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John Lawrence is a scumbag, and nancy wants you to give him $22million

By haystack Posted in Liberals — Comments (16) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Paterson NJ, apparently, needs a new National Park. Have you ever BEEN to Paterson, NJ? I have-and I can tell you that, as towns go, Paterson deserves a whole lot of things-and a National Park ain't one of them.

So, why would Nance and her court jesters see a need for throwing a lot of coin at Paterson so they can have a park no one is safe enough to actually GO to after dark? Because her chief of staff, the inimitable John Lawrence [now stop it-that he is her chief of staff and used to live there...and has real estate interests in that chunk of land is absolutely coincidental!] thinks it's a good idea...that's why!

Redstate's own Soren Dayton brought this up already, but as a follow on I need desperately to ask the question: with so many allies to make angry, so many wars to declare defeat in, and so many illegal aliens to provide for and make happy, WHY would "that woman" feel the need to make me cough up money for a thug park? So Lawrence can get elected to some obscure office when the Dims ultimately lose the majority they seem bent on squandering?

Perhaps. Perhaps not.

More below the fold...

Apparently, the Great Falls Historic District meets the criterion for national significance, but does not meet criteria for suitability, feasibility, or need for NPS management yet:

[d]espite the objections of the NPS it was pushed through the Committee on Natural Resources. Not only does it defy the NPS recommendations and place 109 acres under federal control, but it assures that millions of taxpayer funds will be funneled into this region of New Jersey.

How could something so blatantly counterproductive be forced onto the floor you ask?

John Lawrence, Chief of Staff for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Paterson, NJ native. Mr. Lawrence sat in during the Committee hearings regarding H.R. 189, he also was recognized by Chairman Rahall, saying "there is another distinguished visitor present who happens to be the Chief of Staff to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. John Lawrence, who must call this his hometown, I believe, and has been back there nodding very strongly ‘yes’ to everything that the gentleman from New Jersey has been saying."

Hmm...surely the Nancemaster is just making sure the stuff that is "best" for the American people is attended to by her trusted legislative gigolo...err, I mean highly paid staffer...

Yeah, right.

If you beleive New Jersey's own Star Ledger you would need to ask yourself whether something smells fishy, or if that's just New Jersey's pristine air made all the better by a federally subsidized National park in the middle of a war zone...err, I mean crime-challenged city...

A Paterson Great Falls national park designation represents countless economic, recreational, cultural and educational opportunities for one of America's most densely populated, diverse and historic urban communities," Pascrell said in a written statement issued after the House vote.

The state's plan, championed by the Department of Environmental Protection, would create a 60-acre state park linking existing open space with historic factory buildings, and would offer spectacular new viewing areas.

A 2006 study by the National Park Service, however, found that the Great Falls would not qualify for designation as a national park because its proposed themes of industry and technology were already prevalent in other national parks.

Fine..."countless economic, recreational, cultural and educational opportunities for one of America's most densely populated, diverse and historic urban communities" - yet the question remains-why? Why there, and why now? I mean, Nancy is very busy passing legislation that gets vetoed. In her spare timed, she busies herself with renaming Post Offices...so why pick on Jersey? Don't they have enough troubles as it is?

According to Roll Call [subscription] there's a little more to it than you might see at first glance:

Republicans point to Lawrence's attendance at a June 28 Natural Resources Committee markup of the bill. During the markup, Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va) first identified Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), the sponsor of the Paterson Great Falls National Park Act, and then took the unusual step of also pointing out Lawrence's presence at the meeting. According to a transcript of the meeting, Rahall told his colleagues that he also would like to "note at this time, there is another distinguished visitor present who happens to be the Chief of Staff to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. John Lawrence, who must call this his hometown, I believe, and has been back there nodding very strongly 'yes' to everything that the gentleman from New Jersey has been saying. And he is the former Staff Director of this committee, I might add, as well to [former] Chairman George Miller."

Neither Lawrence nor any of his family members have lived in Paterson for decades, according to Lawrence, and they have no financial interests in the area. Lawrence told Roll Call that he attended the hearing simply out of civic pride and that he believes any staff member should be allowed to attend hearings affecting their home towns. "I would not only hope but encourage any staff person whose hometown is up for a national park's designation to take five minutes to go and listen to the testimony," Lawrence said.

But Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling (Texas), who is organizing opposition to the proposal, called Lawrence's attendance "one of the most unprecedented strong arms I have ever seen. ... I've never known a committee chairman to stop the proceedings to single out a staffer." Hensarling argued that given Lawrence's position as the most powerful staffer in the House, his presence in the meeting cast a shadow over the proceedings and was tantamount to Lawrence "standing in the room and staring everyone down ... and next thing you know everyone's voting for it."

Lawrence dismissed questions about his presence at the hearing as an "idiotic and absurd thing to say. I attended part of the hearing because I'm very proud of my hometown." He also stressed that the bill was "designed with zero input from me" and that he has never discussed the issue with Members or staff.

It is not unprecedented for the hometown or other institution closely connected to senior leadership aides to see benefits. For instance, Aurora University, the alma mater of Rep. Dennis Hastert's (R-Ill.) former chief of staff, Scott Palmer, benefited from Congressional earmarks during Palmer's time in the Speaker's office. Nine months after the university gave Palmer an honorary degree, Hastert's office steered through a $9.8 million earmark for the school to construct a teacher training institute.

The Paterson bill would designate a 109-acre portion of Paterson as a national park. Local officials in Paterson, which is economically depressed, as well as the state's entire Congressional delegation, have backed the proposal, which would include the building of an apartment complex, a microbrewery and climbing wall, as a way to boost the economy.

But in a report requested by Pascrell, the National Park Service found that the area is not suitable for designation as a national park. Likewise, NPS Deputy Director Daniel Wenk in testimony to the committee this spring also laid out the service's reasoning for rejecting the designation.

Lawrence said the high profile of the bill — which has led to editorials in The New York Times and other papers — played a part in his decision to attend the hearings because of Paterson's poor economic health and the need to redevelop the area. Paterson is "a very poor city that is struggling to improve and develop its resources," Lawrence said.

Lawrence also pointed out that he served on the Natural Resources Committee for years while he worked for Miller and that if he had a significant interest in the issue beyond his connection to his hometown, that would have been the time to press the issue. "I was the staff director of the Resources Committee ... if I had wanted to make it a national park, then would have been the appropriate time to do it."

Hensarling, however, argued that Lawrence's presence was inappropriate and is a sign of what Republicans have argued is a lack of commitment to Pelosi's 2006 campaign pledge to reform Congress. "If this is her definition of honesty and reform, it helps explain why Congress has such low public opinion ratings."

I'd close this with some big tirade about Pelosi, strong-arming, ram-rodding unwanted legislation, and the like...except she has failed at every turn and continues to do so unimpeded by me. Why throw a wrench in an already failed machine? She certainly doesn't need MY help-Pelosi sucks all of her own volition-who am I to muck that up?