republicans eating their own --- Report: Republicans privately embrace DeLay departure Tom DeLay's exit is privately being embraced by sources in the Republican party, according to today's Roll Call: The former Majority Leader’s withdrawal from the House — which will occur at a still undetermined date before mid-June — brought forth effusive public praise and private sighs of relief from his Republican colleagues, who paid tribute to DeLay’s achievements even as they hoped to rid themselves of the political effects of his burgeoning legal problems. “In the long run this is great news because the ‘Tom DeLay problem’ goes away,” said a House Republican leadership aide. “If he has further legal problems it will be on page A8 instead of A1 because he’s no longer a Member of Congress.” http://www.rollcall.com/issues/51_106/news/12808-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
That is pretty huge. I have a feeling it will be a long time before we finally know all or even most of sleezy, unethical, and illegal abuses of power that has gone on with this administration.
Today's Republican Party rewards corruption. Corruption of our electoral process goes to the heart of our system of government and, in my opinion, is nothing less than treason. Corruption and incompetence in the Bush Administration is rewarded. i can't believe the vast majority of those who are self-described Republicans support this kind of activity, and I think a lot of them will be either staying at home come November, or voting for another party. FB, you are so right! Keep D&D Civil.
Senator expects seven lawmakers to go to jail WAGONER, Okla. U-S Senator Tom Coburn isn't naming names, but he expects six congressmen and a fellow senator will go to jail. That's because he thinks they'll be facing corruption charges following investigations involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others. Speaking at a town hall meeting in Wagoner last night, Coburn said that "if you've been keeping up with things, you've got a pretty good idea" of who the seven lawmakers are. The Oklahoma Republican says members of both parties have been involved in questionable dealings. The remarks were made in relation to his attempts to curb "earmarking," which is the practice of inserting appropriations for specific projects into unrelated bills. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Speculation is that DeLay leads the short list.
This could be big -- Whitehouse tied to New Hampshire Phone jamming scandal Senate Vote Inquiry Widens as Democrats Probe White House Link April 24 (Bloomberg) -- To Republicans, the New Hampshire phone-jamming incident is an isolated case of political dirty tricks that took place more than three years ago. To Democrats, it's a scandal with echoes of Watergate that may reach all the way to the White House. Republican leaders are facing questions stemming from a criminal case involving efforts to suppress voter turnout in a U.S. Senate election in the state in 2002. Republican John Sununu won that race over Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, helping Republicans retake control of the Senate. The facts, on the surface at least, are suspicious: dozens of phone calls to the White House by a man later convicted in the case; the national Republican Party agreeing to pay more than $2.5 million in legal bills; phones jammed on Election Day, not only of Democrats but of a firefighters' group, in the first U.S. congressional elections since the Sept. 11 attacks. Democrats say that disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff may even be involved. ``The calls to the White House and the relationship with White House staff are a real eye-opener and should be a cause for concern on all fronts,'' said Sheila Krumholz, acting executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington- based research group. ``It calls into question who the person was on the end of that telephone line.'' Democratic Senators Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts wrote U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on April 20 seeking information on any links Abramoff or the White House may have had to the phone-jamming scheme. Seeking Answers Republicans said the calls to the White House didn't involve discussion of phone-jamming. And they said they only paid the legal bills of James Tobin, 45, who was convicted in December of conspiracy to commit telephone harassment because the Republican National Committee's previous leadership had agreed to do that. ``Democrats are trying to stir up crap,'' said Joe Gaylord, a Republican consultant. New Hampshire Democrats have filed a civil lawsuit against the Republican state committee, the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. They're seeking to find out from officials such as RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman who else might have been linked to the incident. Firefighters Targeted Two New Hampshire Republicans who were involved pleaded guilty in 2004. Tobin -- who led the Republican National Committee's New England effort in 2002 and later became the region's director for President George W. Bush's re-election campaign of 2004 -- was convicted in connection with the plot to jam the lines on Election Day at five Democratic get-out-the-vote banks. Also obstructed were the phones of the firefighters' group, which was offering voters rides to the polls. Tobin placed numerous phone calls to the White House -- including about two-dozen from the day before the Nov. 5 election to the day after. That's according to phone logs Democrats recently uncovered in court records posted on the Web site of the Senate Majority Project, a Washington-based Democratic group. New Hampshire Republicans paid $15,600 to a consulting company to obstruct the phone lines, prosecutors said. The lines were cleared after about 90 minutes of repeated hang-up calls. The incident took place during what both parties had expected to be one of the closest Senate races. Sununu, 41, beat Shaheen, 59, winning 51 percent of the vote to her 46 percent. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aQGLEwqlIdHo&refer=us
