pete stark – Moe Lane

Pete Stark returns to FEAST ON REP. ERIC SWALWELL’S SOUL.

Ooh, there’s nothing like seeing a Blue-on-Blue war in California:

To avenge his defeat, former Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., has promised to put his financial means and political mettle toward ousting his successor.

Last November, Rep. Eric Swalwell upset the 20-term Democrat by a slim margin. Their race proved to be one of the state’s most bitter battles between two Democrats, thanks in part to California’s new primary system.

Basically, Pete Stark is old, and crazy, and possibly violent; and you could conceivably argue that the entire point of California’s jungle primary system was that it was specifically intended to get Stark out of office. God knows he was Exhibit A. But… being crazy, old, and possibly violent, and yet possessed of the resources and influence that kept him in office for four decades, Stark has decided to pick a likely candidate (State Senate Majority Leader Ellen Corbett) and use her to beat Swalwell. And by beat I may very well mean ‘use her as a physical club.’ Continue reading Pete Stark returns to FEAST ON REP. ERIC SWALWELL’S SOUL.

#rsrh I… I think that it is time that Pete Stark (D, CA) goes home.

It is starting to get, well, kind of bad. The San Francisco Chronicle – not precisely a hotbed of conservative activism – has collated some of the things that Stark has been saying lately:

Accused a primary opponent of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes;
Accused one of the Chronicle’s own (conservative) reporters of contributing to his primary opponents campaign;
And… well.

The 80-year-old Democrat, in a meeting with Chronicle editors and reporters this week, appeared to be confused about Solyndra, the Fremont solar power company whose collapse has fueled Republican criticism of the Obama administration’s energy policies this election year.

“I wish I had enough expense allowance to get one of those new S’s that Solyndra’s going to make down there – the electric car,” Stark said, after being asked about the company. “They run $60,000 to $90,000.”

Continue reading #rsrh I… I think that it is time that Pete Stark (D, CA) goes home.

Charlie Wrangled: to step down as Ways & Means Chair.

UPDATE: OH MY GOD HE’S GOING TO GO DOWN SWINGING THIS IS THE GREATEST THING EVER.

Ahem.

Charlie Rangel emerged from a closed-door meeting in Nancy Pelosi’s office Tuesday night to declare that he’s still the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and hasn’t agreed to give up his gavel – even as some media outlets were reporting that he’d done just that.

Karma. It’s what’s for dinner.

___________

At last.

Harlem Democrat Charles Rangel now says he will step down as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, NBC News has learned.

He may make the move as early as tonight and Michigan Democratic Rep Sander Levin will temporarily take over the committee.

Is Pete Stark (D, CA)… I don’t really like to say, actually. #rsrh

Come, I will conceal nothing from you: I despise the man. I’ve also called him ‘crazy.’ So you can discount my surprised reaction to the following:

Stark was recently cleared for allegedly taking advantage of a tax credit for Maryland residents. He was accused of abusing the homestead tax credit on his Maryland home — a credit that limits tax assessment increases on a primary residence. Stark’s primary residence is in California, but he filled out the application for his home in Maryland.

The interview with the Office of Congressional Ethics, which refers cases to the House ethics committee, didn’t go terribly well, according to the report. Stark initially said he didn’t know what the tax credit was, but later said he did not want to discuss what he knew. Then he later said he knew the application specified one must be registered to vote in Maryland to apply. He acknowledged that neither he nor his wife are Maryland voters.

Stark originally said he did not recall completing the application online. Later in the interview, the memorandum says, he said he knew he completed the application.

…any way that you like. It still sounds a little, well, it sounds like there’s a possibility that Rep. Stark may be having legitimate memory and cognitive issues. Hard to say if he’s gotten any more irritable and erratic in the last few years, of course; Stark was never exactly what one would call tightly wrapped to begin with, and I imagine that old age (he was born in 1931) hasn’t helped that.

No, seriously, I’m wondering if there’s something… wrong, there. Something that I wouldn’t wish on an enemy.

Moe Lane

Hey, Pete Stark’s (D) under an ethics investigation!

You know Pete: he’s that crazy Democrat who goes around threatening to throw journalists out the window when he doesn’t like the questions. He’s also that crazy Democrat who’ll take over for Charlie Rangel at Ways & Means if Rangel ever has to answer for his ethics violations, which is probably not the least reason why the Democrats haven’t thrown Rangel out of a metaphorical window of his own. Anyway, Pete’s getting investigated: the Washington Times is guessing tax evasion, real estate where-does-he-actually-live edition.

Yes. You’re all shocked that a Democratic politician wasn’t paying his taxes.

This got reported back in March, mind you. And they’re getting around to checking it out now. But no doubt the federal government will be much quicker about having that suspicious dark spot in your next X-ray properly assessed.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.