Posted on 08/01/2002 6:37:13 PM PDT by kattracks
The Bergen Record, hometown newspaper of disgraced Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., called today for his resignation.
If you were baffled by the spin that desperate Senate plurality leader Tom Daschle tried to apply to the scandal, read these excepts from the Record's lengthy editorial:
'Sleazy'
"... Mr. Torricelli's misdeeds are so serious that they bring disrepute not only upon the Senate but upon the state of New Jersey and its citizens, who have suffered enough from sleazy politicians. ...
"... Mr. Torricelli violated Senate rules and his responsibility to represent the best interests of all New Jerseyans, rather than the private financial interests of one wealthy constituent.
"The Ethics Committee, whose members have long been known for their deep reluctance to criticize the actions of their Senate colleagues, 'severely admonished' Mr. Torricelli. ...
"At best, it would take a wild stretch of the imagination to understand how Mr. Torricelli could agree with the committee's conclusions that he violated the Senate's gift rules while contending that he didn't accept any gifts or violate Senate rules. ...
"Mr. Torricelli's actions disgrace a state in which far too many elected officials have committed serious improprieties. His behavior is a disservice to all New Jerseyans, but especially to Democrats and others who share his moderate political views and who believed his past assertions that his integrity was above reproach. By his own actions, Mr. Torricelli may have paved the way for the election of a more conservative candidate.
"But at this moment Mr. Torricelli has an opportunity to do both his state and his nation a distinct service that transcends politics. He can resign - and show dramatically the price one can pay for unethical behavior," concluded the Record.
Forrester Sharpens His Blade
Meanwhile, the senator's GOP opponent, Douglas Forrester, noted today that "Torricelli, whose only claim to fame is being a prolific special interest fund-raiser and a slash-and-burn, sleaze-and-destroy negative campaigner – will be spending close to a million dollars on television advertising bought and paid for by the special interests who fund his campaign."
"Stung by the fact that his colleagues on the Democrat-controlled Senate Ethics Committee said he gave false testimony, and found him to have broken the Rules of the Senate AND the law (specifically, Title One of the Ethics in Government Act) – watching his vaunted fund-raising come to a screeching halt, and now trailing in the polls, Mr. Torricelli will now unleash his propaganda machine to try to convince New Jersey voters that he really DIDN’T mean it when he said ‘I have NEVER … EVER … done ANYTHING … at ANY time … to betray the trust of the people of New Jersey. NEVER!’
"If Mr. Torricelli is truly serious about making amends, he should resign his office – as his hometown newspaper, the Bergen Record, urged in its lead editorial this morning. Failing that, we humbly offer the following as a script for his TV ad:
Helpful Hints
"’My fellow New Jerseyans, I’ve let you down. I never should have accepted illegal gifts from a campaign contributor, nor acted as his Ambassador to foreign governments, nor denied ever doing anything at any time to betray the trust you placed in me. And I’m sorry.
"’While we’re at it, I never should have demanded that the CIA handcuff its field agents and make it tougher for them to penetrate foreign terrorist cells. And when virtually every intelligence professional said the CIA should rescind that policy, I should have agreed with them, rather than continuing to defend it. And I’m sorry.
"’I never should have introduced legislation to raise the cost of prescription drugs by $11 BILLION in exchange for a measly $50,000 soft-money contribution to a campaign committee I controlled. I never should have voted for a $191 BILLION farm subsidies bill that will cost New Jersey households $4400 every year in higher taxes, just because I coveted $100,000 from out-of-state agribusinesses. And I never should have voted to keep toxic nuclear waste right here in our backyards, just because I lusted for $200,000 from Nevada special interests desperate to keep it out of THEIR state. And I’m sorry.
"’My fellow New Jerseyans, there’s a lot more I need to apologize for … but I’ve only got sixty seconds in this ad, and there’s only so much special interest money I can grab. So for now, I’ll leave you with this thought: next week, to erase any lingering doubts, I’m going to take the lie detector test recommended by my former colleague, Senator Lautenberg. Stay tuned.’”
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
I wonder how much weight the Bergen Record carries in New Jersey.
The longer this goes on, the better it is for Forrester. Hang in there Bobby T.! Don't resign, and keep covering up!
DWG
Toricelli illegally accepted gifts and cash from a former political supporter. Among the gifts were a Rolex watch, Tiffany cuff links, a television set, earrings for a former girlfriend, an area rug and tens of thousands of dollars in cash for official trips, vacations and shopping.
If only........
Even if this paper, The Bergen Record, is inconsequential in affecting voters, it's got to be a negative for Torricelli.
His sudden concern for Central America was a result of his affair with Bianca Jagger. She evidently convinced him that releasing classified information was a good idea.
Hey tiger-man does this newspaper carry any weight?
How much do you want to bet that you are still voting for Democrats there? They don't take pages out of their voting books. My step-mother had to tear her dead first husband's page out of the voting book in Bayonne to stop him from voting after he died. I'm not joking. She dared them to call the police when they complained.
All too many of them drank from a big pitcher of liberal Kool Aid. We could have had Bret Schunder as a governor but the people of New Jersey chose Forest McGreevey.
201 area code people always thought the 609's were a little different......
For some reason most women out there are very stupid, and consider their right to kill their own babies a top-tier issue in their lives. They fall for this fear every time and thus Debbie Stabenow, Maria Cantwell, May Landrieu, Patti Murray and Jean Carnahan are in the Senate.
Women...clean up your act! If it werent for stupid American women, Clinton would never be president and this nation would be a far saner place.
Gore 190,662, Bush 143,842 Buchanan 716 Nader 9,122
that is how strong the democratic propaganda machine has been throughout the years.
He lived there ---- when he wasn't gallavanting all over the world on junkets! Didn't he rack up more travelling (at our expense) than any other Congressman at the time?
It's a little thing called "The man on the street."
A true test of what New Jersey voters are made of. Are they blindly loyal to a party even though it means their Senator is a common thief? Will they overlook a crook representing them in order to increase their chance of getting goodies from D.C.?
Or, NJ can show the Ethics committee and the world THEY set a higher standard that the other 99 criminals accept. It does not bode well the Record torched the Torch so early without seeing how the wind first blows.
War Minister John Profumo resigned immediately after admitting he lied in Britain to Parliament. There was never any question that he should remain in office.
... On the other hand, he could stop denying it, change his campaign slogan to "at least you know I'm a crook" and cruise to victory.
Dr. Scarpetta: Shame on the government for not indicting Toricelli. I am frustrated that he did not go on trial.Exactly. The DOJ doesn't have enough to guarantee a prosecution of Torricelli, so they drop the case and then leak the FBI files. If they had convicted him, he would have been expelled, but this way they can leak from now until the election. Remember when that was called a "Klintoon" thing? They leaked like a sieve about Traficant and Torricelli. And even leaked a tape about pathetic Sharpton. Who's next? Nice to see these guys repeating all the bad Klintoon habits.
From the USA Today - 05/15/2001 -
Seven donors to Torricelli's campaign in 1996 have pleaded guilty to finance-law violations, and three former staffers have been named as targets of a grand jury investigation.
Thanks for the response.
Under the circumstances, I wonder if they considered their alternatives before writing this column. It might mean electing...gasp!...a Republican.
Or a Naderite...
Then why is it that every time the story was "reported" in the media the charges were further and further minimized. </rhetorical question>.
By the time the Senate commented, he was charged with accepting a couple of earrings for his wife/girlfriend. Given another week, this charge would have been reduced to yelling at his dog. "The deliberative body" -- What BS. The Senate has been completely corrupted and has lost its moral authority to lead, IMO. Jefferson was right. Time for a revolution.
She must have delivered a pretty good BJ.
Sheeple.
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