Free Republic

A dogged freshman lawmaker who refused to budge from the House chambers earlier this month until the Patrick administration came clean on how much taxpayers coughed up last year for free health care to illegal aliens finally got his answer yesterday: a whopping $93 million.

GOP challenger Sean Bielat slammed U.S. Rep. Barney Frank yesterday for grabbing more than $40,000 in campaign cash from banks that received federal bailouts — despite the congressman’s own pledge to refuse that dough. “The rules never apply to Barney — even Barney’s own rules,” said Bielat, whose surging campaign prompted Frank to pump $200,000 of his own cash into his run. The Herald reported yesterday that Frank accepted $40,000 from bank executives and other special interests that cashed in on the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

As Patrice Eremian was planning a wedding to the North Shore's new congressman in 1997, her younger bother, Robert Eremian, was busy defending himself against allegations of operating an illegal gambling business, money laundering and tax evasion. It wasn't Eremeian's first brush with the law, nor would it be his last. Ultimately, he would plead guilty in 2002 to just one count of tax evasion, spend two years on probation and pay nearly $60,000 in restitution and more than $458,000 in back taxes. Shortly afterward, he got permission from the court to leave the country. While his sister and her...

In case you were tempted to buy the faux Washington outrage at BP and its gulf oil spill in recent days, here's a story that reveals a little-known corporate political connection and the quiet way the inner political circles intersect, protect and care for one another in the nation's capital. And Chicago. We already knew that BP and its folks were significant contributors to the record $750-million war chest of Barack Obama's 2007-08 campaign. Now, we learn the details of a connection of Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago mayoral wannabe, current Obama chief of staff, ex-representative, ex-Clinton money man and ex-Windy...

A serious car crash involving a local lawmaker and a suspected illegal immigrant is threatening to reignite already heated debates about immigration on Beacon Hill, according to police reports obtained by FOX25. State Rep. Mike Moran of Brighton was rear-ended by a suspected illegal immigrant this week. The suspect was wearing a Mexican costume at the time of the crash where he slammed into Moran at 60 mph. The suspect, 27-year-old Isaias Naranjo, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, leaving the scene of an accident and driving without a valid license. According to the report, when told...