Posted on 12/30/2002 7:33:15 PM PST by new cruelty
WASHINGTON - Republicans cheered and opened their wallets when conservative ethics watchdogs probed the many scandals of Bill Clinton's administration, filing dozens of lawsuits.
Now that their party is in power, the same organizations are taking aim at them.
Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, is being sued, as are senior Republicans in Congress. The Justice Department and the anti-terrorism policies of the administration have been hammered by Judicial Watch and the Rutherford Institute, which have found common cause with once-reviled liberal outfits like the American Civil Liberties Union and the environmentalist Sierra Club.
"They seem to be genuinely against big government, no matter who is in charge," said Allan Lichtman, a political scientist at Washington's American University.
"I'm surprised by what they've done."
So is the Bush administration, which was expecting much different treatment from groups it considered allies in the fight against the evils and immorality of Mr. Clinton.
Mr. Bush even campaigned on changing the tone in Washington and bringing a new uprightness to how business is conducted in the U.S. capital.
Judicial Watch, the brainchild of former trade lawyer Larry Klayman, was founded in 1994 to dig up dirt on Mr. Clinton and his wife, Hillary.
It quickly became enmeshed in just about every scandal of the Clinton era, from Whitewater to Paula Jones and her sex harassment suit against Mr. Clinton. The juicy targets quickly attracted attention and Mr. Klayman became a regular on radio and television talk shows.
His group, which raised just US$70,000 in 1996, was pulling in more than US$12-million two years later and, by the end of the Clinton presidency two years ago, was getting more than US$17-million.
The money came from small donors and Clinton-haters with deep pockets, such as the conservative philanthropist Richard Mellon Scaife.
But Republicans who thought Mr. Klayman would cease digging the dirt once they swept back to power were in for a shock.
Initially, Mr. Klayman continued to focus on the Clintons -- he still has more than 80 lawsuits outstanding against them and named Mrs. Clinton as his most corrupt politician of the year for 2002.
He lambastes "gutless Republicans" for dropping investigations into charges she pilfered White House furniture and easing back on other Clinton-era probes.
But Judicial Watch apparently took its slogan, "No One is Above the Law," seriously and soon began probing much closer to home.
It filed a suit against Tom DeLay, the House Majority Whip, charging him with bribery for soliciting campaign donations in return for access to senior Bush administration officials.
Next came Mr. Cheney, who is being sued for refusing to say who he talked to when crafting the administration's energy policy, as well as a second suit on behalf of shareholders of Halliburton, the energy industry conglomerate he used to head, alleging fraudulent accounting practices.
"Mr. Cheney is not above the law," Mr. Klayman said after the White House threatened to arrest a process server who tried to serve the Vice-President with a complaint.
"The suit is without merit," said Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman.
Judicial Watch also denounced the decision to hire Henry Kissinger, the former U.S. secretary of state, to head the commission looking into the Sept. 11 attacks. It described his nomination as part of a Republican-Democratic coverup to avoid getting at the truth of who dropped the ball on preventing terrorist attacks.
Mr. Klayman has also derided the Justice Department, denouncing the abortive Terrorism Information and Prevention System, which called on postal workers and meter readers to snoop on their customers, as something out of Nazi Germany.
That's also the view of the Rutherford Institute, which also backed Paula Jones in her lawsuit against Mr. Clinton, and also rode that case to fame.
"I have not been real happy with Bush," said John Whitehead, the founder of the Virginia-based organization.
"When they started monkeying with the Constitution and civil rights we knew we would have a problem with the White House."
He called the Patriot Act, a series of measures aimed at helping law enforcement crack down on spies and terrorists, a "monster" and a "real intricate invasion" of Americans' rights.
He has also spoken out against Mr. Bush's faith-based initiative, a plan to ease restrictions on religious groups getting federal money for social services.
With friends like these, the Bush administration and its congressional allies do not need enemies.
"We could care less about the politics," Mr. Whitehead said. "It's all about principle."
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...
Any question as to why Larry doen't want to close up shop?
If it's conservative pipers who are paying, this shouldn't last, correct?
When you're robbing Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on the support of Paul....
And vice versa
He just buys a new mailing list....
2 years ago in the red zone....now in the blue.
1999 - 17,651,327
2000 - 25,935,456
This is from guidestar.org. Not, of course, from Judicial Watch's Web site. They have never posted their PUBLIC IRS filings.
So, one could conservatively assume that JW has taken in at least $60 million dollars. And never has paid one red cent in taxeslike a commercial law firm would.
As I have posted here for several years, "there are over 850,000 (it was 700,000 when I first posted this) nonprofits in this country. Many are only in business to enrich their handlers and/or push their own political agenda. We need to reform the corporate nonprofit laws in this country".
Like many people, I gave $$$ to JW. Until one day I called their "offices" only to find that I was talking to a telemarketing/fundraising firm. Suffice to say I never sent them another cent.
Will at some point Judicial Watch have taken in $100,000,000.00+ and not have won one important case? You figure the odds.....
Yep....ain't nothing that gets the blood boiling as much as being duped and played for a sap.
Klayman had me going for awhile too.
The official Judicial Watch Badge. Rumored to have been made out of old bullets obtained one-by-one from Barney Fife. Who also pretended to be in law enforcement.
The klaymer actually has the 2000 990 filing on their web site now and has for a while. Nothing newer or older is there. I don't know if the 2001 form has been filed or not. I read some article that the contributions in 2001 were down.
Here's the BBB Wise Giving opinion....
Despite written BBB Wise Giving Alliance requests in the past year, this organization has not provided current information about its finances, programs, and governance.
The BBB Wise Giving Alliance reports on national charities and determines if they meet 23 voluntary standards on matters such as charity finances, appeals, and governance. Without the requested information, it cannot verify if the charity meets these standards. The Alliance does not evaluate the worthiness of the charitable program.
What are you talking about? I stated a fact without taking sides and with making any moral or legal judgements, nor did I give my opinion about it. My post was not disrespectful in any way. Again, just what are you talking about?
By the way, Rodney: I thought that you wanted "everybody to just get along."
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