Watchdog Group Disputes FBI's Claims on E-Mails

washingtonpost.com ^ | oct 6, 2006 | Dan Eggen

[blogblogginaway]

The watchdog group that first provided the FBI with suspicious e-mails from then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) said yesterday that FBI and Justice Department officials are attempting to cover up their inaction in the case by making false claims about the group.

Law enforcement officials said the allegations by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) are without merit, and they stood by allegations that the group had refused to provide some information to the FBI.

The dispute is the latest controversy this week for CREW, a liberal-leaning group that has come under attack from House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and other Republicans because it has received money from a foundation funded by liberal financier George Soros.

CREW held a news conference Monday to announce that in July it had provided the FBI suspicious e-mails between Foley and a former House page. The group criticized the bureau for not taking more aggressive action and asked Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine to investigate the FBI's handling of the case.

Law enforcement officials said then that the e-mails did not provide enough evidence of a possible crime to warrant a full investigation. In the e-mails, Foley praises the physical attributes of one page and asks another teenager for his picture.

[PA-RIVER]

How do you go to the FBI, assert that a Pedophile is commiting crimes of pedophilia, and then refuse to cooperate with the FBI? It is similar to pulling false fire alarms to a Fire Station

I guess that can happen. The FBI must deal with nut cases on a regular basis, but this seems to be a deliberate act of manipulation and abuse of federal law enforcement assets for purely political objectives.

If political campaigns can now begin using the FBI as part of their tool kit in campaigns, we are in serious trouble.

They must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of law for abusing the assets of the peoples government.

The FBI is spending my money to chaise their own tail?
They are needed to uncover real crimes, thats what I pay them to do. It appears this group is committing crimes by abusing our federal assests.

[mass55th]

Thanks for the ping anymouse.

[veronica]

BTTT...

[poinq]

All they want is to hold the FBI off for a month.

[CFC__VRWC]

"liberal-leaning group" my a**! The compost is running on full spin cycle here. LOL!

Even that's a major concession by the Compost. Not too long ago (i.e. before FR and the conservative bloggers), CREW would have been referred to as a "nonpartisan public interest group."

[anymouse]

I wonder if Chip Englander (Edmund's buddy and campaign boss) is the son of Harvey Englander, a CA Republican (?) campaign consultant at Englander and Associates.

2002 - Los Angeles Business Journal: Political animal: consultant Harvey Englander, who has spent his career running and winning L.A. campaigns, has some advice for Valley secessionists and Bill Simon - People - Interview

HARVEY Englander has run campaigns for a host of current and former local officials including L.A. City councilmembers Joel Wachs and Hal Bernson, City Controller Laura Chick and L.A. County Supervisor Don Knabe. He's also run campaigns for several current and former state legislators, including two now active in the Valley secession fight: Richard Katz and Keith Richman.

Englander got his start in politics in 1968 volunteering for the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy. After a stint with campaign consultant Joe Cerrell, Englander ran the campaign for Proposition 13, the Howard Jarvisled property tax cut initiative. Eventually, he sold his consulting firm to the Democratic powerhouse Kamber Group, but disillusioned with his role in that firm, he bought his company back and sold it again in 1999 to MWW Group. He has gradually eased out of the campaign business and focused more on corporate clients.

Q: You have represented both Democrats and Republicans. What do you look for in a candidate before you decide to run their campaign?

A: Party labels have meant less and less to me over the years. I really work for people who have qualities I admire. I want to elect people who aren't just naysayers but actually offer solutions to problems, regardless of party affiliation. Everybody can talk about the problems, but few people can actually offer solutions.

Q: Weren't there some allegations of sexual harassment that came out against Conroy during that race?

A: Yes there were. And we helped fuel them. That's what a good campaign does.

Q: But isn't that dirty campaigning?

A: All we were doing was taking stuff that was already in the papers up in Sacramento and making sure that the voters knew about it. Mickey Conroy certainly wasn't going to tell the voters about it. This was all readily available information. But in the world of politics, you don't assume that just because it's appeared in print somewhere that everybody knows about it. You keep reminding people of the good stuff about your candidate and the negative stuff readily available about your opponent.

Q: Hasn't the tone of campaigns changed?

A: Yes it has. Before Watergate, when a candidate ran an ad, it usually focused on the qualities that he or occasionally she would bring to the office. Then it became "What I would do if elected, and, oh, by the way, my opponent is bad." Now, it's simply, "My opponent is bad."

Harvey A. Englander

Title: Senior Vice President, General Manager

Organization: MWW Group, a unit of Chicago-based Golin/Harris International

Born: New York, 1950

Most Admired People: Hubert Humphrey

Personal: Divorced, two sons in college.

2005 -LA Obsrved:

Veteran political consultant Harvey Englander is now in business as Englander and Associates, Fine also says. Englander left the MWW Group earlier this year.

-------

His cousin, Mitchell Englander is a political consultant as well as Chief of Staff for Los Angeles City Councilman, Greig Smith.

2001 - Los Angeles Business Journal: New Lobbying Shop - Issue Strategies - Brief Article

The nephew of one of the L.A. area's most noted campaign strategists has opened up his own local lobbying shop. Mitchell Englander left his uncle Harvey Englander's firm, the MWW Group, and on June 25th set up Issue Strategies in offices near the Staples Center.

Harvey Englander is well-known in political circles, having ran several campaigns for local and state officeholders through the years, including Laura Chick and Hal Bernson for L.A. City Council and L.A. County Supervisor Don Knabe.

He apparently is no stranger to political dirty tricks either.

Metropolitan News: Commission Says Valley Candidate’s Mailer Misleading

An April 1 mailer by Los Angeles City Council candidate Greig Smith included misleading attacks on his opponent, a campaign watchdog group said.

Smith’s campaign manager, Mitchell Englander, disputed the findings of the commission.

Also cousin Mitch is into gay "pranks" as well:

2004 - LA Weekly: In the Lap of Lobbyists

Out wiggles councilman and ex-cop Dennis Zine, blond wig on his head, wispy red dress over his gray suit, pink feather boa around his neck, sidling up to Padilla, wagging his butt and — wait, is he really? — yes, he is. Zine is giving Padilla a very convincing lap dance.

Lots of jokes about breaking into the Mayor’s Office, since it was for this very event that Padilla and Smith’s chief of staff and dinner co-host, Mitch Englander, pressed a security guard a few Saturdays back to unlock Jim Hahn’s office so they could shoot some video. The mayor said, when he found out, that he felt violated. The guard was suspended. But everyone at the dinner cranes to watch the video, which, alas, shows only the word censored when it gets to the part where Padilla enters Hahn’s office.

LA Observed: Let's break into Jimmy's office

Seems that Alex Padilla, the president of the City Council, and the chief of staff to councilman Greig Smith were spotted last weekend shooting video inside the closed -- and locked -- suite of Mayor Jim Hahn. They didn't have permission to be there, says Hahn's office, but had talked City Hall guards into unlocking doors for them.

Padilla and Mitch Englander explain the after-hours entry as innocent, "part of their effort to shoot a satiric video for an upcoming American Diabetes Association fund-raiser in which Padilla will be a featured guest.

The mayor's sister, councilwoman Janice Hahn, calls it a "childish prank" that showed lack of respect on Padilla's part. Englander retorts that "some people have a sense of humor, some people don't...it ruffled some feathers, but that's what spoofs usually do."

This may explain how buddie Edmund was able to afford a high priced lawyer on a campaign staffers salery. It also shows that there may be more to this than a mere teenage prank. LA's political elite might be playing both Parties against each other for fun and profit.

[Republican Red]

New Strata-Sphere Post up

The CREW Emails - Many Discrepencies!
Posted by AJStrata on October 6th, 2006

CREW has posted the emails it sent to the FBI (which are redacted like the FBI claims) and there are interesting tidbits for the timeline. These email refer to the 2005 contacts with the Page from Louisianna whose family has asked ther media to stay away.

First off, the emails between the Page and the House Staffer were sent on August 31, 2005! Yes folks, last year. Supposedly this is from the Page to an unknown Staffer (democrat?) who was the intermediary for passing the emails to the news media. So we know the Congressional staffer held these for a year and never told the FBI or House leadership.

Second, the Fax was made on May 29, 2006. This would imply the Fax to CREW was almost a year later than the tip to the staffer. But CREW also held onto these for 2 months until they provided them to the FBI on July 21. Obviously they did not rush these to the FBI like they claimed.

Third, the date on the lower right of the pages containing the August 30th and 31st email exchanges is 10/17/05 - which means this first section was printed out for some purpose (Faxing?) in October - two months after the exchange. This first email runs from pages 1-4 of the Fax sent to CREW (the cover page is missing, which would contain the contactÂ’s information). Then follows the Foley emails themselves through the remaining pages. These have a date of 9/13/05, meaning these pages were printed off a month prior to the other document. These are not one continuous email! These are two printouts from a month apart combined in a single Fax.

Finally, the email from the Page is going to a House email account, meaning the intermediary is definitely in the House.

More as time permits. But clearly the Folely emails were printed out in September and possibly shopped around. They are not attachments to the other email. The first email shows, upper right, number X of 3 pages. While the original emails show number X of some number between 10-19 (only the "1" is visible). These number 9 pages and are not part of the first email, as CREW claims. I see why the FBI was suspicious.

AJ Strata

[anymouse]

Good sleuthing. The Pajama possie is riding hard to catch these slimebags.

[IamConservative]

Were these emails complete with headers? If not, they are worthless.

Exactly. I have been suspicious of the e-mails and the IM's from the outset. Any moron with Notepad could manufacture the evidence as presented by ABC. I would like to see this evidence in a hex dump, nothing less is credible.

In the end, I wouldn't be surprised if all the evidence was faked and Foley got duped. I suspect Foley really is a pervert, e.g. he compromised himself, and should be gone, but probably didn't know he was duped. The art of blackmail at it's best...

[mass55th]

Excellent work. Thanks for sharing it anymouse. It looks like the kid is a "chip" off the old block. Pardon the pun...couldn't resist.

[Suzy Quzy]

WOW!! It seems like the Englander family is DIRTY POLITICS.Inc.

Anyone know of Chris Wilson of Wilson Strategies....he recommended Chip Englander to the Istook campaign and now it's just a MESS! Englander and Jordan Edmund are sabotaging Istook's campaign.

Chris Wilson said Chip Englnder, 25, was one of the BEST campaign managers, but couldn't name one campaign!!!!

Anyone know who OWNS the StopThePredators.com website??

[PhiKapMom]

Awesome background search -- looks like Englander is part of a nest of dirty political consultants. I don't like it from the DemocRATs but I really hate it from the GOP!

[Eva]

I don't know who that guy (in the cartoon) is, but the fact remains that although a bit creepy, asking the former page for a picture is not illegal and knowing this, the boy's parents requested that no further investigation be conducted. They were trying, the best they could to protect their son. Something that the hate-filled activists cared nothing about.

[anymouse]

California GOP has a lot of questionable types unfortunately. They are Republicans for narrow reasons not necessarily because they support the GOP platform. Hard to believe that CA GOP has fallen so far from the days of Gov. Reagan.

[anymouse]

Chris Wilson Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wilson Research Strategies

A frequent lecturer on research, strategy, and national trends, Chris is frequently quoted in such national publications as The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He is also a regular pundit on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, and C-SPAN, as well as a contributing author to various trade magazines. Chris graduated from the University of Oklahoma and Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

2005 - The Oklahoma City Journal Record: Wilson Research Strategies opens D.C. office

Wilson Research Strategies has opened a new office in Washington, D.C., just steps from the U.S. Capitol, the Republican National Committee and U.S. House office buildings.

Wilson said the office, at 324 Second St. SE, would house Washington staff and serve as a base for WRS client federal affairs operations outside of Oklahoma.

Apparently newly well connected to the RNC.

[Suzy Quzy]

Chris should be looked at again. His quote about Chip Englander itself is UNBELIEVABLY STUPID!!

[tgslTakoma]

Harvey Englander's website, Englander Associates, has a page listing political candidates' campaigns that he has managed. Many local California pols - which local CA Freepers can maybe enlighten us on - and three congressional candidates...

Al Lum, a 'RAT, from what little digging I could do, appears he ran in '92.

Dennis Kazarian, a 'RAT, not sure when he ran for Congress - But in 2006 a candidate for CA Lt. Gov. "Universal Health Care"

Grace Napolitano, a 'RAT, in Congress now, and pals with Jane Harmon and Lynne Woolsey.

Interesting that this guy has a kid (are we sure that Chip is his kid?) who is a "hard-working Republican campaign wizard."

Do I smell something?

[valkyrieanne]

BTW, that "another teenager" snippet is a subtle way of insinuating that both are teens and the gullible won't recognize it for what it is. Got to read this stuff carefully.

Yes. Nineteen year olds are "teenagers" too.

[P-40]

Any moron with Notepad could manufacture the evidence

Without headers, you can create some realistic looking emails just by changing the settings in Eudora. It won't send, but it will print.

[dighton]

Needless to say, any watchdog group is above suspicion.