Posted on 06/02/2006 6:39:27 AM PDT by Gritty
A funny thing happened to Nancy Pelosi on her way to becoming Speaker. She had been kicking the old "culture of corruption" can down the road, when it suddenly became very heavy and began to hurt her toe.
The fraud was working as long as the media was focusing on the tribulations of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a Republican representative from California jailed in March for corruption. Nevermind the fact that former Rep. Frank Ballance (D-N.C.) was carted off to jail three months earlier, also for corruption. Both Ballance and Cunningham currently reside in the Federal Correctional Complex in Butner.
A Web search for articles containing the three words Cunningham, congressman and jail results in 156,000 hits. But, replace Cunningham with Ballance and you get only 890 hits. So the liberal press produced not twice as many, not 10 times as many, but 175 times as many articles describing a Republican going to jail as those describing a Democrat in the same predicament.
Of course, some of the disparity results from the dog-bites-man factor when discussing a corrupt Democrat. The public expects better behavior from Republicans. So far, both factors have helped the corrosive Pelosi perpetuate her "culture of fraudulence."
Are Democrats ever involved in corruption? Recent evidence implies that former Sen. Robert Torricelli, (D-N.J.) was involved in illegal transactions with Saddam Hussein under the so-called Oil-for-Food program. Torricelli, who was run out of office for penny-ante domestic corruption, apparently had his hand in much bigger cookie jars as well.
And Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) was caught in a sting operation where he is on tape accepting $100,000 from an FBI informant in exchange for arranging a business deal.
Jefferson hid $90,000 in his freezer, disguised as food wrapped in aluminum foil. Jefferson refuses to resign and says that there are two sides to the story. Perhaps he hasn't fabricated his side to the story yet, and will let us know as soon as he can think of something plausible.
Many years ago, Rep. John Jenrette (D-S.C.) was caught with $50,000 stuffed in his shoes and claimed he was conducting a one-man sting to catch that dastardly guy who was "trying" to bribe him.
Despite his clever fairy tale, Jenrette was convicted and served 13 months in jail, so Jefferson could use a better story. Maybe a large chunk of ice fell from the freezer, striking him in the mouth and dislodging a tooth, which landed in the freezer. Then, lo and behold, the tooth fairy left $90,000.
When bank examiners sit around chatting among themselves, they often joke about something called a "parking lot audit." Basically, it goes like this. If a bank teller shows up for work in a Rolls Royce, an alarm bell goes off, and the examiners focus on that teller.
In real life, nothing quite so transparent ever happens, at least not until Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) came along. Remarkably, on the salary of a congressman, Mollohan's net worth has increased from about $100,000 in 2000 to $11.4 million in 2005, at the same time he was directing millions of dollars in "earmarks" to nonprofit organizations in his district.
Clearly, his wealth increase rings more than an alarm bell; the entire bell tower shakes enough to register on the Richter scale. An investigation is under way. We'll have to wait for the final verdict, but the incident further weakens Pelosi's fraudulent culture of corruption charge.
Even the Democrats' ace in the hole, Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, is not panning out as well as they hoped. Initially, Democrats hid behind the technicality that Abramoff didn't contribute his own money to Democrats. But he did direct his clients to contribute to Democrats, and those Democrats did go to bat for Abramoff's clients after the checks cleared.
And, to show how out of touch Democrats are with local issues, they are even trying to use the culture of corruption charge in congressional races here in North Carolina, including the 11th District. Not only is the convicted Frank Ballance from North Carolina, but Democratic State House Speaker Jim Black is under a huge cloud of suspicion about his activities.
So, when an ex-jock, Heath Shuler, came here mumbling about a culture of corruption involving Republicans, it was clear that he didn't know a lot about what is happening in our state. That lame tactic isn't going to fly anywhere, but especially not in North Carolina.
Try Googling D'Alesandro + Baltimore + corruption and you will get 194 hits. Why D'Alesandro? Well, Nancy Pelosi grew up as Nancy D'Alesandro. She was the daughter of one Baltimore Mayor, Tommy D'Alesandro Sr, and the sister of another, Tommy III. Both Tommys were crooked as a dog's hind leg, but only one ever got charged with anything.
Tommy III was charged with rape as a young man, and charged with bribery as Mayor (along with a City Councilman, Mimi DiPietro. In both cases the charges were dropped when the principal witnesses made themselves scarce. In the bribery matter, the witness surfaced in a Las Vegas hotel connected to the mob, the day after the charges were dropped.
Oh yes, Nancy Pelosi KNOWS the culture of corruption. She grew up in it, though the national press seldom looks backward into anyone's background more than a few years -- unless it is a Republican, in which case everything since birth is examined.
And yes, all these names are well familiar to me. (I was for a brief time the next door neighbor to Nancy D'Alesandro.)
P.S. info. My primary is over, but because of legal and ethical problems, the incumbent may withdraw/be forced out. He is also losing in the latest poll (5/28) to the Democrat challenger. I seek to be the replacement nominee. For more information see my website. I still need your help.
Congressman Billybob
No mention either of Mel Reynolds, former Democrat Representative, who was just hired by Jesse Jackson. Aside from the usual pecuniary crimes Mel was also a serial statutory rapist with a particular Jones for " Catholic school girls ". He was pardoned by another serial rapist who also is a Democrat. Now he works for a man who fathered a child with a subordinate.
In short, Ballance has gone through the same tap dance, beginning to end, that Cunningham (R-Calif) went through. So, the comparison Fogle points out is entirely valid.
The same comparison can be run again with Jefferson once he has been convicted and sent to the slammer.
Part of the difference may be racial protection in the press. Part of it is Democrat protection. Ballance is, and Jefferson will probably be found to be, corrupt. But those two are both black Democrats. Cunningham, on the other hand is a corrupt white Republican. Glad I could explain the disparate press coverage for you.
John / Billybob
Duh----can you say kickbacks?
A closer examination revealed that Mollohan and his wife had more than $2,000,000 in real estate investments with Mollohan’s former staffer, Laura Kuhns, and her husband.
Kuhns also ran a nonprofit, Vandalia Heritage Foundation, which had received more than $28 million in Congressional appropriations earmarks with Mollohan's help from 2000 through 2005. Kuhns was also on the board of other nonprofit groups which had received over $100 million in earmarks of federal funds during the same period with Mollohan's help.
Mollohan's 2000 Financial Disclosure Report listed his income-producing assets as being worth from $179,012 to $562,000 with liabilities of $170,000 to $465,000. Among the liabilities was Visa credit card debt listed as $45,003 to $150,000. Just four years later, Mollohan's 2004 Financial Disclosure Report showed him with assets worth $6,313,025 to $24,947,000 offset by liabilities in the $3,665,011 to $13,500,000 range. It also showed him owning an oceanfront beach house on Bald Head Island, NC which was valued at $1,000,000 to $5,000,000. NLPC found that Mollohan was renting the beach house during the summer of 2005 for $11,975 a week.
Freedom of Information Act documents revealed thousands of pages of real estate, financial and legal documents. Slowly a picture of Mollohan's finances emerged that was sharply different from the one being portrayed in Mollohan’s Financial Disclosure Reports.
Using NPO's to siphon off monies is a classic swindle. The IRS has documented numerous financial scams by so-called "non-profits" and "foundations." Any number of financial frauds can be hidden in a non-profit (or Foundation) by calculatedly wrapping oneself in high-minded ideals with the intent of engaging in tax fraud.
The IRS should determine whether Mollohan's NPO is properly accounting for all its activities derived from government grants, and whether it is inflating legal costs, and whether it is using government grants for the purposes stated. Taxpayers need to know whether this NPO is engaged in Enron-style accounting and spending practices using government grants---which could be grounds for government fraud charges.
Let's tell it like it is----"earmarking" the practice of adding on to a Congressional appropriations bill ---- funding a Congressman's own NPO is government fraud. Period.
They've even got a section on Pelosi...some snippets:
Two political action committees linked to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have been charged with attempting to circumvent to legal limits on campaign giving, the Federal Election Commission has ruled.
According to the March 2004 FEC finding, Pelosi appears to have violated the same kind of arcane campaign finance regulation that spurred the indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay this week.
A controversial fundraising committee run by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was slapped with a $21,000 fine by the Federal Election Commission for enabling Pelosi to funnel more than $100,000 in illegal contributions to Democratic candidates in late 2002 as she was vying to become Democratic leader.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) filed delinquent reports Friday for three trips she accepted from outside sponsors that were worth $8,580 and occurred as long as seven years ago, according to copies of the documents.
Here's the problem with your observation.
You've got Hastert out there appearing as if to protect Jefferson (if you've got constitutional issues with it, bring them up on private).
You've got W out there demanding amnesty be included in any bill that shuts the border.
86%, across all party lines, wants that border shut. Period. We can't seem, as a party, to get that. What's worse, is all of the garbage we have to put up with in the name of 'War on Terror' when you've got exactly zero idea of who is infiltrating the US on a daily basis.
Who's out of touch here? We're as idiotic as a party as they are. Simply fact: Both parties go native almost the day they get elected and move to DC.
I've got...? Sorry, I do not understand your post.
Thanks.
The NPOs/Non Profit Organizations set up and run by liberals have become incredible money laundering machines for the rats and a haven for rats with power looking to increase their net value.
We will see the pseudo journalists run to these left wing NPO's for pay checks to run their pr departments and dirty political tricks departments.
How could this guy miss Jim Traficant (D-OH) who is in federal prison now without his famous toupee?
Sad.
John / Billybob
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