Free Republic

White House Chief of Staff Rahm 'Dead Fish' Emanuel is at it again with an outrageous claim that for Republicans to take back Congress in November would be 'dangerous.' The Obama Administration and the Democrats in Congress must be getting very worried about the upcoming November midterm elections. Every poll shows Democrats trailing Republicans in support, and most citizens give very low marks to the Democrat-controlled Congress. The fact that Congress controls the purse-strings of the federal budget and that Democrats have had complete control over both houses since 2006 indicates a dire scenario is coming for the majority Party....

Exactly how does an 'offer' of an unpaid position in the Obama Administration entice a politician to drop a bid for the U.S. Senate in a year in which the incumbent, Arlen Specter, had all of the appeal of a mangy, flea-infested dog? Yet the White House, Bill Clinton, and Joe Sestak would have the public believe that this is all that was offered to entice the Congressman away from challenging Specter. Even the hardened Chicago mobster himself, Rahm 'Dead Fish' Emanuel, knows that in this game 'you gotta come up with somethin' bettah than dat.' Politics is a game...

Puerto Rico has decided on three separate occasions, by a majority vote of its citizens, that it does not desire to become the 51st state of the United States of America. The last such vote was taken in 1998. So why is Congress voting on a bill today that would supposedly 'grant Puerto Rico the ability to decide if they want statehood'? They already have that right, and they have exercised it three times. And they have overwhelmingly said no. It is safe to say that if this Congress in particular introduces legislation that purports to give a U.S. territory...

Scott Brown’s triumph changes everything, especially for the corrupt politicians who thought they could party on forever. All crooks on the public payroll, be warned: the day of reckoning is coming when you’ll be stomped at the ballot box and carted off to jail. The public is no longer warily amused by your bribes, kickbacks, frauds, conspiracies and intimidation. We will no longer resignedly tolerate your looting of our hard-earned money and your sanctimonious assertions that it’s for our own good. A Massachusetts electorate that kicked the Kennedy machine to the curb may be itching to see Barney Frank in...

Washington, DCJudicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2009 list of Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians.”  The list, in alphabetical order, includes: 1. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT):  This marks two years in a row for Senator Dodd, who made the 2008 “Ten Most Corrupt” list for his corrupt relationship with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and for accepting preferential treatment and loan terms from Countrywide Financial, a scandal which still dogs him.  In 2009, the scandals kept coming for the Connecticut Democrat.  In 2009, Judicial Watch filed a Senate ethics complaint against...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge ruled Friday that a former escort service owner cannot sell phone records and other company records, saving about 15,000 clients from possible public embarrassment. Deborah Jeane Palfrey, 50, has said she planned to sell the list to a news organization to help raise money for her defense. The alleged "D.C. Madam" ran Pamela Martin and Associates, an upscale escort service in the Washington area, for 13 years before it closed in August. Federal prosecutors say it was a prostitution ring that yielded $2 million in assets, including cash and homes. In October, the federal...

Ophelia Ford and State Sen. Kathryn Bowers were leading in early returns in state senate races where controversy and scandal were key players. Ford is leading fellow Democrat Stephen Haley in her repeat bid for the Dist. 29 seat, from which she was ousted after voter fraud allegations arose. In early voting, Ford has 9,323 and Haley 2,172 votes. The winner will face Republican Terry Roland Nov. 7. Ford, not accused of wrongdoing, had said the controversy would help her regain the seat vacated by her brother, John Ford, who stepped down last year after his indictment in the Tennessee...

SACRAMENTO -- California legislators began a five-week summer recess Thursday without voting on a constitutional amendment that would take away their powers to draw their districts, reducing the measure's chances of making the November ballot. "I think it's a long shot...," said Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, the amendment's author. "It's very late in the process." Lowenthal said he couldn't line up enough votes to get the amendment out of the Senate on Thursday, but would bring it up when lawmakers return in August after trying to remove some of the opposition. "The overarching issue that fundamentally trumps all issues...

MEMPHIS — The state prosecutor at Memphis is deciding if indictments will be sought in the voting scandal surrounding Ophelia Ford's election to the Tennessee Senate. Prosecutor Bill Gibbons is reviewing a report from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on the District 29 election in which two ballots were cast in the names of dead people. "There's a lot of material to review," Gibbons said Thursday. "If we feel indictments are appropriate we would submit that for consideration to the grand jury." Gibbons declined to say when he expects to make a decision. Ford is not accused of wrongdoing but...

Sacramento -- Bleary-eyed lawmakers voted early today to put a $37 billion package of bonds intended to fix levees and build new highways and schools on the November ballot. "Today we made a giant step forward in terms of our commitment to the state's economy and in terms of strengthening our crumbling infrastructure," said Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland. "We also showed what bipartisanship can look like." An attempt by the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to put a larger bond on the June ballot failed two months ago. Of the four bonds, transportation is the largest, at...

Capitol employees received some helpful advice last week from the Joint Rules Committee: Bring your lunch today. One Capitol cafeteria will be closed and another will have limited service in anticipation of today's nationwide one-day boycott of work and school as a protest against federal legislation to increase penalties on illegal immigrants. The state Senate last week passed a resolution backing the protests, though the Assembly did not vote on it. Some members won't have to pack lunches for the Capitol. Both houses usually have a floor session on Mondays, but leaders instead scheduled a "check-in session" today. That allows...

SACRAMENTO, CA – A recent Los Angeles Times article revealed that California State Controller and gubernatorial candidate Steve Westly helped guide $5 million in pension funds to a venture capital firm run by two well-connected campaign contributors. Taxpayers and public employees should be concerned because this quid pro quo is the latest example of how politicians use California’s public employee retirement systems to benefit their campaign cronies. In 2003, Healthpoint Partners LP, a venture capital fund that invests in medical equipment companies, met with the investment team at CalPERS, the $207 billion pension fund that provides retirement security for 1.4...

House Democrat Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was aware of the story being developed against one of her members, Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV), and his questionable finances and the ensuing political troubles, yet did nothing to act on that knowledge. The Wall Street Journal last week reported that Mollohan's income and assets grew from the mundane (no more than $565,000 in 2000) to the magnificent (about $6 million, give or take a couple hundred thou in 2004). As the weekend wore down, while House Speaker Dennis Hastert was calling for Mollohan to step aside as ranking member on the House Ethics...

Oakland City Council president and mayoral candidate Ignacio De La Fuente admitted Friday to a violation of state ethics laws when he acknowledged receiving more than $2,000 in free valet parking at San Francisco International Airport in 2004. De La Fuente failed to list the pass as a gift as required by law on his Statement of Economic Interest for 2004, an omission that he called "a mistake." The amount was nearly $1,700 in excess of the limit a politician can receive in personal gifts from a single source per year. After initially claiming he didn't use the pass and...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A pile of crisp $100 bills totaling $2,500 was intended to be given to Memphis state Rep. Larry Miller, according to video recorded by an undercover FBI agent involved in the Tennessee Waltz bribery sting. Using a miniature camera hidden in his shirt, Joseph Carroll, posing as corrupt businessman Joe Carson, recorded conversations over a two-day period in a 3.5 hour of video obtained by The Commercial Appeal. In the video, Carroll instructs Charles Love, a lobbyist and former member of Hamilton County Board of Education, to deliver the $2,500 to Miller. Miller has long acknowledged...

Olympia, Wash. -- Washington lawmakers passed a gay rights bill Friday in a major victory for activists who had watched the measure fail in the Legislature for nearly 30 years. The bill passed the Senate 25-23, with a lone Republican joining Democrats in voting in favor. The House approved it 61-37, and Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire said she would sign it on Tuesday. "We don't choose who we love. The heart chooses who we will love," said Republican Sen. Bill Finkbeiner. "And I don't believe that it is right for us to say ... that it's acceptable to discriminate against...

Washington -- Republican leader Newt Gingrich helped the GOP recapture the House in 1994 by portraying Democrats as too corrupt to lead after a series of scandals that led to the resignation of some of the party's top leaders. More than a decade later, the roles are reversed. As the party in power, Republicans now are under fire for ethical problems ranging from Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham pleading guilty last week to taking $2.4 million in bribes, to the mushrooming scandal involving GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's indictment on charges of violating campaign finance...

When California voters rejected, by a strong 3-2 majority, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget reform measure last week, it left the fiscal status quo intact - and that means that the state's deficit-ridden budget continues to gush red ink. California is still obligated by either law or political mandate to spend roughly 5 percent to 7 percent more than its revenue system can produce, even during a prosperous economy. The deficits have mounted for five years despite steadily improving revenue, covered by borrowing tens of billions of dollars, because Democrats refuse to entertain major spending cuts and Republicans refuse to consider...

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this summer that governments could seize homes and other property to facilitate private development projects, it touched off a political firestorm throughout the nation - including California - and fueled demands for new barriers to misuse of governmental "eminent domain" powers. California's version of the debate centered on the aggressive use of eminent domain - or the threat to use it - by city redevelopment agencies to assemble land for hotels, auto malls, big box retailers and other projects. Although California law says that redevelopment powers can be invoked only to combat "blight," local...

Democrat Ophelia Ford squeaked past her Republican opposition Thursday to win election to the state Senate post formerly held by her bother. Unofficial returns from the Shelby County Election Commission had Ford with 4,332 votes to 4,320 votes for Milling ton businessman Terry Roland, a difference of 12 votes. In early voting, Roland had 1,195 votes to Ford’s 771 votes. John Ford, Ophelia’s brother, had held the seat for 31 years before resigning in May to face federal bribery charges.

The looming special election battle that pits Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and business leaders against Democrats and unions doubtlessly affected - and obviously distorted - the Legislature's just-concluded session. The Legislature's handling of any issue of more than ephemeral weight was programmed with its potential effect on the governor and the special election campaign in mind. Democrats sidetracked anything they calculated would improve Schwarzenegger's battered image - his solar power initiative being a prime example - while lavishing votes on measures that their allies supported, many of which will be vetoed. The session's dynamics provided new evidence that the Capitol is...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may not like the policy implications of some of the high-profile bills Democrats sent him as the legislative session wound down, but his chief political strategist is thrilled. "It's great ammo for him," Mike Murphy said in an interview. "What the Dems have done in the last 48 hours is worth a couple of points for us." Murphy's spin on the legislative session is arguable. Many Democrats obviously disagree. But there's no question Schwarzenegger plans to trumpet his message while campaigning for his Nov. 8 ballot measures that some of the bills underscore the need for reform....

SACRAMENTO -- California lawmakers approved hundreds of bills in the last days of a contentious 2005 session that the Senate's leader nevertheless called "a year of wasted opportunities." Many of the biggest measures are headed for vetoes, including bills that would allow gay marriages and let illegal immigrants have driver's licenses. And a massive effort to promote solar energy use was left on the negotiating table when the Assembly and Senate adjourned late Thursday night, a day earlier than they were scheduled to depart. Lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger managed to avoid another lengthy deadlock over a state budget this...

NASHVILLE - All lawmakers can do is watch and wait as a federal probe into bribery and corruption at the state Capitol continues to sink colleagues. Legislators said they have heard the rumors that more arrests are on the way, but don't know if it will include local officials like the one nabbed last week or more state lawmakers. Like in May, when four sitting lawmakers were arrested on their way to work, they expect to be the last to know. "I believe the Department of Justice and the FBI know a lot more about these investigations than I do,"...

SACRAMENTO - After more than seven months of wrangling, negotiating and pleading for votes, California legislators will try to put the finishing touches on about 400 bills as their 2005 session ends this week. Measures that would recognize gay marriages, raise the minimum wage, allow illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses and promote a massive expansion of solar power need to clear final hurdles in the next few days to reach the governor's desk. Also on lawmakers' agendas are bills that would boost nutrition requirements for school food, require identifying marks on handgun bullets to help solve crimes, allow alternatives...

Employment market fails to match economic surges, researchers sayBERKELEY - Despite a sizzling economic recovery, the job market in California remains a chilly environment for some workers, UC Berkeley researchers said in a report released Sunday.California's economy also has become more vulnerable to a correction in the super-heated housing market because a growing share of the statewide employment base consists of construction and real estate jobs, economists at the school warned in a briefing timed for Labor Day weekend.The bottom line: Californians have seen no more than a modest improvement in employment and wages in the recent recovery, according to...

When Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata laments that "we've wasted most of this year," he might have been referring to Senate Bill 794, a Democratic bill that would have implemented Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's much-needed proposal to shore up the state's deteriorating vocational education system. A third of California's high school students are dropping out without diplomas, but school administrators are slashing programs that might keep some of them in school by providing training for high-paying blue-collar jobs that are going begging for lack of workers. Schwarzenegger proposed a $20 million appropriation to begin restoring what is now called...

NASHVILLE - The tradition of state legislators asking lobbyists and others for political money on the night before they begin making policy decisions may be abandoned on a voluntary basis amid a growing controversy over lawmaker ethics. The House and Senate Republican Caucus chairmen say they will change the date of their annual fund-raising receptions to at least a month before the Jan. 10 starting date of the 2006 legislative session. The House and Senate Democratic chairmen say they are considering a similar change, though they have some misgivings. Disclosures filed with the Registry of Election Finance show the Republican...

SACRAMENTO - California lawmakers shift into high gear this week as they try to finish work on hundreds of bills, including measures to legalize gay marriages, raise the minimum wage and allow illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses. Legislators are scheduled to wrap up their 2005 session next week, and most of the biggest bills of the year and dozens of less significant ones still need final votes. Both the Assembly and Senate plan long sessions between now and Sept. 9, the last day they're scheduled to meet this year. Here are some of the issues still on lawmakers' agendas:...

NASHVILLE - Sen. John Ford joined all his Senate colleagues in giving final legislative approval Monday night to ethics legislation touted in some respects as the strongest in the nation. The Memphis Democrat voted after declaring the law would not apply to his much-questioned consulting fees. The 33-0 Senate vote sends the bill to Gov. Phil Bredesen, who has indicated he will sign it into law. The House passed the bill 92-3 last week. Under the bill, it becomes a crime from July 1 hence for elected officials, including those in state and local governments, to accept consulting fees from...

After three years in litigation, the Isla Vista Recreation and Park District has found itself on the losing end of a lawsuit filed by the Santa Barbara Libertarian Party — a lawsuit that has already taken a $250,000 bite out of the IVRPD’s modest budget. The lawsuit began in November 2001 when Robert Bakhaus, secretary for the local office of the Libertarian Party, sued the IVRPD Board of Directors for committing several violations of the Brown Act, California’s law requiring all meetings of local legislative bodies be open to the public. In a Dec. 23, 2004 decision, Santa Barbara County...

Battered by an embezzlement scandal, the Roslyn School Board last night accepted the resignation of its second member in less than a month and resisted calls from angry residents for more board members to step down. The packed house of about 600 in the high school auditorium applauded loudly as board president William Costigan read member Ellen Seigel's resignation letter. "In light of the community's loss of confidence, after 11 years of dedicated service to the children of the Roslyn public schools, I submit my resignation as a Board of Education trustee," Seigel wrote. She did not attend last night's...

The news that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is being sued for not stopping his chief counsel from committing rape sounds preposterous on its face — but it's hard not to love the irony. After all, Silver himself is largely to blame for batty suits like this. As counsel to one of the state's top tort law firms, Weitz & Luxenberg, Silver reportedly is paid handsomely — no doubt, to make sure state law is designed with tort lawyers in mind. And in that sense, Silver does not disappoint: New York law lets lawyers make a mint by filing lucrative lawsuits....

Albany, NY, May. 11 (UPI) -- A 19-year-old intern has accused N.Y. Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV of abuse and sexual assault, ... says Powell gave her liquor in a motel room, claims "she was forced to have sexual intercourse by above named suspect after consuming some alcohol" at the motel. (snip) The son of former U.S. Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., D-N.Y., Powell was rumored to be considering a primary run against U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., the senior U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Democrat.

<p>State Sen. Don Perata, who is the subject of a legislative ethics review, received more personal income from a business associate in each of the past two years than he has previously acknowledged, newly filed state documents show.</p> <p>Perata, an Oakland Democrat, recently amended his economic interest forms to show that he was paid more than $100,000 in 2002 by Staples Associates, a consulting firm run by business associate Timothy G. Staples. Previously, Perata reported on state forms receiving between $10,000 and $100,000 from Staples Associates for that year.</p>

Immigration campaign expands to Kansas Issue 168: October 8, 2003 +== TIME-OUT PROJECT ==+ Constituents of Arizona Representative Jim Kolbe, upset at his amnesty bill, dumped bags of illegal alien trash, collected at illegal border crossings, in front of his office last week. ProjectUSA has expanded its innovative new campaign to target nine Congressional districts for a major immigration-awareness effort to the third Congressional district. The Washington, D.C.-based immigration watchdog group launched its voter survey and education campaign in Congressional District Three of Kansas with a mailing of one thousand surveys to registered voters. If record-breaking fund-raising continues, ProjectUSA will...

Farmingville, L.I., New York --- "Democrat William Cunningham, the top aide to Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, said a hiring site would help cool tensions in the "tinderbox" shaken again two weeks ago when a Mexican family of five barely escaped alive after someone set their house on fire with an incendiary device.Should Suffolk open a hiring site in Farmingville?" Look for poll on the right side of the page a little ways down from the top. Suffolk County is infested with illegal aliens, and many local nut-case politicians are in favor of aiding and abetting them (a felony,...

International efforts to stamp out graft among public officials have made little progress, laments a new study. Corrupt politicians and greedy businessmen are not just enriching themselves, but hampering economic development THE United Nation's summit on sustainable development, now under way in Johannesburg, is a rallying point for a plethora of causes, some more deserving than others. The latest to join the throng—with some justification—is Transparency International (TI), a non-governmental organisation that fights corruption worldwide. But those striving to break the cycle of poverty and graft in the developing world will find little to encourage them. TI’s latest Corruption Perceptions...