Talking Points Memo provides The Five Stages of Republican Scandal:
- “I have not been informed of any investigation or that I am a target”
- “I am cooperating fully, but this whole thing is a political ploy by the Democrats”
- “I’m SHOCKED by the mistakes made by my subordinates”
- “I’m deeply sorry for letting down my friends and family. I now recognize that I am an alcoholic. I will be entering rehab immediately, so I have no time for questions”
- “Can I serve my time at Eglin Federal Penitentiary (aka Club Fed)?”
Also, TPM points out that Rep. Curt Weldon appears to have gone crazy, just one day after FBI agents raided his daughter’s home in their investigation into him. Perhaps Rep. John Doolittle will follow suit as the investigation into him widens.
All of this is with Republicans running Congress. Four of them have been indicted in the 109th Congress alone. Imagine if Democrats take over in January? We’ll start up the Ethics Committee again and Republicans will be dropping like flies.
One would hope so. If for some reason Al Weed is not our Representative in Washington, I hope that Virgil Goode is one of the first to be investigated.
Elect Al Weed.
Chickens, welcome home. Time to roost.
And it’s even worse for the Republicans because Democrats NEVER have ethics problems.
A pox on both their houses. We need just to disband Congress.
We just take turns on ethics scandals. Whoever is in control screws up and gets nailed. Reformers come in, get in control, screw up, get nailed.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
It’s time to get Harry “Mr. Clean” Reid in charge of the Senate. Maybe Alcee Hastings or William Jefferson can take over the House Ethics Committee.
The accusation against Reid is not that he did anything illegal, only that he failed to disclose the transfer of some land to the Senate to comply with their rules. That was not good, but there’s no indication of malice or that he stood to gain anything from that error.
Comparing that to the four guys in prison right now is a bit silly. Reid simply has to fill out the paperwork and all is well.
Compare that with, say, Sen. Allen — he violated the same rules and SEC regulations. So surely you’d agree that’s worse than Sen. Reid’s situation. Right?
From what I know, and it is all a bit convoluted, Allen failed to disclose ownership of options what were worthless, i.e., the price of the stock was lower than the price of the options. Their story is that since the options were without value it wasn’t necessary to include them on a financial disclosure form. I’ll grant you my partisanship, but that sounds reasonable to me. Plus, I don’t think the story proved to have legs, which undoubtedly would have had there been any there there.
Reid is different. The MSM has been derelict in its duty to run this story down, but it involves the (again convoluted) transfer of real estate to an LLC that’s later sold at a 150% profit. Reid hung up on an AP reporter when 1st questioned about it. One of his lawyers or business partners is alleged to have mob ties.
I predict that this is a burgeoning scandal we’ll eventually hear more about and that it could force Reid out of the leadership. Then again, I also predict the GOP will keep the House. We’ll see.
So if a Senator loses money, it’s OK not to disclose that, even though ethics regulations and federal law requires it. But if he makes money, then those ethics regulations are paramount, and are far worse than even the SEC violations of somebody who loses money.
Do I have that right?
“Reid is different. The MSM has been derelict in its duty to run this story down, but it involves the (again convoluted) transfer of real estate to an LLC that’s later sold at a 150% profit.”
Yeah. Because if there’s an alternative media, it’s a wire service that’s been in existence since the 19th century. There’s nothing convoluted about the sale at all. Reid owned a 75 percent stake in a parcel of land. He and his partner formed an LLC whose sole asset was the property, which they each donated in return for shares, of which Reid got 75 percent. When the LLC sold the land, Reid got 75 percent of the net profit. He reported it to the Senate, though, as a land sale, not a securities transaction. If this had a tax advantage h, the IRS says it’s so small as to be easily overlooked. It certainly made no other difference in the transfer of land. The story isn’t going anywhere because it’s a scandal of paper-shuffling that led to no real windfall for anyone.
“Reid hung up on an AP reporter when 1st questioned about it. One of his lawyers or business partners is alleged to have mob ties.”
Reid hung up on the reporter because he filed a hack job last year alleging that Reid was bribed by boxing commission with boxing tickets (of no resale value–non transferrable) to oppose a particular restriction that the boxing commission disliked. Reid made no discernable move to oppose it. As far as having a business partner or lawyer(!) with “mob ties,” that sounds, well, I dunno, sort of vague. Maybe like Saddam and al-Qa’ida having “ties” when the tie turns out to be one of mutual hatred.
Well who’s gonna get their panties in a bunch over a senator who allegedly uses his power and influence to lose money? It’s the corruption, o gifted one.
Reid’s alleged malfeasance is not as titillating as a sex scandal (See Studds, Clinton, & Foley – what happen to those 3 guys?), or as stark as, say, having the FBI find $90K in your freezer, but I expect we’ll learn much more about it in the weeks ahead.
Just to be perfectly clear on this: you agree that it’s OK for Allen to break the law because he lost money, but it’s terrible that Reid violated Senate rules (not the law) because he made money.
Yes?
I regard impropriety and corruption as more serious than the lack thereof, whatever the semantics.
Well then, I’m glad that you agree that the charges against Sen. Allen are more severe than those against Sen. Reid.
Judge,
You must regard people like Bob Ney, Tom DeLay and Virgil Goode (among others) as qualifying as being corrupt and improprietous.
And people wonder why Democrats are up in arms about corruption in Congress.
Now please insert your obligatory comment about William Jefferson of LA in your reply. I have come to expect it of people to the right of center.
Problem is, that’s the only corruption story in the Democratic Party, and there are literally dozens in the Republican Party. Too many, in fact, to list at this late hour.
It’s going to be great to be in the majority in the House once again. Especially during the times we live in right now.
1. As far as I know, Allen’s stocks weren’t actually worthless: they were worth 250,000$
2. The whole point of reporting is so that we can know what your interests are. Allen attempted to do things that would have benefitted himself if they had worked out. They didn’t, but that doesn’t mean that the public should be kept in the dark why he might have a self-interested reason for acting.