Ethics Watchdog Seeks Dismissal of Indictment Against John Edwards

FoxNews.com ^ | September 21, 2011 | unattributed

[Hunton Peck]

A government watchdog group famous for aggressively advocating prosecution against unethical lawmakers is seeking dismissal of a criminal case against former presidential candidate John Edwards.

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, requested Wednesday to file a friend-of-the-court brief in support of dismissing an indictment against Edwards for alleged violations of campaign finance law.

“In the U.S., we don’t prosecute people for being loathsome, we prosecute them for violating the law,” CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said. “This case suggests some in the Department of Justice may have lost sight of this principle.”

This is the first time that CREW has supported dismissal of a case against a politician.

In June, a federal grand jury indicted Edwards on six counts: conspiracy, four counts of illegal campaign contributions and one count of false statements. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count if convicted.

[Hunton Peck]

CREW must be getting ready to disband and reorganize under some other name, as no one could take them seriously after this.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Edwards is one of THEIR corrupt boys. They only go after corrupt wascally Wepublicans.

[RetiredTexasVet]

I still wonder what Edwards did to p!ss off the Food Stamp President and Eric the Bigot enough to bring the charges in the first place. Edwards was dead a long time ago.

[Sea Parrot]

True. This is the same bunch that accused Christian O’Donnell of being a criminal without a shred of truth in said accusations. They are now being sued by O'Donnell after all their charges have been proven false.

[FlingWingFlyer]

In June, a federal grand jury indicted Edwards on six counts: conspiracy, four counts of illegal campaign contributions and one count of false statements.

Those are "violations of the law" Melanie.

[jospehm20]

That is about the long and short of it.

[ozzymandus]

Let me guess, they’re RATS.

[Hunton Peck]

They claim to be nonpartisan, but of course, that and $8 will get you tax-exempt status and a cup of coffee at a Holder Justice Dept. meeting.

Post #4 is instructive on that point.

[dangus]

A government watchdog group famous for aggressively advocating prosecution against unethical lawmakers Republicans.

There, fixed it. Every Democrat listed by CREW among their "most corrupt" list was already convicted of crimes, and therefore outrageously unelectable when CREW listed them, such as Timothy Greene, the SC Democrat who accidentally won a primary while bankrupt, unemployed, and under indictment. None of the Republicans listed have faced ethics charges.

[Waco]

Don’t worry they still enjoy kissng Clintons’ butt after 20 plus years. And Edwards has done nothing that Clinton wouldn’t do happily. Over and over again.