Posted on 05/31/2009 6:42:40 PM PDT by Born Conservative
Sen. Arlen Specter was involved in a personal financial transaction with a federal judicial nominee, his Philadelphia neighbor whom he recommended, while the nomination was pending before his Senate committee and the full Senate.
In 1981, Specter and his wife received three mortgages on a Georgetown condominium from a pension plan set up by Specter's then-law firm, Specter and Katz.
Kate Kelly, a Specter spokeswoman, said Specter and his former partner were the only contributors to and beneficiaries of the plan.
In late 2001, Michael M. Baylson, now a federal district judge in Philadelphia, was trustee of the pension plan and assigned -- the equivalent of selling -- mortgages to Specter and his wife for $1. That technically left the senator in the position of making mortgage payments to himself.
The documents dated Dec. 20, 2001, were not filed in the District of Columbia until mid-March 2002, when the Senate was considering Baylson's nomination for confirmation. The records only recently became available online, through the District of Columbia government.
Records show Specter voted for Baylson's nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee April 18, 2002, and in the full Senate April 30. Baylson took office July 12, 2002.
Kelly said there was no need for Specter to recuse himself from either vote because he offered "full disclosure."
In an e-mail response to questions from the Tribune-Review, Kelly wrote that Baylson listed his trusteeship in a disclosure statement filed with the Senate Judiciary Committee when nominated. She said Baylson had no financial interest in the pension plan and acted as its "fiduciary."
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
Interesting, is this hit coming from a DIM or a Rep???
Geez... Why does anyone listen to Specter these days...? Well, I guess he is the only “new” Democrat that has nothing to lose and everything to gain...heh.
Specter should be ignored as one of the political animals that will not go away!. Yes, there are several more, but they just won’t leave until they are prosecuted. Of course almost all of them are prosecutable for something...woe are we with our corrupt political class...
Definite hit, as it happened 7 years ago.
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