Free Republic

Six years ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid celebrated what he called a "love fest" of government support for the construction of a proposed 150,000-home community in the Nevada desert and the lobbyist-turned-developer behind it, Harvey Whittemore. Last week, a federal grand jury charged Mr. Whittemore with making illegal political contributions to Mr. Reid, a Democrat. Even before the indictment, Mr. Reid and other politicians had begun to distance themselves from Mr. Whittemore—long one of Nevada's most powerful lobbyists—by pledging to charity money to offset donations they had gotten from him. ~~snip~~ The allegations against Mr. Whittemore stem from a...

A man convicted of making illegal campaign contributions to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would like to make a nightmare of one of the Nevada Democrat’s top lieutenants come true — by eliminating all campaign contribution limits. **SNIP** In a bit of irony perhaps, the same day that the Supreme Court issued the decision in the McCutcheon case, attorneys for Nevada developer and lobbyist Harvey Whittemore filed an appellate brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of the Appeals, seeking to overturn a federal conviction on illegal campaign contributions. The Reno Gazette-Journal reported that Wednesday was the deadline for Whittemore’s filing....

RENO, Nevada — Former power broker Harvey Whittemore told a Nevada State Bar disciplinary panel that he did not think he broke the law when he used family and friends as "straw donors" to pump more than $130,000 into the campaign of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2007. **SNIP** During his testimony, Whittemore recalled the 2007 lunch date when Reid asked for help raising money. "'Do you think you can raise $150,000?'" he said Reid asked.

RENO, Nev. — A Nevada powerbroker who headed a billion-dollar real estate company and pulled the strings of state politics as a prominent lobbyist for more than a decade was convicted Wednesday of making illegal campaign contributions to U.S. Sen. Harry Reid. Harvey Whittemore, 59, could face up to 15 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines after a federal jury returned guilty verdicts on three counts tied to nearly $150,000 illegally funneled to Reid's re-election campaign in 2007. **SNIP** Whittemore stood with his arms behind his back and shook his head slightly after the verdicts...

RENO, Nev.—A jury began deliberations on Tuesday in the case of a former Nevada developer and political powerbroker who was called a greedy "ultimate insider" by prosecutors accusing him of illegally funneling nearly $150,000 in campaign money to U.S. Sen. Harry Reid Harvey Whittemore, 59, a former lobbyist and head of a billion-dollar real estate company, faces four felony counts tied to claims that he gave money to family members and employees to make contributions he had promised to Reid without revealing himself as the source. "He kept his promise and he broke the law to do it," Assistant U.S....

Virginia Tea Party activists this weekend turned up the pressure on House Majority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) over the speed at which the GOP-led Congress is looking to cut spending.  Leaders of the Virginia Tea Party Patriot Federation issued a tough statement on Sunday, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, calling on Cantor to make deeper cuts to the budget at a faster pace. "We are extremely disappointed in Eric Cantor, but not surprised," Mark K. Lloyd, the group's chairman, said in a release. "The will of the American people was pretty clear in November — cut, cut, cut spending. Apparently,...

A federal judge who declined to review the lawsuit Terri Schaivo's parents filed to prevent her painful 13 day starvation death may have had a conflict of interest. Federal District Court Judge James Whittemore of Tampa was charged by Congress to take up the case and issue a temporary restraining order preventing Terri's death. He refused. However, it appears Judge Whittemore, who became the subject of condemnation from Congressional leaders after his decision, possible should have recused himself from the case. Whittemore served in the 13th Circuit Court of Hillsborough County, Florida from 1990 to 1999. According to a report...

Liberals have repeatedly used the talking point of how many judges have heard the case of Terri Schiavo. But that is as misleading as most of the rest of what they and the mainstream media have been saying. When a case goes up to a higher court on appeal, the issue before the appellate court is not whether they agree with the merits of the decision of the lower court. In a criminal case, for example, the issue before the appellate court is not whether the defendant was guilty or innocent, but whether the trial was conducted properly. In other...

Judge George Greer ruled that the State of Florida has no right to take custody of Terri Schiavo, which ruling came hours after an appeal by Terri's parents to re-insert the feeding tube was refused by the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, another hearing was scheduled tonight before US District Judge James D. Whittemore .. the same judge who previously heard and denied the request subsequent to the 'de novo' intention of the law past last weekend by the Congress and signed by President Bush, in an effort to confirm that no stone was left unturned before Terri would endure legally...

STARVATION: DAY 8 Jeb Bush not likely to ride to rescue Florida governor indicates he won't defy court order Posted: March 25, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Those hoping Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will step forward to save Terri Schiavo from imminent, court-ordered starvation death are likely to be disappointed, based on his comments to a group of reporters following county court Judge George Greer's ruling against the state's effort to take custody of the brain-injured woman at the center of a worldwide euthanasia controversy. While Bush reiterated his motivation to save Schiavo, based on new evidence that...

In rejecting Mr. and Mrs. Robert Schindler's appeal to save their braindamaged daughter, Terri Schiavo, from certain death by court-ordered dehydration and starvation, U.S. District Judge James Whittemore wrapped himself in his black robe and announced imperiously from his court in Tampa, Florida, that he had denied their petition, because it had no "substantial likelihood of success." We should rejoice that Honorable Judge Whittemore was not in the position, prior to his appointment by President Bill Clinton, to share with the world his frightening omniscience. Had the godlike federal jurist been around for a few eons, think of all the...

A federal court hearing has started in one of the last effort attempts by Terri Schiavo's parents to restore their daughter's feeding tube. But the judge already has turned down the parents once. Bob and Mary Schindler are asking for an emergency order to reinsert the feeding tube in the brain-damaged woman. The hearing in Tampa is before U.S. District Judge James Whittemore. He turned the Schindlers down once, as did a federal appeals court and the Supreme Court. A state judge, a state appeals court and the Florida Supreme Court also have all come down on the side of...

I’m not confused. I already have come to my philosophical and ethical conclusion regarding Terri Schiavo. It’s that we must preserve all life at all costs. Pulling the thread from life’s fabric at any one level means that anybody can decide the thread and level. It’s back to relativism, in other words. Further, if we think this is a general issue, I figure just each of us wait till the time when the issue becomes quite personalized — like pointed at each of us. When will we be incapacitated? When will you be undone in a nursing home? When will...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- A federal judge on Tuesday refused to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, denying an emergency request from the brain-damaged woman's parents. U.S. District Judge James Whittemore said the 41-year-old woman's parents had not established a "substantial likelihood of success" at trial on the merits of their arguments. Whittemore wrote that Terri Schiavo's "life and liberty interests" had been protected by Florida courts. Despite "these difficult and time strained circumstances," he wrote, "this court is constrained to apply the law to the issues before it." Rex Sparklin, an attorney with the law firm representing...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore has seen fallen preachers, a motorcycle gang leader and a crusading Cuban ballplayer in his courtroom before becoming the latest member of the bench to be drawn into the Terri Schiavo right-to-die case. Whittemore heard arguments Monday on whether to order Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted, hours after Congress rushed through a law to let the parents of the severely brain-damaged woman take their case to federal court. After the parents' attorneys arrived at the Tampa courthouse in middle of the night to file their lawsuit, Whittemore was chosen at random...

YOU CAN SEND A MESSAGE TO JUDGE WHITTEMORE FROM THIS PAGE: http://www.flmd.uscourts.gov/feedback.htm THIS IS A GENERAL E-MAIL, so PUT Judge Whittemore's name and "Schiavo case" in the title and ask him to order the re-insertion of the tube IMMEDIATELY, while he is re-examining the case. You may also want to call the phone number below. KEEP TERRI ALIVE!!!! ======= The info page on Whittemore had this: Honorable James D. Whittemore http://www.flmd.uscourts.gov/jg__whittemore.htm No specific information pertaining to Judge Whittemore is available through this web site. Please contact chambers staff or the Clerk’s Office with the information provided through the link above....