Critics: Sherwood wrong on truck sale

The Times Leader (PA) ^ | 07/10/06 | Kevin Amerman

[Tinian]

''...We went through the bidding process and...Sherwood wasn’t directly involved ....'' Charlotte Severcool Wyoming County Conservation District[.]Some federal money secured by U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood for a conservation project was used to buy a truck from the congressman’s dealership and a self-proclaimed ethics watchdog group in Washington is calling on Sherwood to give the money back. Sherwood, R-Tunkhannock, says he had no knowledge of the transaction until after it occurred and says the group demanding he return the money is simply attempting to sabotage his bid for a fifth two-year term in the 10th Congressional District. CREW, which stands for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, says Sherwood secured hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funding for a Wyoming County conservation group, then got a ''payback'' when the group used a portion of the funding to buy a truck from Sherwood’s dealership. ''Mr. Sherwood continues to be ethically challenged,' said Naomi Seligman Steiner, deputy director of CREW. ''He just has no moral compass, it’s clear. From women to earmarks.''

[Tinian]

Here are some claims to investigate:

Sherwood said CREW is ''primarily a Democratic group'' run by a former staff member of Democratic Congressman John Conyers Jr. of Michigan.

''I think they’re trying to win an election,'' Sherwood said of CREW.

Seligman Steiner said Melanie Sloan, the executive director of CREW, is a former federal prosecutor who once worked for a committee that Conyers headed. She said Sloan wasn’t one of Conyers’ staff members.

''He might hold this against Melanie: She helped craft the Violence Against Women Act,'' Seligman Steiner said.

Seligman Steiner insists CREW is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that serves as an ethics watchdog for citizens.

''We don’t target the party, we target corruption,'' she said.

Notice how the Times Slander managed to tie Sherwood's bimbo problem to a low-bid contract that amounts to 0.66% of the grant money he steered to a conservation project. They really smell blood here.

[Tinian]

Ping

[detroitdarien]

However this gets spun, it STILL was a bad move to have federal $$ buy a truck from his dealership.. in this day and age one needs to be above reproach.

In general, I think these guys are way too loose and easy with our money. The Repubs are in charge, so naturally they will be more often targetted... but the mentality of D.C. where there is no accountability to the public, and we can go on charging the credit card forever, leads to very lax practices. One doesn't have to be actually corrupt to be contributing to a corrupt culture.

[GoldCountryRedneck]

''We don’t target the party, we target corruption,'' she said."

And CREWS' position on the William 'Cold Cash' Jefferson (Democrat, Louisiana) situation is???

chirp....chirp....chirp.

~GCR~

[Tinian]

However this gets spun, it STILL was a bad move to have federal $$ buy a truck from his dealership.. in this day and age one needs to be above reproach.

Are you painfully dim or just obtuse?

1) I, Don Congressman, get $1.5 million for my local Conservation District.

2) The Conservation District puts out bids for a truck.

3) The Company I own submits LOWEST BID for truck.

4) I, Don Congressman, who actually works in the House (and not at my car dealership) does nothing because, well, I was working in in the House (and not at my car dealership).

5) I, Don Congressman, get pilloried because I choose not to track every car sale made by my dealership because it's not possible (unless I illegally had my staffers do it).

You've set an impossibly high ethical bar. I'd like to see how you, in the same situation, would be able to meet it.

[NEPA]

Tinian, you're making too much logical sense for DC politics.

Unfortunately as the old saying goes "in politics perception is reality."

I think Sherwood is safe but he can sure be a dunderhead.