Posted on 01/08/2008 7:04:14 PM PST by Islander7
WASHINGTON — A Washington watchdog has filed a complaint against Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, suggesting she may have traded her influence on a specific earmark for $30,000 in campaign contributions.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington on Tuesday demanded the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. district courts in Louisiana and Texas investigate whether Landrieu, who is in her second term, broke federal law back in 2001 by including a $2 million earmark in the District of Columbia appropriations bill for a company whose lobbyists had thrown her a fundraiser just days earlier.
That event, held four days before the earmarks was added, raised $30,000 in contributions for Landrieu from individuals associated with the company, according to the CREW complaint.
Landrieu has flatly denied the charges, saying in a statement Tuesday they are “frivolous” and “wholly without merit.”
The Washington Post reported in December that as ranking Democrat and chairwoman of the subcommittee in charge of Washington, D.C.'s appropriations, Landrieu ensured that Voyager Expanded Learning would receive $2 million in funding to promote its reading program in D.C. schools.
Over five years, according to the Post report, Voyager Expanded Learning -- which has ties to the Bush administration in Texas -- received more than $5 million in federal tax dollars and most of that was spent in D.C., where city officials were told they could use only the Voyager product.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I’ll bet that’s not all she’s ever swapped for cash.
Not in Louisiana, can’t be!
CREW going after a Rat? Thats something new. She must have stepped on someones toes.
Landrieu is in a Senate race she’s probably going to lose, and the Republicans will pick up the seat.
If CREW is backing this lawsuit, my guess is that CREW wants her out of the race so the Dems can replace her with someone else so that they have a chance of holding the seat in November.
CREW is a left-wing group headed by John Conyer’s former adviser, Melanie Sloan. They don’t go after Democrats unless there’s a way for the attack to help the DNC.
You beat me!
Louisiana? SAY IT AIN’T SO!
I know. I’m shocked, SHOCKED, I say, that a New Orleans politician might be accused of corruption.
$30,000 ? She went cheap.
Or has William Jefferson decided he could do better in the Senate, and Nagin will settle for a House?
I know it’s really not funny, but I couldn’t resist. :)
Landrieu committed two sins;
One she was making nice with a Bush supporter.
Two she was supporting a private corporation in the scared cow of public education. Taking jobs that might be done by Teacher’s Union employees.
How's your hackneyed boilerplate denials?
There isn’t a rodent in LA that would have a chance of holding the seat as well as her, aside from perhaps her own brother.
If she does it again, somebody slap her.
isn’t this standard procedure in congress? I’m amazed when people express alarm at these reports.
As long as people are in congress, and put there by big money, they will always be beholden.
Just like cheating in recruiting and boosters in NCAA football. everybody does it, it depends if you get caught.
Pre-Katrina, post-Katrina. Louisiana remains a swamp...
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