Posted on 04/21/2006 9:25:04 PM PDT by boryeulb
Republicans have an opportunity to thoroughly embarrass Democrats for their “culture of corruption” mantra. Will they use it to their advantage? I certainly hope so.
Here’s the story: The top Democrat on the House Ethics Committee—Rep. Alan Mollohan (W.Va.)—resigned from his role as ranking member this afternoon after becoming embroiled in a scandal that would make even Jack Abramoff blush.
Our friend David Freddoso of the Evans-Novak Political Report summarized the scandal for us a week ago:
The Wall Street Journal leads today with a piece on Rep. Alan Mollohan (W.Va.), the Democratic ranking member on the House Ethics Committee. Mollohan, also a member of the Appropriations Committee, has earmarked millions in funds for non-profits run by his business partner and some campaign contributors.
The Journal reports that Mollohan is now under investigation, and if this release by the National Legal and Policy Center has any validity, he may have been understating his assets in his congressional disclosure forms over a nine year period. NLPC claims to have conducted a nine-month investigation into Mollohan's finances, triggered by the unusual rise in his net worth since 2000.
Mollohan is only the latest Democrats to go up in flames for an ethical lapse. As Freddoso wrote last week:
Currently, the three congressmen who appear most likely to be indicted are Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), William Jefferson (D-La.), and Bob Ney (R-Ohio). Add Mollohan to that list, and it could become difficult for Democrats to campaign on the "Republican Culture of Corruption" that has laced their rhetoric for months now.
Mollohan, meanwhile, just saw his re-election become a bit more complicated. As the Evans-Novak Political Report noted on April 12, state Del. Chris Wakim has the best chance of any Republican in recent memory to beat Mollohan. With Mollohan’s troubles and Wakim’s cash advantage, I’d have to agree that this seat could be switching hands.
Let’s just hope the Republican Party capitalizes on the embarrassing Democrat mishap.
bttt
RATS are generally criminal scum, unfortunately, the 'pubs lack the testicular fortitude to really rub the RAT'S noses in their own poop.
The liberal media better flog this just as hard as they flogged Claude Allen.
Mollohan needs to be added to the list. Just where I am not sure, but he needs to be added. Maybe likely Dem for now. But the article says the Pubbie has money. Maybe Lean Dem. Stay tuned. I don't really have a handle whether Mollohan's net worth changed in the same way mine did, for the same reasons, or whether it changed due to back scrathing and sweet heart deals. Stay tuned.
Top Democrat on Ethics Panel Charged with Ethics Violation
April 13, 2006
The senior Democrat on the House ethics committee said he won't step down from his post. Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.V.) accused Republicans of orchestrating the complaint by a congressional watchdog group and then using it to call for him to leave the ethics committee.
The National Legal and Policy Center said it filed a complaint with federal prosecutors, alleging that Mollohan committed over 250 offenses and consistently undervalued assets on congressional financial reports and also omitted assets.
"I don't see why I should step down," said Mollohan. "All I did was fudge my income statement to save on taxes. Everybody does that. Besides, 250 offenses is less than one a week. What's the big deal?"
Democrats have made ethics a major campaign issue this election year. They accused Republicans of allowing "a culture of corruption" that included an influence-peddling scandal involving a former lobbyist, Jack Abramoff. Republicans have blamed Democrats for partisan battles that have kept the evenly divided ethics committee from opening any major investigations since the current Congress convened in January 2005.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she would not ask Mollohan to step down. "It's not as if he's a Republican or anything," said Pelosi. "They're the ones who should be stepping down."
Mollohan said the complaint is unfair. "Corruption is our issue," said Mollohan. "We have dibs on it. They're just copycats. It's not fair."
The National Legal and Policy Center began investigating Mollohan's assets after his financial disclosure reports showed a significant jump in his net worth between 2000 and 2004. Mollohan's 2000 report indicated he had assets worth between $170,012 to $562,000 and liabilities of $170,000 to $465,000. Mollohan's 2004 report showed he had assets of $6.3 million to $24.9 million and liabilities of $3.66 million to $13.5 million.
Mollohan says he made the money from "wise investments."
read more at...
http://www.azconservative.org/Semmens1.htm
Republicans need to give the maximum financial financial support to state Representative Chris Wakim, who's running against Mollohan.
I wish ONE....just ONE....Republican member of the House would have the testicular fortitude to speak to the media, or to his fellow House members, and express outrage about the democrats and their "culture of corruption." In other words, take Pelosi's own words and knock them back down her
left-wing Californicated throat. Guess it will never happen....a Republican these days with guts?....what was I thinking?
Yup, Mollohan's been added at #10. This is my current Dem list, but it's not yet fully updated to account for the 1st quarter fundraising.
Toss Up
1 (IL-08) Bean
2 (GA-08) Marshall
Lean Democratic
3 (OH-06) Strickland*
4 (TX-17) Edwards
5 (IA-03) Boswell
6 (VT-AL) Sanders (I)*
Likely Democratic
7 (LA-03) Melancon
8 (IL-17) Evans*
9 (GA-12) Barrow
10 (WV-01) Mollohan
11 (SC-05) Spratt
12 (CO-03) Salazar
13 (KS-03) Moore
14 (UT-02) Matheson
15 (WA-02) Larsen
16 (OH-13) Brown*
17 (ND-AL) Pomeroy
Watch List
18 (OR-05) Hooley
19 (NY-27) Higgins
20 (MD-03) Cardin*
21 (HI-02) Case*
Republicans would rather play fair than kick a guy when he is down. Thats why they will lose.
There's never enough for the greedy Triple E.
L
Bill Clinton Gave Iran Nuke Plans
According to the book "State of War," by New York Times reporter James Risen, President Clinton personally approved giving Iranian physicists blueprints for part of a nuclear bomb that likely helped Tehran advance its nuclear weapons development program. The revelation comes as the Iranian nuclear crisis turns white hot, with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasting ominously that his nation has joined the world's nuclear club.
"We were trying a little 'reverse psychology,'" said Clinton. "We figured they mistrusted us so much that they would do the opposite of whatever they thought we were saying. I guess we were wrong. Well, live and learn."
Iran's nuclear chief, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, said he was grateful for President Clinton's help. "We knew nothing of this 'reverse psychology' thing," said Aghazadeh. "We simply followed the plans and what do you know-now we have a nuclear bomb. Clinton's a wily fox, but this time we outsmarted him."
In related news, Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, vowed that Israel would be annihilated and Palestine liberated as soon as Iran gets its peaceful nuclear program into full production. Ahmadinejad brushed aside U.S. Secretary of State Condolezza Rice's warnings regarding this program as "the meaningless blather of a female. "We give no importance to her comments," said Ahmadinejad.
Cheney Donation of Millions to Charity Denounced
Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne gave away nearly $7 million last year to help the poor and to medical research. According to income tax information released by the White House, the Cheneys' adjusted gross income in 2005 was $8,819,006. The Cheneys gave more than three-quarters of their income to several charities, including George Washington University's Cardiothoracic Institute and a charity for low-income high school students in the Washington, D.C. area, Capital Partners for Education.
The Cheneys' charitable generosity was denounced by Democratic National Committee Chairman, Howard Dean. "This generosity conflicts with our continuing efforts to portray Cheney as the cold-hearted miser we all know he is," said Dean. "The donations were a deliberate undermining of our strategy. People are now comparing the millions given away by the Vice-President to the paltry sums donated by Democrats. This is unfair. It's our money. Why should we have to give it away?"
Dean cited millionaire Jim Pederson's donation of $2 million to his campaign against Jon Kyl for the U.S. Senate seat in Arizona as a model of responsible giving that voters should take notice of in the November 2006 election.
In related news, Dean called border security his party's top immigration priority for November. "The first thing we want is tough border control," he said. "Many of these immigrants are failing to register to vote. Correcting this is our top priority. I mean, these are potential Democratic votes going
to waste. Any Mexican that can't see that the Democrats are on their side should be denied entry."
Haven't you heard of the old saying: "Power corrupts, but $$ corrupts absolutely? Well, in the case of Congress it IS the old saying. The other similar saying belongs to the POTUS.....you know the one......Absolute power corrupts absolutely?
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