercepted conversations, Blagojevich also allegedly spent significant time weighing the option of appointing himself to the open Senate seat and expressed a variety of reasons for doing so, including: frustration at being “stuck” as governor; a belief that he will be able to obtain greater resources if he is indicted as a sitting Senator as opposed to a sitting governor; a desire to remake his image in consideration of a possible run for President in 2016; avoiding impeachment by the Illinois legislature; making corporate contacts that would be of value to him after leaving public office; facilitating his wife’s employment as a lobbyist; and generating speaking fees should he decide to leave public office.

12/9/08 8:23 am | Comments disabled. | Permalink | Tags: , ,

But He Didn’t Have Any Cellular Service When He Was a POW!

Yet another step towards ending corruption in Washington:

Early in 2007, just as her husband launched his presidential bid, Cindy McCain decided to resolve an old problem — the lack of cellular telephone coverage on her remote 15-acre ranch near Sedona, nestled deep in a tree-lined canyon called Hidden Valley.

By the time Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid was in full swing this summer, the ranch had wireless coverage from the two cellular companies most often used by campaign staff — Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

Verizon delivered a portable tower know as a “cell site on wheels” — free of charge — to Cindy McCain’s property in June in response to an online request from Cindy McCain’s staff early last year. Such devices are usually reserved for restoring service when cell coverage is knocked out during emergencies, such as hurricanes.

In July, AT&T followed suit, wheeling in a portable tower for free to match Verizon’s offer. “This is an unusual situation,” said AT&T spokeswoman Claudia B. Jones. “You can’t have a presidential nominee in an area where there is not cell coverage.”
…
Ethics lawyers said Cindy McCain’s dealings with the wireless companies stand out because Sen. John McCain is a senior member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the Federal Communications Commission and the telecommunications industry. He has been a leading advocate for industry-backed legislation, fighting regulations and taxes on telecommunications services.

A number of McCain’s lobbyist advisors had been registered lobbyists for Verizon and AT&T before they joined the McCain campaign. How do these guys think they can “end abuses of power” and abuse power at the same time?

10/15/08 2:56 pm | Comment (2) | Permalink | Tags: , , , , , ,

Drill, Baby, Drill

When RNC delegates chanted “Drill, Baby, Drill,” they were talking about getting oil out of the ground, but the Department of the Interior had a slightly different interpretation:

A report issued Sept. 10 by the department’s inspector general accuses employees in the department’s Denver Minerals Management Service of a litany of ethical violations, including drug abuse and engaging in sexual relationships with oil company employees. 
…
The report says, “we learned that some RIK employees frequently consumed alcohol at industry functions, had used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relations with oil and gas company representatives.” 

As these companies had direct business with the department, much of this contact was prohibited, with relationships to be kept at arms-length. The report said that two female RIK employees, known in the industry as “MMS Chicks,” had engaged in sexual relations with representatives from the companies. “Sexual relationships with prohibited sources cannot, by definition, be arms-length,” the report notes. 

One Department of Interior employee admitted to romantic relationships with an employee of Chevron and with an employee of Royal Dutch Shell, the report says. Another admitted to a sexual relationship with an employee of Shell. 

9/10/08 10:47 pm | Comments disabled. | Permalink | Tags: , , , ,

DOJ Hiring Practices Broke the Law

Shocking.

Former Justice Department counselor Monica M. Goodling and former chief of staff D. Kyle Sampson routinely broke the law by conducting political litmus tests on candidates for jobs as immigration judges and line prosecutors, according to an inspector general’s report released today.

Goodling passed over hundreds of qualified applicants and squashed the promotions of others after deeming candidates insufficiently loyal to the Republican party, said investigators, who interviewed 85 people and received information from 300 other job seekers at Justice. Sampson developed a system to screen immigration judge candidates based on improper political considerations and routinely took recommendations from the White House Office of Political Affairs and Presidential Personnel, the report said.

Goodling regularly asked candidates for career jobs: “What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?” the report said. One former Justice Department official told investigators she had complained that Goodling was asking interviewees for their views on abortion, according to the report.

You can read the full 146-page report here (PDF). For those who don’t have the time, the House Judiciary Committee picks out the good parts:

The report, released today by the Office of Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility found:

  • Senior Bush Administration Department of Justice officials, including Monica Goodling, Kyle Sampson, Jan Williams, and others violated federal law and committed misconduct in basing hiring decisions for career prosecutor positions, details to senior Department offices and immigration judgeships on the applicant’s political affiliations and views. (125-27)
  • The report highlighted political cronyism that was “particularly damaging” in a vital counterterrorism post when a qualified expert was rejected because his wife had the wrong political affiliation. Instead a candidate was chosen that “lacked any experience in counterterrorism issues” and who other DoJ officials believed “was not qualified for the position.” (136)
  • Immigration judgeships were needlessly held vacant for long periods while Department leaders sought to identify politically suitable candidates, leading to a severe backlog of immigration matters. (128)
  • Monica Goodling also made false statements to the Department’s own lawyers who were defending a lawsuit regarding Immigration Judge hiring. (138)
  • A current Department official, John Nowacki, prepared and circulated a press release responding to public concern about these issues that he knew was false at the time; the report recommends that Mr. Nowacki be disciplined (127-28)
  • Monica Goodling refused to approve several DOJ appointments for an AUSA who Ms. Goodling believed was gay. (132-33)

Of course, no disciplinary, criminal, or other action will come about as a result of this report since the individuals involved have all resigned and/or are suffering from temporary amnesia. Still, it’s good to know that those of us in the reality-based community were right all along.

Update: And while we’re on the subject, McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt, twenty days ago:

Steve Schmidt, the new man in day-to-day charge of the McCain presidential campaign, stoutly defended his lobbying and PR firm’s hiring of Tim Griffin, a former prosecutor who figured in the U.S. attorneys firing scandal.
…
Schmidt was untroubled by the firings, telling the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that it was “mostly a combination of nonsense and politics and provides us no concern at all.”

7/28/08 12:04 pm | Comment (1) | Permalink | Tags: , , , ,

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