Schumer's consumer crusade tarnished by his own staffers

Newsday ^ | October 2, 2005 | Glenn Thrush

[gpapa]

WASHINGTON - Sen. Charles Schumer was one of the first politicians to rail against the evils of identity theft, but lately his signature issue has turned into a singular headache. Schumer, who has led campaigns against Wheaties price-gouging and exorbitant ATM fees, recently sponsored legislation to protect corporate consumer data. He's also been pressuring legal publishers to block snoopers from accessing Social Security numbers online.

[EagleUSA]

"When you speak with such zeal about the importance of respecting privacy and an organization you head has violated someone's very personal credit information, that speaks for itself," said Dan Ronayne of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which has led the anti-Schumer charge, along with conservative bloggers."
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Welcome Chuckie Socialist's real world of criminal HYPOCRISY. Just another generic Thugocrat.

[Boundless]

Schumer is going to let these two staffers twist in
the wind. Hugh Hewitt has some frighteningly humorous
advice for them at:
http://hughhewitt.com/archives/2005/09/18-week/index.php#a000277

The other illuminating aspect to this story is that
the NYT won't even cover it, just as they won't cover
the Air America scandal. Sooner or later even their
loyal readers are going to notice the Pravda Policy
(the important news is all contained in the white
space between the lines).

[Quaker]

Chuckie will slide out of this one unless the Republicans get on his case and not give up pounding him.

Florida Freeper

[ncountylee]

If the beast were elected, Schumer could be her Beria.

[Chode]

it's spelled SCHWULER!!!

(Schwuler = Fag in German)

[CPOSharky]

Has anyone noticed that there is a defense lawyer on 'Law and Order' who looks just like Chucky?

[The Electrician]

Schumer, chairman of the campaign committee, reported their actions to the U.S. attorney in Washington within hours of the alleged violation, say officials familiar with the case.

Oh yeah? Sez who? Are those "officials familiar with the case" officials of the DNC, or officials of what? Are they unbiased sources with nothing at stake in this story? Doubtful at best. And, wasn't this criminal act exposed by Steele himself discovering what had happened, and not because the DSCC higher-ups including Schumer reported it to the authorities (or have I gotten that part wrong?)

The whole tone of the story is that Schumer's face is red, but he's above it all and took swift action to fix the problem and punish the wrongdoers, but those rascally Republicans are going to try and make hay from this even though there's nothing for Schumer to be concerned about. Sounds like spin, and not journalism. (but what else would you expect from Newsday? - although I suppose that they deserve a small amount of credit - at least they "reported" the story)

Also, has it been reported anywhere how those two low-level, twenty-something staffers got their hands on Michael Steele's social security number? They just happened to run across it in a Google search perhaps? (right) You don't suppose that it came from some Democrat operative in Maryland or in Washington DC who had access to government personnel records or tax or social security records, because that would involve a conspiracy and multiple felonies, right? Naw, couldn't possibly be the case, because Democrats are all such upstanding, law-abiding folks. The incestual link to the Soros-associated Media Matters is just incidental. And nobody knows who hired Craig Livingstone, either.

The story that is being flacked has some internal contradictions. For example, it is stated that, "In July, DSCC research director Katie Barge, 26, and researcher Lauren Weiner, 25, allegedly accessed Steele's report using his Social Security number in preparation for a possible Senate bid by Steele." But then it states, "Weiner tapped into the report without consulting higher-ups and Barge informed DSCC executive director J.B. Poersch when she realized what her subordinate had done, Singer said." If that is true, then it contradicts the prior statement which indicated that both Barge and Weiner accessed Steele's report. According to the second telling, Barge is a whistleblower - if so, why did she have to resign or be punished for her actions? Neither Poersch nor Schumer have had to resign because of their whistleblowing, so why is Barge in trouble? (BTW, this happened in July, Schumer allegedly reported it to the authorities within hours of the "alleged violation", which would have had to be in July, so why is it coming to light now, in late September?). So many loose ends here, and remarkably little curiosity on the part of "journalists" to dig in and find out exactly what happened...

[Christopher Lincoln]

Singer [spokesman for the DSCC] says the GOP criticism is an attempt to divert attention from bigger scandals involving Tom DeLay and Bill Frist.

Notice the Democrats are not content to say "It isn't our fault" (which might even be true). They have to make a political point.

DeLay's case is quite different: his supposed crime is an invention, but somebody really did hack into Mr. Steele's credit report.

[syriacus]

Schumer is going to let these two staffers twist in the wind.

A Scowler, NOT A Scholar

A dillar, a dollar, an all-day-long scowler.
Tell me, what is that Senator's name?
Chuck Schumer, that fumer, with no sense of humor,
He won't accept personal blame.

[Loyal Buckeye]

I'm calling Schmucker's office tomorrow to order my credit report.