According to this AP news report, Democratic leader Harry Reid may be in serious violation of Senate Ethics Committee rules by not reporting a "verrrry interesting transaction in which he made 1.5 million dollars on the sale of land which he hasn’t owned in three years.
Nothing would be better for the Democratic Party or more refreshing for the country than to investiate quickly and fully and, if the accusations are true, throw the bum out.
Americans are sick to death of foot-dragging investigations and tolerance of power brokering.
If he is so stupid that he didn’t know that he was supposed to report this, then he is too stupid to have the privilege of sitting in the United States Senate. No excuses. Let’s get rid of the stupid ones. All of them.
Ok. Allen has to go too. Also, Hatsert, who arranged to have an offramp built directly to property he owned against all recommendations to the contrary. Seems like a fair trade.
Um, he did own the land, with a partner. 3 years ago he transferred the property from his own name to that of LLC with partner (he owned 75% and the partner owned 25% of the land. That’s how the LLC was split as well). He reported the ownership of this land and the LLC to the Senate Ethics Committee already. There may be a sticky point because he continued to disclose the land as a personal asset, rather than a partnership in an LLC. There may be a technicality because of that (I think it relates to tax issues? I’m not sure), but he didn’t violate the spirit of the law, and never hid the land or the LLC from the Senate Ethics Committee.
I’ll let the tax lawyers in the audience work out the details, but it’s worth noting that the AP article was written by the same guy who mistakenly claimed back in May that Reid received free boxing tickets as part of an effort to buy his vote on federal boxing regulations, when in actuality Reid received “credentials” that were given only to public officials for (legal) observation purposes.
But hey, there’s only three weeks left until the election, and Mark Foley’s in the newspaper. Time to stir up the muck!
Ah yes, the strength of the Democratic party: circle the firing squad at the first sign of trouble.
Would it kill us to for once let the Republicans shoot us before we shoot ourselves in the foot? Would it kill us to be skeptical of claims about Democrats until they are proven?
If it turns out that Reid did something unsavory, throwing him out would be OK with me.
The main problem as I see it is that members are left in office so long that they develop a sense that they are entitled to the job.
I would have no objection to throwing out the 1/3 of the senators that are up for electrion every two years. That would help avoid their thinking they own the job and still preserve an experienced core to get things done. The House is another matter entirely and I have no idea what to do about that. I don’t think having all brand new members every two years would be a good thing.
Ok, so Reid is in the clear then. I eargerly await Zoe explaining Allen’s case, in which he was found not to have disclosed his involvement at all in two firms that he directly went to bat for in his position. His first excuse was that the gambit didn’t earn him any money, so he felt it didn’t count: as if mugging someone who turns out not to be carrying any money isn’t a crime. but then it turned up first that “didn’t earn any money: they were worthless” maybe meant that they were worth a quarter million, and then when more came to light 1.1 million.
Go for it, look all you want, but don’t forget Mayor Corker or the man he’s trying to replace Sen. Frist
Pay no attention to our Sexual Predator! look … there’s a Democrat doing something!
Nope, reeks of politics. I’m trying to distance myself from it (with great hassle from some) but I’ll do what I need to do.
The fact that Zoe (no great fan of my politics) posted this story while alluding to problems in the GOP in an effort to call to the floor anyone that seems to be worthy of dismissal may be a starting point of fixing the problem.
Seriously. Is either side really proud anymore? A donkey, an elephant, it’s just politics. It’s people siezing opportunity to keep and gain power. Both sides are guilty. They have been for a long time. Maybe the old saw about not trusting anyone over 30 was coined because by this point in life, you’ve been around long enough to realize they’re all full of shit.
I’ll remain a conservative and a GOP voter for the most part (I’ve already stated I’ve voted for Pomeroy a few times), but I’m going to hope like hell and refuse party donations until the shit gets cleaned up. At least cleaned up to a respectable level of sliminess.
If Hastert ever knew about Foley’s “indiscretions” (isn’t what they’ve been deemed in the last decade?) he damn well better resign.
But to paint the GOP based on the “predelictions” of a House member is a bit like painting the Dems on any of their “misdeeds”.
I’ve come a long way in shifting my disgust from the “opposition party” to the politicians themselves. I’m not as far along as I’d like to be, but it’s a beginning.
It might be, but the Associated Press was claiming exclusive rights to the story when they published it at around 6:30 tonight (October 11) Eastern time.
Have you been able to find anything written previously about it on the internet? I’m all ears…uh, eyes.
Drudge was pushing it in his mainline slot. Looks like they’re hoping it’ll at least be good for a “this isn’t very honest, but if we put it on the news complete with people saying it doesn’t matter at least there will be something else to talk about!”