Free Republic

A Federal judge from Louisiana is under a cloud of impeachment and if he's convicted it'll be the first Federal judge impeached in almost 20 years. The story was covered by the new wire service named ProPublica, a service that claims to be non-partisan. Yet in two stories on this judge there is not one mention of the fact that he was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton, nor that his corruption was known by the Department of Justice when Clinton made the appointment. I wonder why ProPublica didn't find that relevant, don't you? A while back, I...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Details emerged Thursday behind the break-in of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's e-mail account, including a first-hand account suggesting it was vulnerable because a hacker was able to impersonate her online to obtain her password.

The son of a U.S. Congressman from was arrested in Willcox Sunday, charged with human smuggling. According to court documents John F. Boyd son of Florida Congressman Allen Boyd, attempted to drive through a Border Patrol checkpoint in Willcox on Sunday with five illegal immigrants, including a 6-year-old girl. In a statement sent Tuesday, Congressman Allen Boyd said, "On September 14, 2008, my 30-year-old son, John Boyd, was arrested in Arizona, and at a preliminary hearing yesterday, he was charged with alien smuggling." "This is a family matter that my family and I will be dealing with privately. John is...

The son of Florida 2ND District Congressman Allen Boyd remains in custody in Arizona on charges of illegal immigrant smuggling. Authorities say 30-year old John Boyd was stopped at a border patrol checkpoint near Willcox, Arizona Sunday. Federal prosecutors say he was smuggling 4 adults and a 6-year old girl, and that Boyd later admitted knowing they had entered the country illegally. Border patrol agents say they also discovered drugs, knives and a loaded gun in Boyd's truck. When contacted by Eyewitness news, congressman Boyd said John had made some poor choices and would have to be held accountable, but...

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has pleaded guilty to felony charges in Wayne County Circuit Court. He will be forced to resign immediately.

Can a city stop people from posting a link to its Web site? That’s the question at the center of a federal lawsuit brought by a Sheboygan woman against the mayor and other officials there, in what appears to be a first-of-its-kind case, according to an Internet law expert. Jennifer Reisinger says the Sheboygan city attorney ordered her to remove from her Web site a link to the city’s police department, in what she believes was retaliation for her support of recalling Mayor Juan Perez, according to the suit filed last week. The city went further, the lawsuit claims, launching...

SOME FAMILY MAN: Asse Sam Hoyt ALBANY - A married assemblyman got caught with his virtual pants down - busted by XXX-rated e-mails to a 19-year-old intern.....In one sex message Hoyt made it embarrassingly clear they shared not only an interest in the people's business, but in lusty sex and personal hygiene. Titled "what i wish," the Democratic assemblyman's list included: ". . . that i could be painting your toenails right now . . . that i could see you do that little cheerleader move . . . that i could be your human lollipop . . ....

AP's approach: 'Better to get it right even if we couldn't get it first' WASHINGTON - Reporters don't like being beaten on a major political story, especially by a supermarket tabloid. And being beaten up over not reporting one is even less appealing. But a sexual affair can have just two people who know the truth. Without witnesses, documents, photographs or some form of irrefutable evidence pointing to the truth, news organizations will not endanger their own integrity. That made it difficult to prove — and to print — the rumors that John Edwards had cheated on his seriously ill...

(WXYZ) Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is expected to be arraigned on felony assault charges either later today or early tomorrow.

(Undercover agent paid $900 bribe, he testifies) In a stark piece of evidence, jurors saw a video recording Wednesday of former Milwaukee Ald. Michael McGee taking what an undercover federal agent said was $900 in cash in connection with the transfer of a liquor license. As the exchange is made, agent Dan Rabu is heard asking McGee to “remember” him when the matter comes before the Common Council. McGee’s response: “I got you.” Meanwhile, in an audio recording of an earlier meeting with Rabu, McGee declared, “I am the gatekeeper” when it comes to licensing matters in his north side...

Federal agents seized bank statements, tax records and correspondence, and found marijuana during a search at the home of state Sen. Ulysses Currie, according to court documents. The documents show agents found marijuana and "drug packaging materials" in a bag on a dresser and in other bags on the floor of a room in the house last week. * * * Currie, 70, is one of the most influential lawmakers in Maryland. The Democrat leads the budget-writing committee that steers state spending.

TROY -- An attorney for U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow's husband objected to a defense attempt to make his client appear at a preliminary court hearing Tuesday for a former Westland woman charged with prostitution. Prosecutors say the senator's husband, Tom Athans, will appear as a prosecution witness if the case goes to trial; they agreed he shouldn't have to testify before that. Alycia L. Martin, 21, is accused taking $150 from Athans, 47, for sex at the Residence Inn on Livernois in Troy on Feb. 26. Martin's attorney, Frank Cusumano, Jr., attempted to subpoena Athans to appear at an evidentiary...

In yet another in the series of "guess the missing party label" we once again present the case of imprisoned former Broward County (FL) sheriff, Ken Jenne. As we have seen before, the South Florida news media is extremely reluctant to apply a party label to the disgraced Jenne, who was convicted of mail fraud and tax evasion while in office, despite the fact that the Broward sheriff  office is most most important political post in the county. A hint as to what  is Jenne's political label is the fact that if he had been a Republican, we would have seen that fact...

Excerpt - LITTLE ROCK (AP) -- Bankrupt farmer Tommy Robinson, the former sheriff, congressman and gubernatorial candidate, has been ordered to serve a 60-day jail sentence, beginning next month, for criminal contempt in his personal bankruptcy case. Robinson said he would appeal Thursday's order by U.S. District Judge James Moody, who told Robinson to report to the U.S. Marshal's Office on May 5 to begin serving the sentence. Moody also ordered Robinson to pay a $5,000 fine. ~ snip ~

The husband of U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow told police he used the Internet to make a date with a prostitute and paid her $150 for sex at a hotel in Troy. A police report says Troy officers stopped 46-year-old Thomas Athans on February 26th during a stakeout of the hotel. They ticketed him for driving with a suspended license but didn't file any sex charges. They say he's cooperating with investigators. Police arrested a 20-year-old woman in the hotel room on a prostitution charge. Athans co-founded the liberal TalkUSA Radio network two years ago. So far, there's no comment from...

Report: N.Y. Gov. Paterson Used State Funds for Trip to S.C. With Former Mistress Tuesday , March 25, 2008 AP ALBANY, N.Y. — A published report says that years after Gov. David Paterson said he ended an affair with a state employee, he traveled with her to South Carolina while working on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign. The Times Union of Albany says he billed the state for the trip. Paterson spokesman Errol Cockfield didn't immediately respond to a request for comment today. He told the newspaper he couldn't explain why records show Paterson and the $151,000-a-year employee were...

The inbreds in the ACLU buddy, hate cult have decided to picket outside Camp LeJeune in order to spread their message of hating homosexuals. Of course this is predictable of them now, yet still no less disgusting. They are protesting at the funeral of the recently murdered Marine. Yes, the pregnant one that the media has been talking about so much. What this murdered Marine's death has to do with gays, nobody knows, but somehow in this cult's attention seeking, twisted minds I'm sure they think it does somehow. What do these freaks think of her death? They think it...

A proposed addition to the State House statue would accurately portray Ben Tillman as one of the leading white supremacists of his time. As thousands pour onto the State House lawn next week for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day march, a part of the state's history will stand silent. Silent, and wrong. Words at the base of Ben "Pitchfork" Tillman's statue, a prominent gathering place near the State House steps, describe Tillman as a great South Carolinian who worked for peoples' rights. In reality, he was one of the leading white supremacists of his time who worked for years...

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (R) greets supporters after his victory speech following his win in the Iowa caucus in Des Moines, Iowa January 3, 2008. REUTERS/Jim Young

Sir Isaac Ford, the son of former Congressman Harold Ford, Sr., was arrested early Wednesday on suspicion of driving drunk. Ford was charged with DUI, public intoxication, speeding and disorderly conduct after being stopped in Midtown about 4 a.m. When he was brought to the Shelby County Jail for processing, Ford became combative and refused to give a thumb print, according to police reports. Police said he did poorly on the field sobriety tests and registered a .115 on the breath alcohol test. Memphis officers spotted Ford, 32, speeding in a red Mercedes-Benz on Union at Cleveland, according to the...

Attorney General Paul Morrison today resigned from office in wake of a sex scandal. During a news conference in the Topeka office of the attorney general, Morrison said he would step down Jan. 31. His announcement came on the heels of a story published in Sunday’s edition of The Topeka Capital-Journal that detailed an extramarital affair Morrison had with Linda Carter, who had been director of administration in the Johnson County District Attorney’s office. Before resigning from the D.A.’s office in November, Carter filed a federal sex harassment complaint against Morrison with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Carter also said...

TOPEKA, Kan. - Attorney General Paul Morrison announced his resignation Friday, less than a week after he acknowledged having an extramarital affair with a former employee who has accused him of sexual harassment, and of professional misconduct aimed at his predecessor. "I have held others accountable for their actions, and now I must be held accountable for my mistakes," Morrison said in a statement read to reporters. At one point, he paused to gather himself. "Many people feel betrayed by my actions, and they have every right to feel that way." Morrison's resignation is effective Jan. 31, 2008. Gov. Kathleen...

A federal jury has found state Senator Matt McCoy not guilty of extortion. He was accused of threatening to use his influence as a senator to force a business partner to pay him $2,000. Defense attorneys said the business partner, Thomas Vasquez, was paid by the FBI to act as an informant and secretly taped meetings and conversations with McCoy over several months. If he'd been convicted, McCoy would have faced up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The jury deliberated for less than two hours on Thursday, December 13th before returning its verdict....

Chicago (AP) -- The son of an Illinois congressman is accused of having sexual contact with two female inmates and inappropriate contact with a third while working for the state Department of Corrections, officials announced Friday. Jeffrey M. Rush, 41, the son of U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, was a supervisor of security at the Fox Valley Adult Transition Center in Aurora, a facility which houses female offenders. Between February and June, Rush met two inmates for sexual contact on numerous occasions and offered a third inmate a ride, according to the Kane County state's attorney's office. Rush drove a state-issued...

By all accounts, Robert Levy, now the 60-year-old mayor of Atlantic City, was a fine soldier during his two tours of Vietnam. The former lifeguard came home with two Bronze Stars. He was a native son who, before enlisting, had risen above his own family's prejudice to marry a local African-American woman. After his homecoming, he remained in the military until he became eligible to retire, with 20 years of service. But at some point, Levy began to embellish his service record in Vietnam by saying he had been a member of the Green Berets, the elite special force of...

.."The government says the principals in the case took public money that was intended for affordable housing projects and pocketed it for themselves."

Federal prosecutors this morning announced sweeping conspiracy charges against State Rep. Terri Hodge, former Mayor Pro Tem Donald Hill, low-income housing developer Brian Potashnik and 11 others. The charges contained in a 166-page indictment include bribery and kickbacks that Hodge and Hill allegedly accepted in exchange for using their offices to help Potashnik's company, Southwest Housing, gain construction contracts. In a separate indictment, prosecutors accused former council member James Fantroy of embezzling federal funds in excess of $5,000 from Paul Quinn College. Former city planning commissioner D'Angelo Lee and Sheila Farrington, Mr. Hill's wife, also were named, along with Cheryl...

FBI arrests Lt. Gov. Ipulasi Aitofele Sunia Lt. Gov. Ipulasi Aitofele Sunia was taken into custody over the weekend by the FBI based on a federal arrest warrant and was then transported to Honolulu on board a military plane.

NEW YORK -- Eleven public officials were charged Thursday in a widespread FBI corruption investigation, officials said. At least one state assemblyman, several local mayors and school board officials were arrested by FBI agents in early-morning roundups. The officials are expected to be arraigned on corruption charges in Trenton Thursday afternoon. United States attorney Chris Christie and FBI Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun are expected to explain the charges at a 3:30 p.m. press conference in Trenton. WNBC.com has learned that several of the officials were allegedly caught accepting payoffs from undercover agents in a sting operation. Others were...

Judge not convinced Ford truly believes he did anything wrong - John Ford was sentenced to 66 months in prison this morning for his April conviction of accepting $55,000 in bribes in the FBI's Tennessee Waltz public corruption investigation. U.S. Dist. Court Judge J. Daniel Breen carefully noted his interpretation of advisory federal guidelines that suggest enhanced punishment for factors such as the amount and number of bribes, threatening witnesses, acceptance of responsibility and the fact that Ford was an elected official. The judge said he was not convinced that Ford truly believes he did anything wrong and that the...

New Orleans (AP) -- The vice president of the City Council, once thought to be a likely candidate for mayor in 2010, pleaded guilty Monday to a federal bribery charge. Oliver Thomas entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance, and prosecutors were to discuss details of the case later Monday. Bond for Thomas was set at $25,000.

When long-defiant former state Sen. Kathryn Bowers finally admits as expected Monday to taking bribes, the once-improbable Tennessee Waltz will have all but played out. She will become the 11th of 12 defendants in the FBI's undercover Waltz corruption sting to be found guilty. After Bowers, only one minor defendant remains, a former school board member. Prosecutors are undefeated -- 11-0 -- and they've scored victories against some of the biggest names in Tennessee politics. From Memphis powerhouse John Ford to his venerable East Tennessee colleague Ward Crutchfield and former Shelby County Commissioner Michael Hooks -- heir to the one...

AP) — MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, who once lived in the governor's mansion and crisscrossed the state on airplanes to announce new industries and meet with civic leaders, is now confined to a small prison cell 23 hours a day, with no way to even know what time of day it is. One of his lawyers, David McDonald, visited the 61-year-old Siegelman at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta on Tuesday and said the former governor, after 12 nights in custody, has lost weight, doesn't like the food, but is in good spirits. "He said he's being...

A DeKalb County developer who fell into a children's trap to catch a yard sign thief agreed Tuesday to a deal that will spare him a criminal record. Charles Buckley was accused of swiping a political campaign sign from Hank Freeman's yard in July 2006. He was caught when Freeman's children, ages 6 to 11, staked out their Oak Grove property, hoping to catch the thief. Buckley apologized to Freeman Tuesday in DeKalb State Court for stealing the sign supporting Don Broussard, who was running against Jeff Rader in a primary contest for the DeKalb County Commission. Under the terms...

State Sen. Carole Migden bounced her state-issued SUV off the concrete median on Interstate 80 and nearly ran other motorists off the freeway before slamming into the back of another vehicle last week, the California Highway Patrol and witnesses said Tuesday. More than half a dozen motorists made emergency calls about Migden's erratic driving before the Friday accident, the CHP said. The rear-end collision in Fairfield, midway between San Francisco and Sacramento, injured a woman and her 3-year-old daughter, who were sent to the emergency room. In a statement released by her office last week, the San Francisco Democrat said...

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — A court hearing for state Sen. Jerry Cooper, who is facing charges of driving under the influence, was postponed today for 12 weeks. Cooper's lawyer, Jack Mitchell, said the lawmaker could not appear in court today because he had a doctor's appointment related to injuries from the wreck that led to drunken driving and speeding charges. Rutherford County General Sessions Judge David Lowery rescheduled the preliminary hearing for Aug. 3. "Senator Cooper is undergoing medical treatment today," Mitchell said. "He is still in a certain amount of pain." Cooper was critically injured in a car crash on...

NASHVILLE – Former state senator John Ford will go on trial on federal public corruption charges in Nashville Sept. 18 – a month and a half after his scheduled July 31 sentencing in Memphis for his bribery conviction there last month. U.S. District Court Judge Todd J. Campbell set the trial date during a 10-minute status conference today. Ford appeared for but did not speak during the brief hearing. Afterward, he exchanged pleasantries with reporters about his 65th birthday today but said nothing of substance about his case. Federal public defender Henry Martin said neither he nor Ford would have...

Manorhaven's Capozzi Had Few Answers When Approached By CBS 2 (CBS) MANORHAVEN, N.Y. -- A small town mayor is in some serious hot water over an apparent racist rant. His comments were all caught on tape. Nicholas Capozzi is the four-term mayor of Manor Haven, a seaside village on Long Island's north shore with sweeping views of Manhasset Bay. CBS 2 HDTV tried to ask the mayor about racist comments he made which were caught on tape: First, the mayor complains about the village's growing Hispanic population. "The Spaniolis are rolling all over the (bleeping) place. They rent out the...

John Ford wasn’t expected. In spring 2004, an undercover FBI agent posing as a corrupt businessman bribed state Rep. Kathryn Bower to arrange a "leadership dinner" with elected officials in Nashville, said FBI agent Brian Burns, the first prosecution witness called this morning on the third day of the former state senator’s bribery trial. The FBI agent, going by the name L.C. McNeil, wanted to meet lawmakers who would be willing to draft and change legislation in the Tennessee General Assembly in exchange for cash payments. The federal government was investigating "systemic corruption" in state government. Acting as executives of...

A new look at the payroll records of Mayor Gavin Newsom's former appointments secretary and lover. Did she get preferential treatment because of her affair? There are many questions -- some city officials believe Ruby Tourk received special treatment during her two-and-a-half years at City Hall. But the main question now is, how 10 weeks of unpaid time off for alcohol rehab, turned into a paid leave. After her affair with the mayor fizzled out, Ruby Rippey-Tourk went on unpaid leave from her job as Newsom's appointments secretary to attend alcohol rehab, according to her spokesman. She resigned with a...

High turnout prompts a probe by secretary of state SAN DIEGO - A dead man sending off for a mail-in ballot for the March primary was just one of the clues that brought investigators from the Texas attorney general's office to Duval County. Assistant District Attorney Jon West had only been on the job for about three months when the voter fraud allegations started surfacing. The post office returned several rejected mail-in ballot applications to residents who said that they had not sent them. And in one case, a woman complained that her father could not have sent a mail-in...

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was thrust back into the spotlight Wednesday, when a Nation of Islam activist claimed the governor knew about her affiliation to Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader known for his attacks on Jews, gays and other groups, before appointing her to the state's hate crimes commission earlier this year. Sister Claudette Muhammad, blasted Blagojevich for saying he did not know her or realize she was an official in the Nation of Islam before appointing her to the anti-discrimination panel. "You and I spoke. We took pictures. ... I have written to you numerous times, all...