Redstate

Posted at 5:52pm on May 15, 2008 Don Young Votes for Tax Increase

By Erick

John Boehner, Roy Blunt, and the House GOP leadership, having failed to deal decisively and boldly to purge the cancer that is Don Young from the House GOP Caucus, got to witness him vote to raise taxes today. He joined 31 other Republicans who have no real leaders to show them the way.

The tax increase is a .5% increase on individuals who make more than $500,000.00 a year. The Democrats, naturally, called it a "Patriot Tax." They should have called it what it is: the "Rape the Entrepreneurial Class Tax Law" or RECTAL.

You know, I think we, all of us here at RedState, should commit to a project: every work day from now until he is crushed in the primary, write some bad about Don Young. Highlight his arrogance, highlight his scandals, highlight his votes, highlight his corruption, highlight his general jackassery -- highlight all the stuff to make sure when people are Googling him, they find out everyone hates Don Young except Don Young and a bunch of people in the federal pen.

By the way, the Club for Growth PAC put out a press release on this. Yes, they *do* get involved in primaries, Don Young.

Posted in 2008 | Culture of Corruption | Democrats | Don Young | tax increase — Comments (56)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:53pm on Apr. 27, 2008 Obama Got $8,000 Per Month in Return for Political Favors

By patriotroom

Promoted from the diaries by Neil. So it turns out he's wussy and corrupted enough to be taking payoffs directly and via his wife.

Here is today's daily teeth-gnashing article for the Democrats. Looks like Obama had a buddy who paid him really well when he needed it back in 2001. State Senator Obama made sure his buddy got paid back, and then some, with taxpayer money. From the L.A. Times.

Read on...

Posted in Culture of Corruption | Liberals | Obamafiles — Comments (14) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:42am on Apr. 14, 2008 Barack Obama: Do as he says, not as he does.

By Erick

Here is what Obama is going to say today.

But if those same candidates are taking millions of dollars in contributions from the PACs and lobbyists, ask yourself, who are they going to be toasting once the election is over?

I’m the only candidate who doesn’t take money from corporate PACs and lobbyists, and I’m here to tell you that you can count on me to stand up for you after this election, just as I’ve been standing up for workers all my life. That’s why I’m running for President of the United States.

Of course, here is what Obama actually does.

Last fall, Barack Obama quietly slipped into the Miami headquarters of a major law firm scarred by the scandals of Jack Abramoff, its once-powerful Washington lobbyist who now sits in jail.

Arriving a little after 10 a.m. on Oct. 1, Obama spent the next three hours schmoozing, speaking in a video conference to branch offices and raising money at Greenberg Traurig, a billion-dollar firm with one of the biggest lobby shops here.

Obama has now raised about $125,000 from Greenberg Traurig employees -- nearly half of it at the time of the event -- more than from any of the other top law and lobby firms.

Symbolically, it was a starkly contradictory event: an appearance by the candidate who crusades most adamantly against lobbyists at the onetime firm of the poster child for out-of-control influence peddling.

Why is it liberals always want us to do as they say, not as they do? Of course he's not a hypocrite. Don't accuse him of being a hypocrite. He's a Democrat. Democrats can't be hypocrites. You actually have to stand for something to be a hypocrite.

Oh wait, does he stand for . . . . Nah. Never mind.

Posted in 2008 | Change | Culture of Corruption | Hope | Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them | lobbyists | Obama — Comments (3)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 3:32pm on Apr. 1, 2008 Rep. McDermott Bravely Loses Millions for Free Speech

That's what he keeps telling himself anyways . . .

By Kevin Holtsberry

Good thing Jim McDermott got Saddam to pay for his trip to Iraq, because it turns out he owes House Minority Leader John Boehner a lot of money:

A federal judge says House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, can collect more than $1 million in his lawsuit against Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington state.

The decision was issued in a decade-long dispute over an illegally taped telephone call. In the 1996 call, Republican leaders discussed an ethics case against then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. A Florida couple recorded the cell phone call on a radio scanner and McDermott leaked the tape to two newspapers.

Boehner sued and a federal court found that McDermott had no right to release the calls. The Supreme Court decided in December not to revisit the case.

McDermott claims that his losing and owing over a million dollars is a good thing:

McDermott called the court fight with Boehner “a long and costly battle,” but said the million-dollar judgment was “a small price to pay in defense of so fundamental a principle, and freedom, as the First Amendment.”

Because of the protracted legal challenge, “the First Amendment is stronger today, and shielded by new case law that will buttress its capacity to protect the publication of truthful information on matters of public importance long into the future,” McDermott said in a statement Tuesday. “ Knowing this, I am proud of my role in defense of the First Amendment.”

Rep. McDermott, however, didn't have much luck rallying free speech defenders to his righteous cause:

McDermott has created a legal defense trust fund to cover expenses related to the lawsuit. A report filed with the House clerk shows the trust fund took in about $56,000 in the final three months of last year, for a full-year total of just over $100,000.

Dan McLaughlin summed this case up well a few years ago:

So, if you are keeping score at home, that would be one House Democrat to zero current Congressional or White House Republicans who have been found by a court of law to have participated in illegal domestic surveillance of political opponents.

Remember this next time the Democrats begin spouting off about the rule of law and the culture of corruption, etc.

Posted in Congress | Culture of Corruption | John Boehner — Comments (5)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:50am on Mar. 27, 2008 Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, Puerto Rico Democrat, Indicted

Another bad day for the Community-Based Reality

By Neil Stevens

Puerto Rico Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, a Democratic Party superdelegate and endorser of Senator Barack Obama, was indicted today as part of a wide-ranging conspiracy to systematically violate federal campaign finance law and obstruct FBI investigations into his now apparently illegal campaign for Congress (as a non-voting member) in 2000.

So it's official: Let's add another Democrat to Þe Olde Culture of Corruption List.

Read on...

Posted in Aníbal Acevedo Vilá | Barack Obama | Culture of Corruption | Democrats | Puerto Rico — Comments (18)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:01am on Mar. 24, 2008 Meet Congressman Jerry Hurckes: He's unelected, not sworn in, and only supposed to be a chief of staff to a real congressman

By Erick

At some point the Democrats begin to own the culture of corruption they once campaigned against and have now embraced. If that point is when their staff begins to embrace the culture of corruption too, then the moment has arrived.

John Stanton, writing this morning in Roll Call ($) provides some news that one would have thought impossible had they been naive enough to believe the Democrats in 2006.

A top aide to Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) has used his employment with the House to help win local races, repeatedly claiming in campaign literature and public meetings that he is responsible for securing millions in federal earmarks for the village of Oak Lawn, while also racking up thousands in campaign contributions from companies with business before Lipinski’s Congressional committees.

Jerry Hurckes, who worked for Congressman Lipinski's father before the current Lipinski inherited the seat (it all sounds like the House of Lords), has been on the Oak Lawn Board of Trustees in the village of Oak Lawn, IL, since 1999.

Just how arrogant has this staffer gotten?

His positions as a Lipinski staffer sparked a brouhaha in Oak Lawn following a March 11 board meeting during which he castigated the village manager and other board members for meeting with a Washington, D.C.-based Congressional lobbyist, accusing them of attempting to do an end run around [him] and not deal with Jerry Hurckes.

Mr. Hurckes has been campaigning like a Democratic Congressman, vowing to use his position to bring home the bacon. Of course, it is dubious if such actions are legitimate given House Ethics Committee Rules barring staffers from using their positions to make promises for any sort of elected office.

And does the Congressman know his staffer has taken credit for the Congressman's accomplishments? Maybe we should all call Congressman Lipinski at (202) 225-5701 and ask when his chief of staff became Congressman Hurckes.

Posted in Congress | Culture of Corruption | Dan Lipinski | Jerry Hurckes — Comments (1)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 6:37pm on Mar. 13, 2008 Barack Obama: Crook.

I think we've moved past "the appearance of impropriety."

By Leon H Wolf

It appears that Barack Obama, allegedly decent guy and agent of "change" in Washington, requested an earmark in 2006 for $1 million taxpayer dollars for the hospital where his wife works. Said hospital, by the way, gave Michelle Obama a huge raise (nearly $200,000, more than doubling her salary) in 2005 after Barack got elected to the United States Senate. Now, I know that there are lots of ways to talk about transactions like this involving public officials - quid pro quo, etc., but I prefer to call a crook a crook and just say that we're dealing with good, old fashioned, public corruption here.

I am having an especially hard time distinguishing Obama's actions here from those of, say, Duke Cunningham, who is currently in prison. I suppose you might say that Obama injected some more efficiency into the process by eliminating the middle man, but while I'm a big fan of efficient markets, generally speaking, I happen to think that there should not be any sort of market at all for the votes of public officials.

Perhaps these silly notions of ethical propriety are what Obama intends to "change" if he is elected President. If that's the case, I'll take the status quo, thanks. Without the quid.

Posted in 2008 | Culture of Corruption | Obamafiles | official corruption | Quid pro quo — Comments (67)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 6:01pm on Jan. 4, 2008 Hsu's baaaaaaack!

By Soren Dayton

It seems that Hillary Clinton has a well-earned case of bad karma. This is probably not the day that she wants to remind the good people of New Hampshire that one of her largest fundraisers was a felon running from the law. Just saying. But, indeed, karmic justice rears its head at the right moment. Norman Hsu was sentenced to 3 years today. From AP:

A judge on Friday sentenced disgraced political donor Norman Hsu to three years in state prison after rejecting the one-time Democratic rainmaker's bid to throw out a 16-year-old fraud conviction.

I am particularly fond of the description "one-time Democratic rainmaker". Poor Hillary. Corrupt felon-donor brings rain on her head.

Posted in 2008 | Culture of Corruption | Hillary Clinton — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 6:26pm on Dec. 14, 2007 Carol Shea-Porter: Can you do that with government money?

By Soren Dayton

I am sorry for bothering the readers of Redstate with this. I called Rep. Carol Shea-Porter's (D-NH) office today, and they haven't answered my question. I have a rule: When Democrats don't answer questions about their behavior, escalate.

You see, according to the Second Quarter Statement of Disbursements of the House, her Congressional office disbursed $5,000 to the New Hampshire Democratic State Committee (NHDSC). According to the FEC filings of the NHDSC, that was for "Access To The Voter File Maintained By The New Hampshire Democratic State Committee." The NHDSC "makes a profit" off the list according to an AP story.

In other words, a Democrat member of Congress is using government funds to provide "profit" to a state Democratic Party. I wonder why I never heard back from her staff about this.

Read on for the questions that I would have liked to ask.

Posted in Carol Shea-Porter | Congress | Congress | Culture of Corruption | Democrats | New Hampshire — Comments (7) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:53am on Nov. 2, 2007 Another Crooked Democrat

Some "cultures of corruption" spring up more easily than others.

By Leon H Wolf

As I think you all know, I am a Red Sox fan. Prior to 2004, being a Red Sox fan primarily consisted of holding the foolish belief, year after year, that *this* year would be different - that *this* year, we would finally get over on the Yankees. Even after decades of waiting, with much the same result, no Sox fan ever allowed himself to believe that the Sox would *never* win the World Series. So that will give you some frame of reference for the statement I'm about to make: after last year, I gave up on the hope that a Republican would ever win a Senate seat in New Jersey. If a guy like Kean - not my ideal candidate, but a solid guy nonetheless - could not beat an intellectual and ethical midget like Bob Menendez, then the people of New Jersey have apparently made an irrevocable choice that corrupt morons will represent them in the Senate from this time forward. Enter the FBI to take up yet another corruption charge against Menendez, who already has an impressive New Jersey Democrat resume despite a very short tenure in the Senate. What Menendez is alleged to have done makes the Paul Wolfowitz scandal look like nothing more than an appropriate subject for water-cooler gossip.

You know, we hate crooked Republicans around here. The actions of Duke Cunningham were reprehensible to all of us. We all deplored the use of earmarks to funnel pork into Republican districts, specifically because they invite both the appearance of impropriety and actual corruption. But give the Republicans credit for this much: it took them over a decade in office before a year like 2006 would happen. The Democrats haven't even bothered with the pretense of actually having meant anything they said about cleaning up Washington. After all, Nancy Pelosi's first act in office (which failed) was to attempt to elevate ABSCAM Jack Murtha to a position of leadership - even after this failed, Murtha still manages to steer about 30% more pork into his district than his next closest competitor in Congress. Then she attempted put Alcee Hastings - who was impeached for corruption as a judge - in an important Chair because she didn't like Jane Harman. Then came the various foibles of Allan Mollohan. And we haven't even touched on any of Harry Reid's land deals, or Pelosi's attempts to influence legislation for the benefit of her friends and aides.

The thing about politics is that people have short memories. I said all throughout 2006 that there was no way people were going to forget that these same Democrats railing on corruption made modern Republicans look like pikers by comparison back when they had power - but it appears that I was at least partly wrong. Thankfully for us, the Democrats are doing all they can to remind even those with the shortest of memories just exactly what "culture of corruption" means.

Posted in Bob Menendez | Crooked Democrats | Culture of Corruption | Democrats | Liberals | New Jersey — Comments (7)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:07pm on Oct. 22, 2007 Another Pelosi friend, another bill

By Soren Dayton

Nancy Pelosi has worked hard to pass legislation that helps her ... friends. Like the Armenian legislation. Or her minimum wage exemption for a donor in American Samoa.

Another bill, another friend. This time on her staff. Today, the Democratic Congress is set to vote on H.R. 319, a bill to create, Paterson Great Falls National Park... which the National Park Service doesn't want. Why would they do that?

Well, The Hill has one possible answer. Her chief of staff, John Lawrence, is from there:

“I’m from Paterson, N.J. Would you like to hear more about Paterson?” he asks hopefully, revealing a wry wit.

And his family is still there. I wonder if they are making any money off this...

According to Hillary Clinton, America can't afford her ideas. It sounds like America can't afford Pelosi's friends either.

Posted in Congress | Culture of Corruption | Nancy Pelosi — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 2:53am on Aug. 3, 2007 Even if the election is over, it isn't *really* over until we get the desired result

Or something along those lines.

By Jeff Emanuel

Update: Rep. Eric Cantor has more on his blog.

Tonight on the House floor, some chicanery was reportedly committed by the House Democrats which sends a disturbing message about that body's ability to actually conduct free and fair votes on legislation.

Here's the skinny: the House was voting on a motion to recommit the Agriculture bill, a move which would send the bill back to committee with the stipulation that no taxpayer dollars in the Ag bill would go to illegal immigrants.

The Presiding Chairman, a Democrat (of course), closed the vote on the motion, and totals were formally announced, with the Republicans having succeeded in getting the bill recommitted.

However, once this outcome was learned, the Chairman decided to re-open the vote to allow enough Democrats to cast ballots to change the motion's outcome, after the vote had already been closed, announcing the new vote total (which favored the Democrats and - shocker! - illegal immigrants) and explaining away the earlier vote closure as his own mistake.

As a House staffer said to me, "This wasn't them keeping the vote open, twisting some arms, then getting their way. This was them just pushing through their result, after the vote was concluded and the results were announced."

This brings up an interesting question. If this practice is acceptable (and accepted), then what is there to keep the Democrats from reopening any vote that they wish, in order to alter or to guarantee a favorable outcome?

Video is below the fold.

Posted in Congress | Culture of Corruption | Democrats — Comments (25)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:20am on Jul. 10, 2007 Chris Van Hollen’s hypocrisy offensive

By MajorityAP

Promoted by Jeff

DCCC chair takes $15K from company he blames for job losses

U.S. Representative Chris Van Hollen’s Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) recently launched a new offensive: blaming Republicans for the actions of companies in which they’ve invested their personal savings. But that strategy may have unintended consequences for House Democrats, including Van Hollen, D-MD, and freshman Democrat Heath Shuler, D-NC, research by the Majority Accountability Project (www.majorityap.com) has found.

Van Hollen’s first target was U.S. Representative Robin Hayes. The DCCC faulted the North Carolina Republican for the closing of a Philip Morris plant in Concord, NC, since Hayes owns stock in its parent company, Altria.

DCCC officials blasted Hayes, with spokeswoman Krya Jennings claiming he was “out of touch,” because Altria stock prices rose “after announcing that the Philip Morris plant in Concord would close.” Hayes is prohibited by House rules from participating in the business decisions of a for-profit corporation, a fact known to Van Hollen and the DCCC.

Read on . . .

Posted in Culture of Corruption | Democrats — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 5:22pm on May 22, 2007 The Dems' dilemma: To fund voter fraud, or to fund disaster relief?

Yeah, you guessed correctly

By Jeff Emanuel

Last week, Bluey called out House Democrats for their attempt (approved by the White House) to include in a bill a "so-called "affordable housing fund" that would allow House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) to direct millions of dollars, and potentially more, to liberal advocacy groups such as ACORN," whose employees have pled guilty to voter fraud.

Earlier today, in an effort to kill this personal "slush fund" of Barney Frank's, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) used a motion to recommit on the bill (H.R . 1427) to "define that those funds be used for disaster relief programs and to lower the cost of home mortgage insurance," thereby defining the uses of the appropriated cash and eliminating Frank's ability to distribute it at his discretion.

Unfortunately, the Democrats voted the motion down and saved Barney Frank's $500 million slush fund - but at what cost?

According to a House source, in order to save this pile of cash which Mr. Frank can distribute at his discretion, several vunerable incumbents had to make a deal with the devil, so to speak, voting against disaster relief for their districts, as well as against expanding the home mortgage insurance deduction.

To save a slush fund for Barney Frank, these Democrats have been very painfully put on the record voting against their constituents.

Posted in Culture of Corruption | Democrats — Comments (1)/ Email this page » / Read More »