Posted on 08/16/2008 9:23:03 AM PDT by Graybeard58
Democrats pledge to make this the most honest, ethical, and open Congress in history. — House Speaker-in-waiting Nancy Pelosi, Nov. 14, 2006.
The latest member of Congress to follow of Sens. Christopher Dodd, Barack Obama, Kent Conrad and Ted Stevens, et al., into the tank is Rep. Heath Shuler, a freshman Democrat from North Carolina who sits on a subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Tennessee Valley Authority.
As a "private citizen" in 2005, he acquired a 40 percent stake in a multimillion-dollar waterfront development, The Cove at Blackberry Ridge LLC, on the TVA's Watts Bar Reservoir in Rhea County, Tenn. Whitewater — sorry, The Cove — would be worth a lot more if Mr. Shuler and his cohorts built a marina to serve their proposed 160-home gated community. The maps showed they had a developable waterfront. Alas, their cove was too shallow, and Citizen Shuler's investment, estimated at upward of $5 million, was imperiled.
In 2007, he became Rep. Shuler, and the TVA soon realized it had a deep-water cove it wasn't using, not clear across the reservoir, but right next door to The Cove. And, lo and behold, not only was it available, the TVA was willing to swap it for Rep. Shuler's worthless waterfront and $15,000 in in-kind services, not to curry favor with a congressman who sits on a committee to which it must kowtow, but because of "wildlife and other environmental considerations." Yeah, that's the ticket. On June 3, the deal was done, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported this week.
Hayden Rogers, Rep. Shuler's chief of staff, said his boss would not have used "any position he has in Congress to influence TVA or anyone else" in his pursuit of personal gain.
Where have we heard that before? "Had anyone ever suggested to me that somehow that I was going to get some preferential treatment because I was in the U.S. Senate, that would have ended the relationship immediately. ... There was no red flag for me that we were getting some special treatment in all of this," said Sen. Dodd after he got caught accepting cut-rate mortgages from Countrywide Financial, ultimately saving him $75,000, under a VIP program available only to members of the Senate Banking Committee and other bigwigs.
Not every member of Congress is on the take, and not every member is in it for personal enrichment. It only seems that way.
Ping to a Republican-American Editorial.
If you want on or off this list, let me know.
Mega ping
This will be on the way to my Swain county relatives in about 2 shakes.
So are the crook and lying genes plus many more.
I need to send this to the Sylva Herald.
Right, and that is because good behaviour no longer matters. Vividly remember as a child if I did something the folks disapproved of, was told “Shame on you for ....” We need to bring back that expression.
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