it's a shame but O so true .....
Posted on 06/19/2002 6:55:52 PM PDT by kattracks
Many in Congress are so terrified the FBI will blackmail them, they are afraid to criticize the Bureau.
A top aide to Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) told the New York Times that many Congressmen and Senators won't speak out against the FBI "because rightly or wrongly, they think the FBI will find dirt on them, and it will wind up in the public domain."
Kris Kolesnik, who was Grassley's chief investigator for 18 years, told the New York Times that the Iowa Republican has been more vocal than other Senators "because he's such a Boy Scout; he has no skeletons in his closet."
The Times reported today how little criticism about the FBI has emanated from Capitol Hill, with the sharpest criticism of the FBI and CIA "has not come from liberal Democrats but from two conservative Republican senators," Grassley and Richard Shelby of Alabama.
"Mr. Grassley, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, speaks almost daily nowadays about the 'culture of arrogance' and the 'cowboy mentality' at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, tells anyone who asks that George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, has failed in his job and should resign."
Grassley said: "I consider myself more a watchdog than a critic. The FBI seems to be the one now that needs some watchdogging."
The two senators aren't especially close, the Times says, but "speak almost as one when they blame Congress for being too deferential over the years" to the FBI and CIA.
"Everyone's in awe of them," Grassley scoffed. "Everyone just melts in their presence, and so they have always gotten a long leash. I think that may change now."
"You can be too cozy with the people you are supposed to have oversight of," Shelby said. "I don't think that's healthy. And I think that after Sept. 11, it's going to be different."
Kolesnik's comments are sure to spark speculation about which Capitol Hill power brokers fear being blackmailed by the FBI, and why. Here's one case where lame-duck Rep. Gary Condit is not alone.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
COME CLEAN!! Then you can't be blackmailed, by anyone!!
Any member of congress who can be blackmailed by the FBI can be blackmailed (and thereby controlled to some degree) by anyone.
Condit was on the intelligence committe and it should be obvious to everyone that Chandra (and Monica, and Flowers and all the affairs and all the dirt) is about more than sex.
It's about the potential to influence Congress through non-democratic means and that makes it a huge problem.
it's a shame but O so true .....
Well, boys and girls, WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT???
Now maybe America understands why the Bill&Hill had 900 FBI files. And those files remain valuable even when the IRS can no longer be used to go after enemies...
DITTO!! but don't hold your breath!
I'm so sick of something as despicable as "blackmail" being considered a legitimate way to run our country. Enough already!! Time for a new breed of politicians. Honesty and integrity would be at the top of my list. And if there are skeletons in their past.. clear the air in the beginning of any campaigns.
There are quite a few things that could be cleaned up regarding politicians, but who is truly willing to tackle this? No one that I know of.. sad! What a huge quagmire...
Just recently we had a prime example of the stagnation in our Capitol. When President Bush announced the New Cabinet of Homeland Security,..even some Republicans like Ted Stevens (I think it was him, but nonetheless, it was someone from Alaska) who didn't like the idea of being removed from his head position on a certain committee. Hard to put your country first over your own ego!! Sadly, this is more common than not.
I'm sorry to sound so cynical.. but it is frustrating to know all this crud is happening. It is "OUR" country,.. and we really could make changes,.. by voting some of these people out, but citizens fall prey to the "seniority" issue too. They think they HAVE to keep long term Senators and Congressmen/women in office, so they can get their PORK BARRELL spending through!! Honestly, I don't know how we are going to fix this aspect of it all. Does anyone put America first these days?
I'd be interested in hearing what others thought and how they think it could "realisticly" be fixed.
FRegards!
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