Posted on 06/12/2009 4:19:19 AM PDT by topher
WASHINGTON – The revelation that Democratic appropriations kingpins may face a House ethics investigation of their campaign receipts from lobbyists for recipients of government grants and contracts moves Republicans closer to gaining a corruption issue in 2010.
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The Democratic chairman and senior Republican on the House ethics committee dropped their political bomb Thursday night, announcing that the panel is reviewing the practice of lawmakers steering money and contracts to favored companies, and then receiving campaign contributions in return for the "earmarks."
The announcement came months after the Justice Department began a criminal investigation of the matter and a repetition of House votes on Republican motions — all of them defeated — calling for an ethics probe of lawmakers who engage in what is often called a "pay-to-play" system for funneling federal dollars to select companies and projects.
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(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Murtha, Rangel... Culture of corruption. Say it loud.
Excuse me . . .
Repeal the 17th Amendment and reinstate Article 1, Section 3 of the Constitution and have Senators answer to their States and not to lobbyists and people with a lot of money to throw around.
Pipe dream. Sometime around September of next year, a Republican will be caught ripping those DO NOT REMOVE tags off a mattress, allowing the media to put into heavy rotation that oldie-but-goodie, "Everyone Does It (So Vote For The Crook Who Cuts You In On The Loot)."
There... fixed the title
Exactly. To gain an increased level of public support through exploiting the opportunity provided by a public trust issue, Republicans would have to become more interested in that prospect than they apparently are with their own penises.
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