Posted on 10/19/2010 12:42:38 AM PDT by Gondring
Yesterday, YNN reported that Democratic incumbent Rep. Maurice Hinchey had assaulted a newspaper reporter after a debate with George Phillips in the NY-22 race. YNN’s videographer reported that Hinchey had “made a beeline” for Kingston Daily Freeman reporter Bill Kemble after he had asked Hinchey about a potential conflict of interest in the Partition Street Project, a project for which Hinchey had earmarked federal funds and in which the Freeman had reported Hinchey and his business partners to have financial interests, directly and indirectly. Hinchey’s campaign released a statement late yesterday that Kemble “took an aggressive step” towards the Congressman, which precipitated the physical altercation.
This evening, the Kingston Freeman took exception to that — and to a number of other claims Hinchey made at the time, too. Tony Adamis, the managing editor, sent Hot Air this statement, which I will produce in full:
I am the managing editor of the Daily Freeman, Kingston, NY, for which the reporter, William Kemble, works. The following is a statement I have prepared in response to the misrepresentations of this incident by Congressman Hinchey’s office:
There was an incident. Mr. Kemble says the congressman put a hand on his neck. A third party who witnessed the incident says he did not see that, but did see the congressman jabbing Mr. Kemble in the chest with his finger. Yet another witness says Kemble was pushed into the path of another person by the congressman.
For his part, Mr. Kemble views the incident as an unwanted distraction to his work.
However, as managing editor, I take seriously the issue of anyone, including a congressman, putting their hand on or jabbing with a finger a reporter who is simply doing his job.
Further, the Hinchey camp’s characterizations of the incident as either prompted by aggressive action by Mr. Kemble or by false accusations they claim he and the Freeman have made are untrue.
First, the videotape of the questioning of Mr. Hinchey clearly shows that while Kemble was persistent, he was professional and even in tone, while it was Hinchey who lost his composure. The congressman should own up to what everyone can see.
Second, the specific question that Mr. Kemble was asking prior to the incident and which apparently provoked the congressman involves Hinchey’s real estate interest in a commercial Saugerties development which was referenced in a congressional disclosure form for funding of a Hudson River ferry project. To our knowledge, Congressman Hinchey has never answered questions about that connection, which is why Mr. Kemble was posing the question to him.
We stand by our reporting on federal funding to an area Mr. Hinchey represents . We have made no false allegations nor has Mr. Hinchey proven once, never mind “numerous times,” that any of our reporting was false.
Readers may judge for themselves. The stories are posted online at:
— “Hinchey tops in local pork,” May 18, http://ow.ly/2UxaC
— “Hinchey stresses his lack of involvement in Saugerties development,” May 21, http://ow.ly/2Ux8a
— “Hinchey misstated use of federal grant for Saugerties,” May 21 — http://ow.ly/2Ux5q
Finally, Mr. Hinchey has made a practice of not answering questions about his financial connections to projects benefitting from federal grants. He stopped cooperating early in the process with our investigation into the connection between his advocacy of federal grants and his own financial interests. His brushoff of questions from Mr. Kemble on Oct. 14 was simply the latest instance of his unresponsiveness.
I noted the “odd coincidences” of Hinchey’s pork in this post, linking to the Daily Freeman’s reporting. As far as Kemble’s approach to Hinchey, here’s the video in which Hinchey explains his position by the time-honored response of “shut up”:
[See Original Story for video]
Just to make this clear, Hinchey had in his Congressional disclosures a statement showing him as partial owner of the land for the Partition Street Project. That apparently was confirmed at the time by Hinchey himself. The questions asked above do not sound like an unprofessional intrusion in a private conversation, but a professional question at a public event for an elected Representative. Hinchey may not like accountability, but if so, then he should get out of Congress or his constituents should ensure that Hinchey doesn’t return again to Washington.
The Daily Freeman is generally a leftist rag, but I've heard they have done some good investigative reporting on this thug Congressman recently, and it's good that they are sticking up for one of their own.
Rep. Maurice Hinchey is the greaseball who was convicted for trying to take a handgun onto a plane and didn't serve a day for it, got himself out of charges for assaulting a man who tried to stop him from picking up a display firearm at a public festival, etc.
He's been protected as a Pelosi Pet, since he's not a very bright guy but he knows to just vote with the left and they keep him in his seat and the pork flowing.
Pardon me...that’s THE seat...not HIS...as might soon be demonstrated to him!
Follow-up
Hinchey’s conservative replacement, George Phillip’s website: http://electgeorgephillips.com/
IMO, his “Fifteen Ways Your Vote Matters” is pretty nifty.
Hinchey claims he is not involved in the Partition Street Project, yet he has a 25% ownership interest in the real property that is being developed with the help of the federal funds that Hinchey requested and obtained as a member (pork) item.
And then there’s the multimillion dollar Army Reserve Facility that the Feds, at Hinchey’s request, decided to build on real property that the Feds purchased in 2009 from a company named “Leading Edge, LLC” for about $500,000, that Leading Edge purchased three years earlier for about $100,000. The big question then is how did Leading Edge make a 500% profit on real property that it purchased at the top of the real estate bubble and then sold to the Feds three years later as the market is crashing. The answer is with a guy named “Mullen,” who is one of the owners of Leading Edge; one of the owners, with Hinchey, of the Partition Street Project; and the owner of the lead contractor for the construction of the Partition Street Project. (There are also rumors that Mullen has an ownership interest in one of the subcontractors on the Army Reserve Project.)
ping to you.
To: Comrade MO HIN CHEE
From: NY-22
Enjoy your RETIREMENT!!
Yep, that’s my slimeball congressman.....VOTE George Phillips!
Thanks for the headsup.
L/E should interrogate Hinchley about allegations of conflicts of interest between Hinchey’s Congressional earmark requests and his own financial interests re the Partition Street Project.
THE MODUS OPERANDI? Can Partition Street Project prove where it spent tax grants? (1) Did they award bloated contracts to cronies and family that had “kickback” written all over it? (2) Did they price a contract lower on paper then increasing the amount taken out of the budget? (3) Does Hinchley have a hidden equity interest in companies receiving contracts?
We need to connect the dots to His Lordship Hinchey’s federal and state campaign finance filings. If His Lordship Hinchey extorted public money for Partition Street Project that was legislated for one purpose.....but the money was converted for other purposes-—perhaps even campaign donations——that is illegal.
ACTION The FBI should interrogate His Lordship Hinchey to determine what he exchanged for support-—money, jobs, campaign contributions, political cover.
POSSIBLE CHARGES: illegal conversions; facilitating govt fraud; official acts prohibited; misuse of Congressional funds; abuse of public office; violating oath of office; misuse of government position; abuse of government power; conflict of interest; influence buying; conspiracy to deceive; misuse of elective office, collusion, conspiracy to collude; falsifying official documents, presenting false instruments for filing.
His Lordship Hinchey’s official campaign finance records filed with the FEC, and state election commissions, should be scrutinized for possible violations. (a) Determine if names of contributors are legit, (b) whether campaign contributions were disguised. (d) whether he colluded and agreed to give/get something of value, campaign assistance, campaign cash, a govt gratuity, jobs for relatives, etc, in exchange for votes.
Schemes such as illegal conversions and money laundering to evade the IRS, SEC, FEC and US banking laws may have been utilized. If felonies have been alleged, it is also possible that other federal offenses have also been committed.
Partition Street Project insiders filed thousands of document. Taxpayers should demand to know the scope and dimension of deceptive and intentionally ambiguous information contained therein.
Partition Street Project may have violated RICO (the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) by generating fraudulent documents to extort taxpayers and steal govt monies. L/E should place a hold on all Partition Street Project documents. Stealing and conveying (or destroying) official govt records nets 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
L/E should also look at Computer Trespass—a class C felony if access is made with the intent to commit a crime and/or the violation involves a computer or database maintained by a government agency.
Did Partition Street Project advertise low ball salaries for public consumption, then file falsified papers to get much higher salaries. LE should examine all Partition Street Projectperks, expense accounts, unauthorized 6-figure bonuses, pensions, tax-evading annuities, etc, etc, etc.
THE BIG ONE His Lordship Hinchey’s and Partition Street Project insiders’ tax returns will reveal their actual income compared with publicized outlays. In particular, examine “interest income” on IRS forms. The IRS should relentlessly pursue these individuals to determine if all relevant income was reported and whether all taxes due were paid (stolen money is taxable).
IRS TOLL-FREE 1-800-829-0433 (you may remain anonymous when reporting possible tax fraud).
FBI TIP PAGE http://tips.fbi.gov/ (you may remain anonymous)
Thanks Gondring.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.