Free Republic

Four years ago, prominent Democratic fundraiser and Portland real estate developer Terry Bean walked away from a Lane County sex abuse case, along with his former boyfriend Kiah Lawson of Junction City. Both men were accused of meeting a 15-year-old boy at a Eugene motel for an illegal sexual encounter in 2013. But the case was dropped in 2015 after the victim refused to testify, allegedly because Bean had “settled” with the victim. The case has now been reopened. A secret indictment was filed Jan. 4 in Lane County Circuit Court, and both men face a new indictment. Prosecutor Scott...

If you live in New York you may have heard of him, but outside the area his name may be a mystery. Robert Caro, famed author of four books on Lyndon Johnson, wrote his first book about him for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. The book was later named one of the one hundred greatest non-fiction books of the 20th century. The man is Robert Moses and the book is The Power Broker. The book was written in 1974 (celebrating its 40th anniversary.) I have owned it for about ten years and finally tackled it on my recent vacation....

Confusion grows over the origin of a potential compromise on Syria as Poland throws its hat into the ring. WASHINGTON — According to a report in the German newspaper Die Welt, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski outlined a Syria chemical weapons deal similar to that proposed by the Russians to Secretary of State John Kerry well before the current deal became public. According to Die Welt, Sikorski called Kerry on August 29th and submitted to him a version of the plan later proposed by Kerry and the Russians. He also reportedly talked about the plan in person with Kerry during...

The name Vignali receded into L.A. history after the “Pardongate” scandal of 2001, but questions remain about drug-dealing son Carlos and his real estate magnate father, Horacio, who just might be pulling the strings in the remaking of downtown L.A. --snip--- “Justice Undone: Clemency Decisions in the Clinton White House,” House Report 107-454, documents the involvement of Hugh Rodham, the brother of Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the Vignali affair. Rodham was Horacio Vignali’s chief lobbyist inside the White House and received more than $200,000 for his services. The two met through Los Angeles attorney James Casso in October 2000, according...

Through her aggressive fund raising for San Francisco politicians, Julie Lee transformed herself from grassroots activist to City Hall insider and political power broker. But that same largesse and the power it brought her have written the most bitter chapter of Lee's career, leading to the resignation from office of one of her biggest benefactors, Kevin Shelley, as California secretary of state -- and now felony charges said to have been filed against her by the state attorney general Thursday. Lee coveted insider access, say those who worked closely with her, and she quickly learned that campaign contributions opened the...