Posted on 01/08/2008 7:04:14 PM PST by Islander7
WASHINGTON — A Washington watchdog has filed a complaint against Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, suggesting she may have traded her influence on a specific earmark for $30,000 in campaign contributions.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington on Tuesday demanded the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. district courts in Louisiana and Texas investigate whether Landrieu, who is in her second term, broke federal law back in 2001 by including a $2 million earmark in the District of Columbia appropriations bill for a company whose lobbyists had thrown her a fundraiser just days earlier.
That event, held four days before the earmarks was added, raised $30,000 in contributions for Landrieu from individuals associated with the company, according to the CREW complaint.
Landrieu has flatly denied the charges, saying in a statement Tuesday they are “frivolous” and “wholly without merit.”
The Washington Post reported in December that as ranking Democrat and chairwoman of the subcommittee in charge of Washington, D.C.'s appropriations, Landrieu ensured that Voyager Expanded Learning would receive $2 million in funding to promote its reading program in D.C. schools.
Over five years, according to the Post report, Voyager Expanded Learning -- which has ties to the Bush administration in Texas -- received more than $5 million in federal tax dollars and most of that was spent in D.C., where city officials were told they could use only the Voyager product.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I’m sure of that too, NOT.
(chuckle)
Indeed, some guys like chubby chicks.
Tell me you didn’t get that from ‘Blacks on Blondes’ website....(chuckle)
I don’t think that Chris John can blame his 2004 defeat on John N. Kennedy entering the race-—if anything, Kennedy helped reduce Vitter’s vote percentage by taking some votes away from him and (even more importantly) increasing the denominator and thus the number of votes Vitter needed to get a majority in November. Had Kennedy not entered the race, Vitter would have gotten a lot more than 51.03%.
Of course, now that Lousiana no longer has a jungle primary for federal races, the Democrats have to try to defeat our nominee, John N. Kennedy, with a single candidate in November, when conservative turnout will be high thanks to the presidential election. I don’t know whether Mary Landrieu or Chris John would make a stronger candidate, but I don’t think either one can beat Kennedy.
A rose by any other name would smell like...Bill & Hill.
Same game,different players. It’s a RAT genetic trait.
Presuming we pick that seat up. If we end up with a RINO Presidential nominee, it will depress turnout greatly. Huckster might carry LA, but probably by an underwhelming margin, and he’ll surely lose the national election regardless. With one of those on the ticket, even if we pick up Landrieu’s seat, we may drop 7 others for a fiasco worse than ‘06 (including AK, CO, MN, NH, NM, OR & VA) and as many as 30 House seats, too (even with the near single-digit approval ratings for PelosiReid Congress).
Of roughly 489,000 total claims, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it has received 247 for at least $1 billion apiece, including the one for $3 quadrillion.
"That's the mother of all high numbers," said Loren Scott, a Baton Rouge-based economist.
For the sake of perspective: A mere $1 quadrillion would dwarf the U.S. gross domestic product, which Scott said was $13.2 trillion in 2007. A stack of one quadrillion pennies would reach Saturn.
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