Free Republic

The husband of U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow told police he used the Internet to make a date with a prostitute and paid her $150 for sex at a hotel in Troy. A police report says Troy officers stopped 46-year-old Thomas Athans on February 26th during a stakeout of the hotel. They ticketed him for driving with a suspended license but didn't file any sex charges. They say he's cooperating with investigators. Police arrested a 20-year-old woman in the hotel room on a prostitution charge. Athans co-founded the liberal TalkUSA Radio network two years ago. So far, there's no comment from...

Report: N.Y. Gov. Paterson Used State Funds for Trip to S.C. With Former Mistress Tuesday , March 25, 2008 AP ALBANY, N.Y. — A published report says that years after Gov. David Paterson said he ended an affair with a state employee, he traveled with her to South Carolina while working on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign. The Times Union of Albany says he billed the state for the trip. Paterson spokesman Errol Cockfield didn't immediately respond to a request for comment today. He told the newspaper he couldn't explain why records show Paterson and the $151,000-a-year employee were...

The inbreds in the ACLU buddy, hate cult have decided to picket outside Camp LeJeune in order to spread their message of hating homosexuals. Of course this is predictable of them now, yet still no less disgusting. They are protesting at the funeral of the recently murdered Marine. Yes, the pregnant one that the media has been talking about so much. What this murdered Marine's death has to do with gays, nobody knows, but somehow in this cult's attention seeking, twisted minds I'm sure they think it does somehow. What do these freaks think of her death? They think it...

A proposed addition to the State House statue would accurately portray Ben Tillman as one of the leading white supremacists of his time. As thousands pour onto the State House lawn next week for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day march, a part of the state's history will stand silent. Silent, and wrong. Words at the base of Ben "Pitchfork" Tillman's statue, a prominent gathering place near the State House steps, describe Tillman as a great South Carolinian who worked for peoples' rights. In reality, he was one of the leading white supremacists of his time who worked for years...

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (R) greets supporters after his victory speech following his win in the Iowa caucus in Des Moines, Iowa January 3, 2008. REUTERS/Jim Young

Sir Isaac Ford, the son of former Congressman Harold Ford, Sr., was arrested early Wednesday on suspicion of driving drunk. Ford was charged with DUI, public intoxication, speeding and disorderly conduct after being stopped in Midtown about 4 a.m. When he was brought to the Shelby County Jail for processing, Ford became combative and refused to give a thumb print, according to police reports. Police said he did poorly on the field sobriety tests and registered a .115 on the breath alcohol test. Memphis officers spotted Ford, 32, speeding in a red Mercedes-Benz on Union at Cleveland, according to the...

Attorney General Paul Morrison today resigned from office in wake of a sex scandal. During a news conference in the Topeka office of the attorney general, Morrison said he would step down Jan. 31. His announcement came on the heels of a story published in Sunday’s edition of The Topeka Capital-Journal that detailed an extramarital affair Morrison had with Linda Carter, who had been director of administration in the Johnson County District Attorney’s office. Before resigning from the D.A.’s office in November, Carter filed a federal sex harassment complaint against Morrison with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Carter also said...

TOPEKA, Kan. - Attorney General Paul Morrison announced his resignation Friday, less than a week after he acknowledged having an extramarital affair with a former employee who has accused him of sexual harassment, and of professional misconduct aimed at his predecessor. "I have held others accountable for their actions, and now I must be held accountable for my mistakes," Morrison said in a statement read to reporters. At one point, he paused to gather himself. "Many people feel betrayed by my actions, and they have every right to feel that way." Morrison's resignation is effective Jan. 31, 2008. Gov. Kathleen...

A federal jury has found state Senator Matt McCoy not guilty of extortion. He was accused of threatening to use his influence as a senator to force a business partner to pay him $2,000. Defense attorneys said the business partner, Thomas Vasquez, was paid by the FBI to act as an informant and secretly taped meetings and conversations with McCoy over several months. If he'd been convicted, McCoy would have faced up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The jury deliberated for less than two hours on Thursday, December 13th before returning its verdict....

Chicago (AP) -- The son of an Illinois congressman is accused of having sexual contact with two female inmates and inappropriate contact with a third while working for the state Department of Corrections, officials announced Friday. Jeffrey M. Rush, 41, the son of U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, was a supervisor of security at the Fox Valley Adult Transition Center in Aurora, a facility which houses female offenders. Between February and June, Rush met two inmates for sexual contact on numerous occasions and offered a third inmate a ride, according to the Kane County state's attorney's office. Rush drove a state-issued...

By all accounts, Robert Levy, now the 60-year-old mayor of Atlantic City, was a fine soldier during his two tours of Vietnam. The former lifeguard came home with two Bronze Stars. He was a native son who, before enlisting, had risen above his own family's prejudice to marry a local African-American woman. After his homecoming, he remained in the military until he became eligible to retire, with 20 years of service. But at some point, Levy began to embellish his service record in Vietnam by saying he had been a member of the Green Berets, the elite special force of...

.."The government says the principals in the case took public money that was intended for affordable housing projects and pocketed it for themselves."

Federal prosecutors this morning announced sweeping conspiracy charges against State Rep. Terri Hodge, former Mayor Pro Tem Donald Hill, low-income housing developer Brian Potashnik and 11 others. The charges contained in a 166-page indictment include bribery and kickbacks that Hodge and Hill allegedly accepted in exchange for using their offices to help Potashnik's company, Southwest Housing, gain construction contracts. In a separate indictment, prosecutors accused former council member James Fantroy of embezzling federal funds in excess of $5,000 from Paul Quinn College. Former city planning commissioner D'Angelo Lee and Sheila Farrington, Mr. Hill's wife, also were named, along with Cheryl...

FBI arrests Lt. Gov. Ipulasi Aitofele Sunia Lt. Gov. Ipulasi Aitofele Sunia was taken into custody over the weekend by the FBI based on a federal arrest warrant and was then transported to Honolulu on board a military plane.

NEW YORK -- Eleven public officials were charged Thursday in a widespread FBI corruption investigation, officials said. At least one state assemblyman, several local mayors and school board officials were arrested by FBI agents in early-morning roundups. The officials are expected to be arraigned on corruption charges in Trenton Thursday afternoon. United States attorney Chris Christie and FBI Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun are expected to explain the charges at a 3:30 p.m. press conference in Trenton. WNBC.com has learned that several of the officials were allegedly caught accepting payoffs from undercover agents in a sting operation. Others were...

Judge not convinced Ford truly believes he did anything wrong - John Ford was sentenced to 66 months in prison this morning for his April conviction of accepting $55,000 in bribes in the FBI's Tennessee Waltz public corruption investigation. U.S. Dist. Court Judge J. Daniel Breen carefully noted his interpretation of advisory federal guidelines that suggest enhanced punishment for factors such as the amount and number of bribes, threatening witnesses, acceptance of responsibility and the fact that Ford was an elected official. The judge said he was not convinced that Ford truly believes he did anything wrong and that the...

New Orleans (AP) -- The vice president of the City Council, once thought to be a likely candidate for mayor in 2010, pleaded guilty Monday to a federal bribery charge. Oliver Thomas entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance, and prosecutors were to discuss details of the case later Monday. Bond for Thomas was set at $25,000.

When long-defiant former state Sen. Kathryn Bowers finally admits as expected Monday to taking bribes, the once-improbable Tennessee Waltz will have all but played out. She will become the 11th of 12 defendants in the FBI's undercover Waltz corruption sting to be found guilty. After Bowers, only one minor defendant remains, a former school board member. Prosecutors are undefeated -- 11-0 -- and they've scored victories against some of the biggest names in Tennessee politics. From Memphis powerhouse John Ford to his venerable East Tennessee colleague Ward Crutchfield and former Shelby County Commissioner Michael Hooks -- heir to the one...

AP) — MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, who once lived in the governor's mansion and crisscrossed the state on airplanes to announce new industries and meet with civic leaders, is now confined to a small prison cell 23 hours a day, with no way to even know what time of day it is. One of his lawyers, David McDonald, visited the 61-year-old Siegelman at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta on Tuesday and said the former governor, after 12 nights in custody, has lost weight, doesn't like the food, but is in good spirits. "He said he's being...

A DeKalb County developer who fell into a children's trap to catch a yard sign thief agreed Tuesday to a deal that will spare him a criminal record. Charles Buckley was accused of swiping a political campaign sign from Hank Freeman's yard in July 2006. He was caught when Freeman's children, ages 6 to 11, staked out their Oak Grove property, hoping to catch the thief. Buckley apologized to Freeman Tuesday in DeKalb State Court for stealing the sign supporting Don Broussard, who was running against Jeff Rader in a primary contest for the DeKalb County Commission. Under the terms...