Free Republic

NEW ORLEANS – State investigators raided ACORN offices on Friday, taking away computer hard drives and documents as part of a probe into alleged embezzlement and tax fraud when the organization's national headquarters was based in New Orleans."This is an investigation of everything — ACORN, the national organization, the local organization and all of its affiliated entities, specifically as it relates to any potential violations of Louisiana law," Assistant Attorney General David Caldwell said.ACORN staff on the scene declined to comment, but an attorney for the group said in a statement the raid was prompted by allegations that former ACORN...

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon is about to put her political future in the hands of a jury. Dixon goes on trial Monday on theft charges. She's accused of hitting up her wealthy developer pals to donate thousands of dollars' worth of gift cards to needy families. Prosecutors say she used those gift cards for her personal shopping instead.

Democrats' Ethics Targeted by GOP By BRODY MULLINS Republicans are seizing on newly revealed ethics probes of congressional Democrats ahead of next year's midterm elections, accusing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her colleagues of failing to make good on their pledge to clean up Washington when they regained control of Congress. None of the Democratic lawmakers under investigation by the House Ethics Committee is expected to lose in 2010. And ethics concerns are usually less important to voters than pocketbook issues. But Republican campaign strategists say ethics issues rumbling under the surface could help the GOP pick up a few...

If you suspect problems at the polls e-mail: Voterfraud@Foxnews.com ------- It is "very easy" to steal an election using absentee ballots, claims Jan Tyler, a former Denver Elections Commissioner who now runs the website National Election Reform Examiner. She said some people shoveling her driveway, for example, told her they knew that "six or seven absentee ballots were sent to dead people," and she fears the numbers across the country could be much larger than experts believe and that prosecutors do not take infractions seriously enough. Fox News has found ongoing allegations of absentee ballot fraud in at least a...

Before taking control of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history." However, with dozens of mostly Democratic lawmakers and various staff under investigation by the House's twin ethics bodies, the majority clearly values political power over clean government. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Charles B. Rangel, 20-term New York Democrat, and Defense Appropriations subcommittee Chairman Rep. John P. Murtha, 19-term Pennsylvania Democrat, are the poster children for how failed ethics cops protect old-guard lawmakers. While under investigation by the ethics committee, they continue to...

Republican Dede Scozzafava endorsed her former Democratic opponent Sunday in the race for an upstate New York congressional seat, one day after Scozzafava dropped out of the contest. Scozzafava dropped out after Conservative Party candidate Dough Hoffman experienced a late-in-the-game surge. But on Sunday, Scozzafava backed Democrat Bill Owens -- the announcement was made in a statement send out by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "I am supporting Bill Owens for Congress and urge you to do the same," she said. "In Bill Owens, I see a sense of duty and integrity that will guide him beyond political partisanship. He...

Is there one, (one?!) honest Democrat? C'mon, New Jersey! NJ-GOV: Jon Corzine’s Absentee Ballot Slush Fund NRO via Redstate National Review’s Jim Geraghty has a tremendously important story. Jon Corzine is trying to build an absentee ballot slush fund to win a recount in the New Jersey Governor’s race. Basically, the Democratic Party has asked the Secretary of State to send provisional absentee ballots out to people whose signatures on their absentee ballot requests don’t match: In a development that is depressingly predictable, the New Jersey Democratic party is asking the state to provide provisional ballots for all these voters....

SACRAMENTO — The press secretary for California Attorney General Jerry Brown has been secretly recording telephone conversations with reporters, an apparent violation of state law. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday that spokesman Scott Gerber acknowledged taping a phone interview with one of its reporters. It said Gerber later acknowledged recording other conversations with reporters without asking their permission.

A document from the House ethics committee lists an examination into whether the chamber's rules were violated when Rep. Linda T. Sanchez put three legislative aides to her fellow-congresswoman sister on her payroll after an embezzlement scheme had left Rep. Loretta Sanchez's office short of funds. The document, a July tracking report obtained by The Washington Post, says that the sisters, both California Democrats, "shared transferred staff from one office to another after embezzlement," and that a meeting between lawyers for the ethics committee and the congresswomen had taken place June 1. The document also says that lawyers for the...

WASHINGTON -- Internal investigations into the conduct of several House members have been exposed in an extraordinary, Internet-era breach of security involving the secretive process by which Congress polices lawmaker ethics. Revelations of the mostly preliminary inquiries by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct -- also known as the Ethics committee -- shook the chamber as lawmakers were immersed in a series of scheduled votes Thursday. The panel announced that it was probing two California Democrats -- Reps. Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson -- even as its embarrassed leaders took pains to explain that several other lawmakers also...

TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA--Larry Langford, Birmingham's mayor and a former Jefferson County commissioner, has been found guilty in his federal bribery trial. Langford was found guilty of taking about $236,000 in cash and gifts from Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount and lobbyist Al LaPierre. Both pleaded guilty in the case and testified they made cash payments to Langford while he was the president of the Jefferson County Commission to ensure business for Blount's investment bank, Blount Parrish & Co.

(snip) U.S. leadership is crucial. That is why I am encouraged by the spirit of compromise shown in the bipartisan initiative announced last week by John Kerry and Lindsey Graham. Here was a pair of U.S. senators — one Republican, the other Democratic — coming together to bridge their parties’ differences to address climate change in a spirit of genuine give-and-take. We cannot afford another period where the United States stands on the sidelines. An engaged United States can lead the world to seal a deal to combat climate change in Copenhagen. An indecisive or insufficiently engaged United States will...

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) just took to the House floor to announce his new website, "Names of the Dead". According to the website: Every year, more than 44,000 Americans die simply because have no health insurance. I have created this project in their memory. I hope that honoring them will help us end this senseless loss of American lives. If you have lost a loved one, please share the story of that loved one with us. Help us ensure that their legacy is a more just America, where every life that can be saved will be saved. I'm told this...

House Democrats Lock GOP Out of Committee Room A bitter divide over Countrywide mortgage scandal. By JAMES FREEMAN Democratic staff for the House oversight committee informed their GOP counterparts today that the majority has changed the locks on the committee's hearing room. While Republicans previously enjoyed their own key to the room, they will now have to request access from Democrats. This followed a bitter partisan argument in which Republicans refused to take down a video from their website that contradicted Dem explanations about a closed-door meeting on the Countrywide VIP loan scandal. As we reported last week, the committee...

Democrats once flirted with running Republican Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava for the seat Rep. John McHugh will soon vacate in NY-23, but now that she's a leading contender for the GOP nod, they are rushing to bolster conservative concerns about her alleged tax troubles. Soon-to-be-former state Democratic Chairwoman June O'Neill today confirmed reports that Scozzafava's husband, an upstate labor leader, talked with key local Democrats and union heads about the possibility of his wife running on Row A if the party's presumed first choice, state Sen. Darrel Aubertine, takes a pass. "Her husband spoke with several Democratic officials and, you know,...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Mayor Larry Langford, who could be tossed out of office and go to prison if convicted of federal bribery charges, recently offered some advice to a new Birmingham City Council member. "The illusion of power is the most dangerous drug on the planet," Langford said. "A little bit of power — nothing intoxicates like it." Last week's comment may sound a lot like the government's opening argument against Langford, 61, the most recent in a long line of prominent names in the state Democratic Party to face corruption charges. Jury selection begins Monday. Prosecutors claim a...

Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., understands something that continues to escape House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., is radioactive, owing to multiple investigations of his serial failures to disclose millions of dollars worth of income and investments. Rangel had contributed more than $19,000 to Welch, but the Vermonter recently sent it back. That was a good decision because Welch is a member of the House Ethics Committee, which is conducting one of the investigations of Rangel. But it shouldn’t be necessary to be on the ethics panel in order to understand that Rangel’s actions disgrace...

In an amusing case of the pot calling the kettle, Anna Burger, the Secretary-Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), told Representative Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) that the SEIU had dumped ACORN during a Sept. 30 hearing conducted by the House Financial Services Committee. Apparently Mrs. Burger felt that ACORN was too toxic for the SEIU to associate with. Certainly it is quite amazing that the SEIU has taken the step to dump ACORN as a vendor. Groups such as SEIU rarely reassess associations preferring to stubbornly stick to their guns in most cases. During the hearing, Rep. McHenry...

Ala. Mayor Accused Of Taking Rolex, Bribes Jury selection to begin in corruption trial against Mayor Larry Langford BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Mayor Larry Langford, who could be tossed out of office and go to prison if convicted of federal bribery charges, recently offered some advice to a new Birmingham City Council member. "The illusion of power is the most dangerous drug on the planet," Langford said. "A little bit of power — nothing intoxicates like it." Last week's comment may sound a lot like the government's opening argument against Langford, 61, the most recent in a long line of prominent...

OCTOBER 17, 2009 Rajaratnam Surfaced in U.S. Terrorism Probe By EVAN PEREZ and MATTHEW ROSENBERG WASHINGTON—The hedge-fund billionaire charged as part of a vast insider-trading case surfaced in an earlier, separate probe into U.S. fundraising by a Sri Lankan terrorist group, people familiar with the probe said. As part of that investigation, federal agents said they uncovered documents showing that Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon Group, was among several wealthy Sri Lankans in the U.S. whose donations to a Maryland-based charity made their way to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, according to people familiar with the probe. Raj...

Ethics fight hits Rep. Charles Rangel's campaign funds; could hurt him in 2010 electionBY Michael Saul DAILY NEWS SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT Saturday, October 17th 2009, 4:00 AM Rep. Charles Rangel's campaign coffers are being drained by his battle to survive an ethics probe, leaving him vulnerable to a well-funded challenger next year. The Harlem Democrat spent more than $250,000 in campaign cash on legal fees from July 1 to Sept. 30, newly released records show - 56% of his total expenses for the period. His overall lawyer bills now total $1.1 million since a House Ethics Committee probe into his...

Since ACORN’s crass corruption came into sharp focus a few weeks ago, Andrew Breitbart has not only been part and parcel of cracking ACORN’s nuts, but he has also been pointing out the ludicrous lack of reporting on ACORN’s asininities by what used to be the mainstream media. Breitbart, via the ACORN controversy, has shown the “mainstream” to be everything but conventional and more akin to an irrelevant, unwatched drip of ideological flotsam that’s entirely in the septic tank for the lunatic left. The Daily Show’s John Stewart—hardly a right-winger—also pointed out this willful ACORN media blindness this past month,...

The president of a national labor union was arrested Tuesday for allegedly taking $20,000 in bribes from a St. Louis lawyer, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Congressman Charles Rangel has let New York down with his financial sacandals. New York waited for decades to gain the kind of congressional clout that Rep. Charlie Rangel has wielded as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and now he has let the home team down. Big time. To say that Rangel has become damaged goods is to engage in understatement. His Republican adversaries are taking full advantage of Rangel's many transgressions to make him a walking, talking symbol of Washington hubris for all of America to scorn. Unfortunately for him and for his Democratic colleagues - and,...

The gay community should stop rewarding President Obama's pretty speeches—like his address this weekend to the Human Rights Campaign—and demand action on Don't Ask, Don't Tell. BY MEGHAN MCCAIN This weekend, thousands gathered for a march at the White House where the gay community demanded equal rights. On Saturday night, President Obama addressed the largest gay-rights group and promised to end the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy in the military, emphasizing that his commitment to achieving equal rights was “unwavering.” The support he received from the crowd was overwhelming. But my response to this speech and my message to the...

It is time for Democrats in Congress — who once justifiably complained about the corruption of the Republican majority — to demonstrate to Americans that someone in that august body has ethical standards. Instead, House Democrats have again shielded Representative Charles Rangel from his serial ethical messes and ducked their responsibility to force him from the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, maintaining her tunnel vision on behalf of a powerful colleague, led the majority to defeat the Republicans’ latest call to depose the New York lawmaker. She does the nation no favor. Two of her...

Republicans won't relent in pushing Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) to step down from his powerful chairmanship, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) vowed Thursday. A day after most Democrats (and some Republicans) voted to shuffle off a resolution that would have forced Rangel to step down as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Boehner said Republicans would continue to pursue the issue, while holding themselves to a high ethical standard. "The move by House Democrats to simply refer the resolution to the Ethics Committee was an effort to sidestep the issue and make it easier for them to...

The House panel investigating alleged ethics violations by Rep. Charles B. Rangel, New York Democrat, said Thursday it voted unanimously to expand the probe. A statement by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct said its investigative subcommittee already has issued nearly "150 subpoenas, interviewed approximately 34 witnesses resulting in over 2,100 pages of transcripts." The subcommittee also has analyzed more than 12,000 pages of documents and held more than 30 investigative meetings, according to the statement issued by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, California Democrat, who is the committee chairman, and ranking minority member Rep. Jo Bonner, Alabama Republican. However,...

This from the online edition of Fox's Special Report, Krauthammer hits Charles Rangel on not paying his taxes, then Juan Williams brings up Rangel's African American race or something? What is Juan talking about?

A former Jersey City mayoral candidate and his brother have been indicted on corruption charges. Tuesday's indictment comes on the same day the president of Jersey City's municipal council temporarily stepped aside and another council member pleaded guilty to corruption. Louis Manzo a former candidate for mayor, and his brother, Ronald, who acted as his political adviser, are charged with taking $27,500 in corrupt political contributions. Louis Manzo had previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2004 to 2008.

Rangel dodges the bullet again with a little help from his corruption-enabling friends. Final vote tabling Carter’s resolution to remove Rangel from W&M chairmanship: 243-156. 19 voted present. 3 REPUBLICANS joined the Democrats. Will post roll call vote as soon as it is up.

The Acorn chief executive, Bertha Lewis, met with reporters at the National Press Club in Washington this morning. It was one of several appearances she has made in the weeks since conservative videographers, posing as a pimp and a prostitute successfully elicited advice from the group’s counselors on tax evasion and securing housing for a brothel. But if critics and even some supporters are looking for an “apology tour,” they are not getting one. Ms. Lewis, rather, provided a defiant answer to her critics, even while acknowledging that the behavior of the Acorn workers who were caught on tape was...

The investigation into Rep. Charlie Rangel's alleged financial shenanigans is probably the most touchy question to pose to senior House Democrats and their aides these days. As the New York Times's Carl Hulse implied over the weekend, if Rangel were not the chairman of the Ways of Means Committee, if he were not a beloved figure among his colleagues, if fears of internal racial politics weren't in the mix, Rangel would be as good as stripped from his position. (Rangel says he's innocent and chides journalists who ask him about the investigation.) Rangel is one of several congressional Democrats who...

  The subject line of the e-mail said, “Heard anything about Rangel?” And the text of the message delivered: “Rumor is that he steps down as w&m chair tonight. It’s been floating around K St today.” That one came from a lobbyist at a prominent Washington firm — about a week before a Republican financial lobbyist called POLITICO to report that Charlie Rangel was “toast” as House Ways and Means Committee chairman, to be replaced at any minute by a more junior Democrat on the panel. A month later, Rangel still has his gavel, and Democratic insiders say that the...

Talk about killing two birds with one stone. As Congressional Republicans prepare to introduce a bill to calling for Charles Rangel to step down from his position as Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee saying his ethics problems make him the poster boy for institutional arrogance, the Democrats are looking to push him out totally and have Governor Paterson run for Rangel's seat in 2010. CBS News in New York reported on the political scheme today.

An internal review by the board of directors of the community organization ACORN determined that the amount allegedly embezzled from the community organization was $5 million, well more than the previously reported amount of nearly $1 million, according to a new subpoena in an investigation by Louisiana Attorney General Caldwell. The subpoena, released this afternoon, says, "It is still unclear if some of the monies embezzled are from state, federal or private funds." ACORN Chief Executive Officer Lewis said the new accusation about the embezzlement is "completely false." She said she would comment further after she and ACORN attorneys have...

GOP To Draft Resolution Designed To Oust Rangel Sources: Dems Discussing Plan To Have Embattled Harlem Congressman Resign So Gov. Paterson Can Run For His Seat Reporting Marcia Kramer NEW YORK (CBS) ― Congressional Republicans are again demanding that Congressman Charles Rangel step down as chairman of the House tax writing committee, saying his ethics problems make him the poster boy for institutional arrogance. Democratic support for embattled Rangel will get another test this week. Republicans will introduce a resolution calling for the Harlem Democrat to step down as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee until ethics...

Rep. Charlie Rangel ducked reporters’ questions about his ethics troubles and heard a nasty catcall from a passerby during a Manhattan news conference this afternoon. Rangel, the dean of New York’s congressional delegation, appeared outside the 96th Street-Broadway subway station on the Upper West Side to discuss the federal stimulus package’s impact on city transit projects. A media throng was itching to ask about the House ethics probe that has prompted Republicans to call for his ouster as Ways and Means chairman, but Rangel said he would not take questions on other subjects. At one point, a passerby in a...

- Used Rapists & Burglars in Door-to-Door Registration DrivesSo where does a far left political operative land after his organization is fined $775,000 for election violations that included hiring rapists and burglars to register voters? Inside the Obama White House, of course. Obama's ACORN operative in the White House Patrick Gaspard is helping shape domestic policy-- There have been several articles written lately about Barack Obama's ACORN advisor, Patrick Gaspard, who is currently serving in the White House. Gaspard has a long history of working with ACORN-affiliated organizations. Erick Erickson at RedState reported on Gaspard's close ties to ACORN: The...

S.F. Schools Head Uses District Credit As Own Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer Sunday, October 4, 2009 As San Francisco schools have cut budgets to the bone, the city's school board president used her district-issued credit card to charge thousands of dollars for personal items and thousands more at city restaurants and cafes, according to a Chronicle analysis of financial records. Board President Kim-Shree Maufas charged $4,300 on the district's Diners Club card for a wide range of personal purchases. They included more than $2,000 for a cultural exchange trip to China, $196 for tickets to the Florida Epcot theme...

In a lengthy story today titled “The case against Charlie Rangel,” New York Post reporters Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein examine “forty years of tax evasion, misdeeds and contempt.” Most interesting is their account of how Rangel tapped into a housing program for poor people to renovate his Harlem brownstone into six units, one of which continued to be his residence. It’s the same building cited by NLPC in a September 16 Complaint to the Ethics Committee. On his financial disclosure forms, Rangel reported little or no rental income for eight years (1993-2001) from the six units, even though public...

Federal law-enforcement authorities Friday unsealed indictments against 39 D.C. taxicab drivers, charging them with conspiring to bribe the head of the city's taxicab commission in a widening criminal investigation into the industry. The indictments come just over a week after the chief of staff for D.C. Council member Jim Graham was charged with accepting bribes from a person with a financial stake in the taxicab industry to promote favorable taxicab legislation. * * * The indictments unsealed Friday charge that the men attempted to bribe Taxicab Commission Chairman Leon J. Swain Jr., who is identified by title but not by...

Two Iowa lesbian activists who donated approximately $150,000 in the 2006 and 2008 federal election cycles, all (but one) to Democratic candidates, are caught up in a reported $5.9 million embezzlement scheme.Phyllis Stevens was arrested in Las Vegas last Friday on charges of money laundering and wire fraud after the exposure of the scheme by her employer, insurance giant Aviva USA .Her partner, Marla Stevens, has been sued by Aviva for benefiting from the embezzlement because the money was alledgedly deposited in an account shared by both women. Marla Stevens has not been criminally charged, however. According to CampaignMoney.com, Phyllis...

Ex-Clinton aide pleads not guilty in prison case(AP) – 8 hours ago LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A former top aide to Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas has pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to smuggle contraband into a prison. Betsey Wright is accused of trying to smuggle tattoo needles, a box cutter, a knife and tweezers into the Varner Supermax Unit while visiting a death row inmate in May. The 66-year-old Wright entered the plea Wednesday in a court filing in Lincoln County Circuit Court. The filing by defense attorney Jeff Rosenzweig also waives her arraignment,...

The woman at the center of State Sen. Hiram Monserrate’s assault trial took the stand today -- making it clear that despite testifying for the prosecution, she claimed her injuries were "an accident." Karla Giraldo, 30, conceeded in Queens Supreme Court that "may have gotten a little bit jealous” when he opened her purse and found a PBA card with another man’s name on it. She said she grew "angry" when the 42-year-old Democratic lawmaker tossed the plastic card down a trash chute in his Jackson Heights, Queens, building. The DA claims the PBA card ignited a heated argument that...

A lesbian political activist who donated thousands to Democrats and homosexual causes is suspected of embezzling nearly $6 million from one of the world's largest insurance firms. Despite her $40,000 a year salary as an insurance compensation specialist, Phyllis Stevens purchased two homes valued at more than $550,000 and gave thousands of dollars in donations to Democratic Party political candidates and homosexual groups. The 58-year-old chairs the Midwest Chapter of Marriage Equality USA, a homosexual "marriage" advocacy group. She is accused of embezzling the money from health insurer Aviva over a period of five years. A civil complaint filed in...

The Working Families Party and local Democratic Party Officials are at the center of a massive voter fraud scandal in Troy, NY. According to the Times Union: Dozens of forged and fraudulent absentee ballots from people registered to vote on the Working Families Party line were filed in the Sept. 15 primary elections in Troy. Documents at the county Board of Elections show the fraudulent ballots were handled by or prepared on behalf of various elected officials and leaders and operatives for the Democratic and Working Families parties. There may be as many as 50 absentee ballots that were forged,...

Over the past several months, I have heard numerous calls for Congressman Rangel to resign, I 100% agree with those calls, however, in recent days I have heard some ponder why Rangel is still in the United States Congress, that is why I am writing this article. Congressman Charles Rangel, first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1970, representing New York's fifteenth congressional district like a lord with ultimate power. Over the past several months, it has been revealed that Rangel, who is the head of the all-power House Committee on Ways and Means (deals with tax...

NEW YORK – Former Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu was sentenced Tuesday to more than 24 years in prison by a judge who accused him of funding his fraud by manipulating the political process in a way that "strikes at the very core of our democracy." U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero sentenced the 58-year-old Hsu, who raised money for Hillary Rodham Clinton and others, to 20 years in prison for his guilty plea to fraud charges and another four years and four months in prison for his conviction at trial for breaking campaign finance laws. In a lengthy criticism of Hsu's...

Why hasn't Charlie Rangel stepped down?After documented reports of his sweetheart deals, influence peddling, unreported assets, and untaxed income, Charlie Rangel is still chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means. Can't anyone tell him to move aside? Francis Wilkinson Tuesday, September 29, 2009 Glenn Beck launched an attack against the Obama administration's "green jobs" director Van Jones in the last week of August. By Labor Day, Jones was FOX-kill. Compare that to the results achieved by The New York Times and The Washington Post, both of which have called for New York Rep. Charles Rangel to step down...