corruption – Page 4

“ROGUE SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION EMPLOYEES!”

…Hey, don’t blame me (or Ed Driscoll); I’m just quoting the San Francisco Chronicle. And, let me tell you: the scam that the Chronicle is… chronicling… is stellar, for its kind.

This is how it works: say you’re a company that wants to do business with the city of San Francisco. But there’s a small problem; San Francisco is full of not only liberals, but very, very earnest liberals who want to be engaged in the political process. This leads to a certain mindset* that thinks that it is just dandy to make government conform to the wishes of its populace in things like procurement and acceptable vendors – whether or not the wishes of the populace have any bearing on modern economic realities. To give just one example: San Francisco insists that corporations doing business with it disclose if they were ever involved with slavery… which would be an impressive moral stance to take if it weren’t for the minor detail that they never seem to require that sort of thing from, say, the Democratic party.

But I digress.

Continue reading “ROGUE SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION EMPLOYEES!”

Blago subpoenas Giannoulias.

A pleasant beginning to the week, no?

First it was President Barack Obama, then White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, now U.S. Senate Candidate Alexi Giannoulias is joining the Rod Blagojevich corruption trial subpoena list.

Giannoulias is in the middle of a hard fought campaign against Congressman Mark Kirk for the right to fill the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Obama.

So there’s no doubt that being dragged into the Blagojevich trial is not welcome news for the Democratic candidate’s campaign.

Continue reading Blago subpoenas Giannoulias.

Bundling payoffs to pass health care: HOPE! CHANGE!

If this was happening in some other country, I would be laughing hysterically right now.

Taking a new position, Axelrod said the White House only objects to state-specific arrangements, such as an increase in Medicaid funding for Nebraska, ridiculed as the “Cornhusker Kickback.” That’s being cut, but provisions that could affect more than one state are OK, Axelrod said.

That means deals sought by senators from Montana and Connecticut would be fine — even though Gibbs last week singled them out as items Obama wanted removed. There was resistance, however, from two committee chairman, Democratic Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and Chris Dodd of Connecticut, and the White House has apparently backed down.

Since it’s happening in mine, I’ll merely note that there is no reason that anybody should be surprised by this (Hot Air certainly isn’t). The President does not have a name for keeping his promises. Also: if you gave money to the Democrats in the last decade because you wanted less corruption and favor-trading in Congress… well, let’s just say that all sales are final. And you aren’t getting any of that money back any time soon.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Do we need an investigation into the Massa/Hoyer thing?

Full disclosure: I regret Eric Massa’s resignation solely because I was looking forward to seeing his concession speech on Election Night, seeing as he’s an opportunistic progressive sycophant who last year spouted off bizarre nonsense about ‘treason’ to other progressives equally ignorant of the Constitution. Michelle Malkin has two posts nicely summarizing precisely why embracing this guy is a poor life choice for conservatives; my only change is that I prefer the term ‘suckweasel.’ Less likely to get caught by web-blocker software.

All that being said, this sounds like an allegation:

Massa slammed House Maj. Leader Steny Hoyer for discussing a House ethics committee inquiry, accusing Hoyer of lying in an effort to eliminate an opponent of health care. Hoyer said last week he heard in early Feb. about allegations against Massa, and that he told Massa’s office to report the allegations to the ethics committee.

“Steny Hoyer has never said a single word to me at all, never, not once,” Massa said. “Never before in the history of the House of Representatives has a sitting leader of the Democratic Party discussed allegations of House investigations publicly, before findings of fact. Ever.”

Somebody is lying, here. Either Massa, or Hoyer: and if it’s Hoyer, it doesn’t matter whether Massa was or was not sexually harassing his staff. The House Majority Leader does not get to abuse the public trust by lying about what he did in a particular investigation. It’s not so much this specific case as it is what happens in less public ones. There’s a word for having two standards of behavior, based on how much media coverage one is expecting: it’s called ‘hypocrisy.’

Fortunately, this is easy to check: all Steny Hoyer has to do is release the documentation showing that he followed House procedures with regard to ethics investigations. Presumably, that includes the kind of notification that he claims and Massa denies, and will stop this potentially disquieting development cold. In fact, I’m kind of surprised that it’s not available yet; which is something that can be fixed, later…

By the way: did you know that Hoyer has a GOP challenger this year? Charles Lollar. We’ve talked: good guy, solid fiscal conservative, and if I lived just a little bit east of where I live now I’d be voting for him in both the primary and the general election.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Doing well by being a Congressman’s brother?

It’s amazing what they don’t mention in the news these days:

Wind Capital Group, led by President Tom Carnahan, said Monday it has closed on financing for Missouri’s largest wind energy development.

The lenders, led by Nord/LB, Bayern LB, Rabobank, Santander and Union Bank, are providing $240 million in debt facilities to support the construction and operation of the proposed Lost Creek Wind Project in DeKalb County, Mo. The debt facilities consist of a construction loan, term loan and letter of credit.

The project also is seeking $90 million in aid through the federal stimulus package.

Like, for example, that ‘seeking’ in this context effectively means ‘calling up your brother the Congressman’ (as Dana Loesch helpfully points out). Or that this project needs both stimulus money and a cap-and-trade bill to pass in order to survive (as 24thstate.com helpfully points out).

I’d ask why Russ Carnahan felt comfortable voting for legislation that would directly benefit his brother, except that I already know that Democratic legacy politicians typically don’t believe that they have to obey the rules that they expect the rest of us to follow. Given the incredible amounts of deference that the rest of their party gives them, they may unfortunately have a bit of a point.

Moe Lane

PS: Ed Martin’s running in that district.

Crossposted to RedState.

Breaking: WFP/ACORN Takes The Fifth On Corruption Suit.

[FURTHER UPDATE] Welcome, Instapundit readers. Note the petition below.

[UPDATE]: Thanks to Randy Mastro and RedState’s Francis Cianfrocca – who will have a lot more to say about these races – here’s the petition cataloging said skulduggery; and you will not find it dull reading. (If you’re having trouble reading it, try here.)

It’s not that our opponents are geniuses at skulduggery. It’s that they’re unaccustomed to being challenged on it. When they do, they make mistakes. [Witness this latest from NYC for an example:]

A City Council hopeful won’t cough up documents related to whether the Working Families Party is scamming the campaign finance system — because the case could involve “criminal liability,” according to documents released yesterday.

The bombshell development was revealed at a court hearing where lawyers for the WFP and the campaign of Staten Island candidate Debi Rose tried to get a suit against them tossed.

Former Giuliani administration Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, the lawyer opposing the Rose campaign, called it an “extraordinary development.”

The suit itself – I’m working to get a copy of it sent to me – alleges that WFP (which is, of course, a front for ACORN) is violating campaign finance laws by having WFP front group Data and Field Services provide “canvassing and other services for [City Council candidate Debi] Rose in her primary campaign against [current Conservative candidate* Ken] Mitchell for which the firm received far less than the market value.” In that context, trying to avoid financial disclosure on the grounds of possible self-incrimination is at the very least eyebrow-raising; which is why they tried to walk back on it before 24 hours had passed. It should also be noted that the Rose race in Staten Island is not the only one where this sort of thing went on; Queens City Council candidate James Van Bramer is likewise heavily involved with WFP/Data & Field Services, as this diary from the Daily Kos (of all places) makes clear. I’m sure that his campaign is watching this case unfold with great interest.

The moral here? Well, aside from the obvious one of “ACORN taints everything that it touches,” it’s this: one-party rule makes people stupid. And stupid people make mistakes. Keep that in mind the next time you’re trying to decide whether or not to fight City Hall.

Moe Lane

*Who is actually a Democrat. Welcome to New York fusion politics.

Crossposted to RedState.

Why did Gov. Corzine fund Ferriero’s corruption for so long?

I mean, I know that the Governor’s rich, thanks to Goldman-Sachs – so donating a mere $440,000 or so to former Bergen County chair Joe Ferriero (and yet another convicted Democratic politician) over the years may have been a mere lark. A minor duty. He just did what they told him to. Still, you’d have thought that Corzine might have noticed all the dirty dealing going on. Or cared.

Because the legal system did b0th: Continue reading Why *did* Gov. Corzine fund Ferriero’s corruption for so long?

Breaking: Hudson County (NJ) Democratic Party arrested.

Or so it seems. We’re having difficulty keeping up.

UPDATE: OK, more information:

2 N.J. Mayors Arrested in Broad Inquiry on Corruption

The mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus, a state assemblyman and dozens of others were rounded up early Thursday as the F.B.I. swept across four counties in New Jersey as part of a two-year corruption and money-laundering investigation that ranged from the Jersey Shore to Brooklyn and has even reached into the State House in Trenton.

Agents raided the home of Joseph V. Doria Jr., commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs, who also is the former mayor of Bayonne, an official confirmed Thursday morning.

Among the roughly 30 people arrested by mid-morning were Hoboken Mayor Peter J. Cammarano III and Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, both Democrats, and Assemblyman Daniel M. Van Pelt, a Republican from Forked River, in Ocean County. Mr. Cammarano, who turned 32 on Wednesday, was elected mayor June 9 and sworn in July 1, after serving as councilman-at-large since 2005.

I’ve done a spreadsheet of the people named so far – and let me note: there’s something fun about a story where you need to do a spreadsheet in order to keep up with this sort of thing.

Name	Occupation	Democrat
Peter Cammarano	Mayor of Hoboken	Yes
Dennis Elwell	Mayor of Secaucus	Yes
Leona Beldini	Dep Mayor of Jersey City	Yes
Mariano Vega	Council President, Jersey City	Yes
La Vern Webb-Washington	Council Candidate, Jersey City	Yes*
Michael Manzo	Fire Department, Jersey City	No**
Daniel Van Pelt	New Jersey Assemblyman	No

*Ran as independent.
**Ran as independent.

There’s going to be a press conference at noon, and it should be riveting.

Moe Lane

PS: You know who else is from Hudson County? Senator Robert Menendez.

Crossposted to RedState.

Winning with ‘No.’

From last week’s article on the growing awareness of Democratic corruption, by the always-interesting Jen Rubin:

…with the growth of government and the enormous amount of cash sloshing through Washington, the corruption problem is about to get worse. The stimulus money could, according to the FBI, be the breeding ground for its own crime wave. If the experts are right and 10% of the $787B stimulus plan will be lost to fraud and abuse, then $80B worth of graft and the congressmen, officials, lobbyists, and donors with their fingers in the pie will make fodder for plenty of headlines — just in time for the 2010 races.

No wonder the MSM is nervously sounding the alarm. There is the prospect that the age of “liberal dominance” could come screeching to a halt before it’s even gotten up to speed. Not only does it portend an electoral train wreck and loss of a governing liberal majority, but it sheds doubt on the notion that government was the knight in shining armor needed to ride to the rescue when the free market “failed.” If bigger and bigger government gets us more and more crooks and tens of billions in fraud, then maybe there is a better way to go than inflating the size and scope of the federal government.

Continue reading Winning with ‘No.’

Democrats set to remove meddlesome anti-corruption prosecutor.

Elections have consequences.

(Via Instapundit) No, not Fitzgerald: Illinois is a little too prominent right now for that kind of shenanigans. North Carolina, on the other hand…

Democrats fix sights on GOP prosecutor

John Edwards admits federal investigators are asking him questions. Federal subpoenas were issued Friday related to Mike Easley.

As the separate federal probes into a former senator and the former governor are emerging, Democrats are taking steps to replace the Republican prosecutor who is spearheading the inquiries about the highest-profile North Carolina Democrats of the past decade.

All the nearly 100 top federal prosecutors across the country serve at the will of the president. Any replacement for U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding, a Bush appointee who has kept a priority on public corruption cases from Raleigh to the coast, will be subject to U.S. Senate confirmation.

The process gives a key role in the decision to U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat who was in the state Senate leadership for several years until she unseated Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole in November. Already, Hagan has formed a panel to screen candidates. It is led by Burley Mitchell, former chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court who now works at the Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice law firm.

They’re claiming that this screening process is ‘coincidental’ to the investigations, of course.

Of course. Continue reading Democrats set to remove meddlesome anti-corruption prosecutor.