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goddam republicans
Calif. Congressman Admits Taking Bribes
By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 45 minutes ago
SAN DIEGO - Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, an eight-term congressman and hotshot Vietnam War fighter jock, pleaded guilty to graft and tearfully resigned Monday, admitting he took $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors to steer business their way.
"The truth is I broke the law, concealed my conduct, and disgraced my office," the 63-year-old Republican said at a news conference. "I know that I will forfeit my freedom, my reputation, my worldly possessions, most importantly, the trust of my friends and family."
He could get up to 10 years in prison at sentencing Feb. 27 on federal charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and fraud, and tax evasion.
Investigators said Cunningham, a member of a House Appropriations subcommittee that controls defense dollars, secured contracts worth tens of millions of dollars for those who paid him off. Prosecutors did not identify the defense contractors.
Cunningham was charged in a case that grew out of an investigation into the sale of his home to a defense contractor at an inflated price.
The congressman had already announced in July — after the investigation became public — that he would not seek re-election next year. But until he entered his plea, he had insisted he had done nothing wrong.
Cunningham's plea came amid a series of GOP scandals: Rep.
Tom DeLay of Texas had to step down as majority leader after he was indicted in a campaign finance case; a stock sale by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is being looked at by regulators; and Vice President
Cheney's chief of staff was indicted in the
CIA leak case.
Cunningham, a swaggering former flying ace with the Navy during the Vietnam War, was known on Capitol Hill for his interest in defense issues and his occasional outbursts.
In court do ents, prosecutors said Cunningham admitted receiving at least $2.4 million in bribes paid in a variety of forms, including checks totaling over $1 million, cash, antiques, rugs, furniture, yacht club fees and vacations.
Among other things, prosecutors said, Cunningham was given $1.025 million to pay down the mortgage on his Rancho Santa Fe mansion, $13,500 to buy a Rolls-Royce and $2,081 for his daughter's graduation party at a Washington hotel.
"He did the worst thing an elected official can do — he enriched himself through his position and violated the trust of those who put him there," U.S. Attorney Carol Lam said.
Cunningham was allowed to remain free while he awaits sentencing. He also agreed to forfeit his mansion, more than $1.8 million in cash, and antiques and rugs.
The case began when authorities started investigating Cunningham's sale of his Del Mar house to defense contractor Mitc Wade for $1,675,000. Wade sold the house nearly a year later for $975,000 — a loss of $700,000 in a hot real estate market.
Prosecutors did not specify if the house purchase was part of Cunningham's guilty pleas.
In addition to buying Cunningham's home at an inflated price, Wade let him live rent-free on the congressman's yacht, the Duke Stir, at a yacht club. Wade's company, MZM Inc., also donated generously to Cunningham's campaigns.
Around the same time, MZM was winning defense contracts.
___
Associated Press reporter Erica Werner in Washington contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051128/...NlYwMlJVRPUCUl
goddam republicans
Yeah, USAToday had an "other scandals" blurb that listed 4 Republicans and only 1 Democrat -- so the vast left-wing conspiracy rides on!
He is chair (rather was chair) of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism/HUMINT Analysis and Counterintelligence. Nice to know these guys can be bribed.
This is just ridiculous. And this was the party that was to restore integrity.
Is greed a family value?
washingtonpost.com
A Growing Wariness About Money in Politics
By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 29, 2005; A01
For several years now, corporations and other wealthy interests have made ever-larger campaign contributions, gifts and sponsored trips part of the culture of Capitol Hill. But now, with fresh guilty pleas by a lawmaker and a public relations executive, federal prosecutors -- and perhaps average voters -- may be concluding that the commingling of money and politics has gone too far.
After years in which big-dollar dealings have come to dominate the interaction between lobbyists and lawmakers, both sides are now facing what could be a wave of prosecutions in the courts and an uprising at the ballot box. Extreme examples of the new business-as-usual are no longer tolerated.
Republicans, who control the White House and Congress, are most vulnerable to this wave. But pollsters say that voters think less of both political parties the more prominent the issue of corruption in Washington becomes, and that in bents generally could feel the heat of citizen outrage if the two latest guilty pleas multiply in coming months.
No fewer than seven lawmakers, including a Democrat, have been indicted, have pleaded guilty or are under investigation for improper conduct such as conspiracy, securities fraud and improper campaign donations. Congress's approval ratings have fallen off the table, in some measure because of headlines about these scandals.
"The indictments and the investigations have strengthened the feeling that people have that in fact there's too much money in Washington and that the money is being used to influence official decisions," said William McInturff, a Republican pollster with Public Opinion Strategies. "Polls show that neither party is held in high regard."
The latest court case came yesterday in San Diego when Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) wept openly after pleading guilty to tax evasion and conspiracy. His plea bargain came less than a week after public relations executive Michael Scanlon coolly admitted his role in a conspiracy to try to bribe a congressman.
Members of Congress, lawyers and pollsters recognize that both events taken together could signal the start of a cyclical ritual in the nation's capital: the moment when lawmakers and outsiders are widely seen as getting too cozy with each other and face a public backlash -- and legal repercussions -- as a result.
"I've been in town for 30 years, and it seems that every 10 years or so there is an episode of this type," said Jan W. Baran, a Republican ethics lawyer at Wiley Rein & Fielding. "We clearly are at that period now."
"It's gotten to a level that it can't be ignored anymore," agreed Stanley M. Brand, a criminal defense lawyer at Brand & Frulla who used to work for Democrats in Congress.
The worst of the blowback, both legal and electoral, could be blunted if ongoing probes turn up little or nothing. Indeed, some of the investigations are in the early stages and may take months or years to resolve. In addition, experts say that the most prominent cases are aberrational or else there would be even more investigations and indictments than there are.
Yet the activities under scrutiny can also be viewed as logical extensions of actions that once were rare but over time have become commonplace: massive political fundraising, freewheeling private travel given to lawmakers by groups interested in legislation, and the bestowing of other gifts and benefits on government officials by lobbyists.
As the Scanlon case demonstrates, the extent of this favor-buying has gone so far that the Justice Department is no longer deterred from bringing charges even if the gifts fall within Congress's gift-giving limits or are below campaign finance maximums. "It doesn't matter," Brand said. Charges could come, he said, if "anything of value is given to a public official that can be linked to an official act."
Scanlon was a partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and they are under investigation for improperly extracting $82 million from Indian tribes. Scanlon has agreed to return $19 million and is cooperating with authorities who have broadened their inquiries to include at least half a dozen lawmakers, some lawmakers' spouses and several aides-turned-lobbyists, lawyers involved in the case have said.
Prosecutors have told one lawmaker, Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), and his former chief of staff that they are preparing a possible bribery case against them, The Washington Post has reported. About 40 investigators and prosecutors are also looking into the activities of several lawmakers, including Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.) and former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R), who is facing unrelated campaign finance charges in his home state of Texas. Burns, Doolittle and DeLay have denied any wrongdoing.
The Post has also reported that investigators are gathering information about Abramoff's hiring of several congressional wives, including DeLay's wife, Christine, who worked from 1998 to 2002 with a lobbying firm run by former DeLay staffers, and Doolittle's wife, Julie, who owned a consulting firm that was hired by Abramoff and his former law firm, Greenberg Traurig, to do fundraising for a charity he founded.
Separately, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has been subpoenaed in connection with probes by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department into his sale of millions of dollars' worth of stock in HCA Inc., the Nashville-based hospital chain founded by his father and brother. And in yet another case, Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) is under investigation by the Justice Department for possible violations connected with a telecommunications deal he was trying to arrange in Nigeria. Both lawmakers say they did nothing wrong.
At least partly because of public reports of these inquiries, voters' approval and disapproval of Congress has turned upside down since the start of 2001. In January 2001, 59 percent of Americans approved of the way Congress was doing its job and 34 percent disapproved, according a Washington Post-ABC survey. Earlier this month, the same poll showed that 37 percent approved and 59 percent disapproved.
In addition, for the first time in its 15-year history, the Wall Street Journal-NBC poll this year showed that the public's negative feelings exceeded their positive feelings about both political parties at the same time. "These are cautionary notes that are affecting both parties' political standing," McInturff said.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
Cunningham recently told the Washington Post that Democrats blunting Republican legislation “ought to be lined up and shot. I’m talking about the liberal leadership.”
Cunningham was a real charmer...
Sign on San DiegoMay 11, 1995
A House debate over water pollution erupts in furor when Cunningham declares that lawmakers backing an amendment he opposes are the same people who support " s in the military." Later, he tells Rep. Pat Schroeder, D-Colo., "Sit down, you socialist!"
Nov. 17, 1995
Colleagues and Capitol police break up a scuffle that erupts after Cunningham tangles with Rep. James Moran, D-Va., a former amateur boxer, during a debate on a Republican-sponsored resolution to bar President Clinton from sending U.S. troops to Bosnia without prior congressional approval.
...
September 1998
At a forum for prostate cancer sufferers, Cunningham makes a crude reference about a fellow congressman who is gay and, in a fit of temper, directs an obscene gesture toward an audience member, telling him, "(expletive) you."
Serves him right..pompous asshole.
I am generally against the death penalty, except in cases of treason.
Accepting bribes which affect legislation is treasonous.
Just imagine all the ones doing it and haven't gotten caught, and what damage they are doing. That's scary.
gee democrats never are corrupted either by money..... lol
Sen. Bayh ranks 4th in privately paid trips
By Maureen Groppe
Star Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., has racked up one of the largest tabs in Congress for privately paid travel during the past 5˝ years.
Outside interests have paid $169,227 to send Bayh, and sometimes his wife, around the world since 2000 -- the fourth-highest amount in Congress, according to a database of travel reports compiled by politicalmoneyline.com, an independent Web site that tracks congressional travel, campaign spending and lobbying.
Sen. Richard Lugar, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, ranks 14th.
The next-highest ranked Indiana lawmaker, Rep. Mark Souder, comes in at 153 out of 637 lawmakers who took at least one privately paid trip since 2000.
The database does not include trips taken by lawmakers' aides and does not go back to 1996, the first year lawmakers and their staffers had to disclose privately paid travel within 30 days of returning from the trip.
Bayh reported a total of 44 privately paid trips since 2000. Twelve foreign trips accounted for more than 60 percent of the private money spent for Bayh's travel.
Trips to China cost $40,524
The Mansfield Center for Public Affairs, a public policy group in Washington, sent Bayh and his wife, Susan, to China in 2000, 2001 and 2002 for a combined cost of $40,524.
Bayh's positions on China have been mixed. He voted with most senators in 2000 to make permanent China's standing as a normal U.S. trading partner. But recently, Bayh has been among the members of Congress complaining that the United States hasn't done enough to combat unfair trade practices in China, such as an undervalued currency and violations of patents and copyrights.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry sent the Bayhs on a tour of India last year that cost $17,692, the second-most-expensive trip taken by anyone in Indiana's congressional delegation for the past decade.
"Senator Bayh traveled to India for the same reasons he traveled to China, because it is a growing presence in the global market whose impact on Indiana and America will only continue to increase over the coming years," Bayh spokeswoman Meg Keck said.
Keck said the India trip included visits to several high-tech economic and business centers.
Bayh's father, former Sen. Birch Bayh D-Ind., is a Washington lobbyist and was recently hired by India to help work out a nuclear technology agreement between the two countries. Congress has to OK the deal that would provide the technology India needs to build nuclear power plants.
Keck said Bayh's trip to India was not related to his father's lobbying work.
More than one-third of Bayh's trips since 2000 have been paid for by the Democratic Leadership Council, the moderate Democratic group that Bayh headed from 2001 through July of this year. Bayh traveled to various meetings the group held across the country.
Majority of trips to conferences
Twenty-one of the 33 privately paid trips Lugar took since 2000 were to Aspen Ins ute conferences on such topics as U.S. policy in Latin America, relations with Russia, and "political Islam." Former Sen. Clark of Iowa started the conferences to give lawmakers more expertise in foreign affairs.
The Aspen Ins ute spent more than any other private group on congressional travel since 2000, according to politicalmoneyline.com.
Lugar's spokesman said the conferences have helped the senator develop legislation, including an effort to expand the program he helped create to secure or destroy weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union.
Contact Star Washington Bureau reporter Maureen Groppe at (202) 906-8118 or at [email protected]
I know "who started it"...but this is BS.
The Democrats havent controlled all branches of government since.... ...I dont know.
Regardless, if Dems were the majority in all 3, then it would be Dems on the front page of scandal.
Jeeezz...calm down. This isnt a Dem or Repub issue.
Its a politician issue. Politicians = corrupt lawyers. Thats why I get so amused with people on both sides who are so loyal to these dip s. These "people" are the lowest common denominator of society in terms of moral conduct and ethical professionalism.
My message: Dont latch on to one side or the other. Limiting yourself to the lesser of two evils is a little unbecoming of a truly free society, imo.
Less power in the government is a good thing.
BTW: How the is congress so screwed up that a single individual can have SO much affect on who gets contracts for what?
Take two seconds and follow the money for the answer.
"Less power in the government is a good thing."
bull .
Govt is the only credible defense of the public against corporations and business.
^^^ Because only the most noble individuals with the BEST of intentions enter govt. service.
Because the public is SO informed about the daily workings of their government and the individuals within it that they can make sure nothing untoward happens.
With business (with complicit agents, and "clients" in the government, you get the Enron debacle. With government you get a bankrupt social security "trust" fund.
Hmmmmm. Which one affects more people?
My checkbook is my defense against corporations and business. My government is immune to that armor.
The days of entering politics to "do good" are coming to an end.
But people like Barack Obama give me hope.
I believe many people, on both sides, have entered government with good intentions; most even.
But...
Power corrupts, yada yada yada
When corps own the govt, the corps get what they want, and they public gets screwed.
The public knows essentially nothing of what is going on in federal government, which is exactly how head, especially, and the corps want it.
So our government checks and balances are so fragile that they can be completely and utterly hijacked in a period of a few years, completely run by corporations and be utterly corrupt!!
And YOU want to give this corrupt, horrible, most powerfull en y in the known universe MORE POWER??!!!
When will people learn...democracy simply doesn't work.
Parphrasing:
To be a physician I must go to school, pass a test, to be a lawyer I must do the same, to be a carpenter, a mason or any other tradesman, I must be trained. To make choices to run a democratic nation I must simply....have a pulse!!!
- Plato
or
"It's the worst, except for all the others" - B. Franklin
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