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October 31, 2009
Democrats Corruption List Hits The Fan
Democrats Corruption List Hits The Fan
Accidental Disclosure
House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July.
The report appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network, and it was provided to The Washington Post by a source not connected to the congressional investigations. The committee said Thursday night that the document was released by a low-level staffer.
Report: Dozens in Congress Under Ethics Scrutiny
From FOX News Article
Nearly half the members of a House panel in control of Pentagon spending are under scrutiny by ethics investigators in Congress, The Washington Post reported Friday, citing a leaked confidential House ethics committee report.
Investigations by two separate ethics offices include an examination of Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.,chairman of the appropriations subcommittee on defense, and six other lawmakers and their relationships with an influential lobbying firm, the newspaper said.
The Post reported in its online edition that the document was disclosed on a publicly accessible computer network and made available to the newspaper by a source familiar with such networks.
The ethics committee is one of the most secretive panels in Congress, and its members and staff members sign oaths not to disclose any activities related to its past or present investigations, according to the newspaper.
The inquiry involves lawmakers who steered appropriations to clients of a now-defunct lobbying firm and received campaign contributions from the firm and its clients.
The names included three lawmakers previously identified in the inquiry: the chairman of the defense subcommittee, Murtha; and Reps. Peter Visclosky, D-Ind., and James Moran, D-Va.
The Post said others whose names were in the report included Reps. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., and Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan.
The committee, however, has not announced an investigation of any of these lawmakers.
A committee statement said its security was breached through "peer to peer file sharing software" by a junior employee who was working from home. The staff member was fired.
The July report contains a summary of the committee's work at the time, but Lofgren said no inferences should be made about anyone whose name is mentioned.
The House ethics committee announced Thursday it is investigating two California Democratic lawmakers.
The committee said it is investigating whether Rep. Maxine Waters used her influence to help a bank in which her husband owned stock, and whether the couple benefited as a result. Separately, the panel is investigating whether Rep. Laura Richardson failed to disclose required information on her financial disclosure forms and received special treatment from a lender.
As the House was conducting scheduled votes Thursday, ethics chairwoman Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., went to the microphone to announce that a confidential weekly report of the committee from July had leaked out in a case of "cyber-hacking."
The committee makes a public announcement when it begins an investigation of potential rule-breaking, which is conducted by an investigative subcommittee whose members also are made public.
However, the weekly reports include a summary of the committee's work at an earlier stage, when its members and staff scrutinize lawmakers to see whether an investigation is warranted.
Waters is the No. 3 Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee and chairwoman of its subcommittee on housing. She has been an influential voice in the committee's work to overhaul financial regulations.
Waters came under scrutiny after former Treasury Department officials said she helped arrange a meeting between regulators and executives at OneUnited Bank last year without mentioning her husband's financial ties to the institution.
Her husband, Sidney Williams, holds at least $250,000 in the bank's stock and previously had served on its board. Waters' spokesman, Michael Levin, said Williams was no longer on the board when the meeting was arranged.
Waters has said the National Bankers Association, a trade group, requested the meeting. She defended her role in assisting minority-owned banks in the midst of the nation's financial meltdown and dismissed suggestions she used her influence to steer government aid to the bank.
"I am confident that as the investigation moves forward the panel will discover that there are no facts to support allegations that I have acted improperly," Waters said in a statement.
The committee unanimously voted to establish an investigative subcommittee to gather evidence and determine whether Waters violated standards of conduct.
The committee said it would investigate "alleged communications and activities with, or on behalf of, the National Bankers Association or OneUnited Bank" and "the benefit, if any, Rep. Waters or her husband received as a result."
The committee also voted unanimously to investigate whether Richardson violated House rules, its Code of Conduct or the Ethics in Government Act by failing to disclose property, income and liabilities on her financial disclosure forms.
The investigation also will determine whether Richardson received an impermissible gift or preferential treatment from a lender, "relating to the foreclosure, recission of the foreclosure sale or loan modification agreement" for her Sacramento, Calif., property.
Richardson said she has been subjected to "premature judgments, speculation and baseless distractions that will finally be addressed in a fair, unbiased, bipartisan evaluation of the facts."
"Like 4.3 million Americans in the last year who faced financial problems because of a personal crisis like a divorce, death in the family, unexpected job and living changes and an erroneous property sale, all of which I have experienced in the span of slightly over a year, I have worked to resolve a personal financial situation," she said in a statement.
The committee ended an investigation of Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., and released a report finding no ethical violations. It investigated whether Graves used his position on the House Small Business Committee to invite a longtime friend and business partner of his wife to testify at a committee hearing on the federal regulation of biodiesel and ethanol production.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
I think if the average Joe and Jane Sixpack really knew the extent of government corruption and graft in this country, the sound of gallows being built and trapdoors being tested would be deafening.
I hope they hang, draw and quarter Murtha!
Posted by Wild Thing at October 31, 2009 12:55 AM
Comments
Murtha should be the first scheduled to walk the 13 steps. I'd bet this is just the tip of the 'ice-berg' too.
Can you imagine, the Washington wide corruption that will be available to these when Health Care passes. Here we are dealing with a huge burgeoning Bureaucracy with a gigantic budget and piles of money will be lying around for these crooks just to pocket.
Not only that the Death Panels, Health review panels, there will also be widespread corruption. I wonder how much 'bribe money' would be required for a hip replacement, Knee Surgery or a common every day visit to the Doctor.
This is not only a control system for all of us Peaons but a money grabbing scheme for every crooked politician in Washington DC reaching out to every State in the Union.
Posted by: Mark at October 31, 2009 07:17 AM
Hell, I don't need a list, or project. They almost all have no ethics. Especially, Murtha.
He has thrown his Marine Corps family "under the bus" a number of times.
Posted by: SSgt Steve, USMC at October 31, 2009 07:31 AM
And what will the result of this be? Nothing of any earth shaking importance, you can be assured.
The report and the reaction to the its publication is filled with phrases like, "whether or not the charges warrant further investigation", or "no infernces should be made about any of the people mentioned." This means little more will be done because, after all these are our fellow Congressmen.
Maybe the parties involved will receive a "Censure" of some sort, Censure AKA "you've been very naughty, try and not do it again, or I will be forced to do something drastic", (but don't count on it, as in the case of Murtha and Waters). They will be allowed to keep their positions, and probably their committee memberships.
None will be forced to resign.
Very telling that in the report it states that the one person who has been fired is a Junior Staffer. Isn't that how it usually is? It all rolls down hill and the ones at the bottom pay the price.
Posted by: SEAN. at October 31, 2009 11:32 AM
Murtha and Pelosi worked the Presidio sales, Reid worked property scams in Nevada concerning grounds for hospitals, Franks and Dodd gamed the banking and financial systems, there is no end to the corruption and insider deals, Martha Stewart and Bernie Madoff go to jail for what Congress does on a daily basis. So the list hits the fan but nothing will be done about it until we the people fire them, because the hoodlums are policing themselves. This from 2008:
In order to speed up the process to have the lagging US Navy turn the property over to San Francisco, Pelosi used John Murtha, the powerful ranking Democrat on the House military appropriations subcommittee, who did her bidding to press to have the Navy sign a binding agreement for the deal on a specific date.
“The Hunters Point Shipyard redevelopment measures have been called the most corrupt legislative initiatives to pass successfully through San Francisco.” (www.seanhannity.com).
“Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi’s conflicts of interest in the Shipyard development have been reported to the U.S. Attorney’s office, the FBI and the Federal Elections Commission,” says member "In the Know". “Pelosi is currently in the center of an open investigation by the FEC stemming from her documented use of charitable funds she received from the Tides Foundation and Center, a 501© (3) non-profit organization headquartered in San Francisco and controlled by Teresa Heinz Kerry.” (www.hannity.com)
None of this affected a thing, in the political process all the players have been rewarded, the national treasury has been opened to buy off and pay off any of the corrupt and the presses are printing those returns to the taxpayer.
Hey didn't they just give themselves a pay raise? Theft and corruption isn't enough!
Posted by: Jack at October 31, 2009 11:44 AM
No big surprise in this report. I agree with SEAN. Only the most blatant and publicised crimes may be punished. I remember a few congressmen went to prison for Abscam, but none were imprisoned in the checking account scandal.
Waters, Murtha and Rangel being involved in financial scams is not new. Scamming is their reason for being. That and stoking their egos.
Mark is right on about the kickbacks and scams that will be available if the healthcare and cap and trade schemes are enacted.
Posted by: TomR at October 31, 2009 11:48 AM
There is so much s**t in congress that some is bound to seep out no matter how hard they try to conceal the MESS!
Posted by: Ron Russell at October 31, 2009 05:28 PM
In a "get what's coming to you" culture like ours, there is a dimished capacity for outrage at this kind of thing.
They get away with it not only because they're being "investigated" by sleazebags like themselves, but because they have little to fear from the moral imbeciles who vote for them over and over.
Rangel, for one, is absolute scum, and so is Maxine Waters. But if you ask me, their districts are filled with people with grievances, for whom crookedness in pursuit of personal gain is not a vice.
There is no public virtue without private virtue. Soft socialism doesn't make a man generous, it makes him greedy. The more we get of it, the worse our society becomes.
Posted by: Rhod at October 31, 2009 06:19 PM
