Posted by
on Thursday, January 04, 2007 3:07:04 PM
Sometimes, you just have to laugh at things. And today is no exception to that rule around here. We may not be blogging at The Asylum anymore, but that does not mean we have left our insanity behind. On the subject of insane things erupting in the news, nothing quite compares to the standing ovation given to Rep. William Jefferson from Louisiana by the Congressional Black Caucus on the convening of the new, Democrat-controlled 110th Congress:
Hat-Tip: Allah @ Hot Air
On the same day that the 110th Democratic-led Congress convenes with a plan to immediately pass lobbyist and ethics reforms, the Congressional Black Caucus Thursday gave a standing ovation to Rep. William Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat who faces an FBI probe into bribery allegations.
"The haters... and negative nabobs...the people who spoke against him couldn't prevail against the people who spoke for him," Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, master of ceremonies for the CBC's celebratory event, said Thursday morning.
Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, led the charge to remove Jefferson from the House Ways and Means Committee last spring and has said she will not consider reinstating him to the powerful post until he is cleared of all allegations.
The FBI is currently conducting an investigation that alleges Jefferson accepted $100,000 from a telecommunications businessman -- $90,000 of which was later recovered in the congressman's freezer.
Is the CBC unaware of the investigation? Are they unaware that the FBI professes to have an accepted bribe on video? Obvioiusly they are. And what about Speaker Pelosi? She says he will be reinstated when and if the allegations are proven false. Ifs this her way of pandering to the CBC after she opted out of appointing Alcee Hastings to the House Intelligence Committee? I seem to remember the controversy surrounding her decision to withdraw his name after a number of pundits--both liberal and conservative--questioned her thinking.
What is most telling about this is that they have chosen to ignore the bribery allegations involved with Jefferson. Likewise, Speaker Pelosi has opted to ignore the ethics scandal surrounding John Conyers. As the New York Post reported yesterday Conyers struck a deal with the House Ethics Committee to avoid any serious punishment for the improper use and abuse of staffers:
Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) has been licking his chops at the thought of the mischief he can undertake as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee - starting today, when his party assumes control of Congress.
Indeed, he once was speaking openly of an impeachment drive against President Bush - until incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi put the kibosh on it.
But Conyers' credibility as the Democrats' moral watchdog was shredded by the dubious deal he just struck with the House Ethics Committee - which was made public late last Friday in a holiday-weekend bid to avoid publicity.
After a probe lasting more than three years, the committee declared that Conyers has "accepted responsibility" for a series of House rules violations involving the use - and abuse - of his staffers.
According to published reports, Conyers used several staffers as his personal servants - requiring them to babysit and tutor his children, chauffeur him to personal events, help his wife with her law-school classes, work on his campaigns and pay restaurant and motel bills.
One staffer was even ordered to move into Conyers' home for six weeks and serve as a live-in nanny to his kids.
Sound familiar? It should.
New York's state comptroller, Alan Hevesi, just lost his job and pleaded guilty to a felony for doing a lot less with taxpayer-funded employees.
But John Conyers isn't losing anything.
Not the chairmanship of the judiciary committee, which Pelosi reiterated last Friday would go to the Michigan congressman despite his transgressions.
Nor is he facing any other kind of sanction from the House.
In fact, he didn't even really admit any wrongdoing - just a "lack of clarity" in explaining to his staffers what they are and aren't required to do.
Yes, this is the new "more ethical" House under Nancy Pelosi's control. Gone, supposedly, are the days of corruption from the House. Yeah, right. We all knew better, and it is no surprise that the new Speaker seems to be turning a blind eye to the unethical behavior of her colleagues. Democrats and Republicans, alike, should be outraged by this. We are sick of watching this sort of garbage come from Congress, and we are even more infuriated when these people skate.
To all our readers out there, make a note of this. When Mark Foley got nailed, he was forced to resign. When Duke Cunningham plead guilty to bribery charges, he stepped down. When Bob Ney was caught, he, too, stepped down. Why is it that when our party gets caught doing something wrong, we clean house, and when it happens to the Democrats, they simply sweep it under the rug as if nothing happened? William Jefferson still holds his seat in the House, as does John Conyers. Despite having taken Abramoff lobbyist money, and been involved in a dirty deal in Nevada, Harry Reid still sits in the Senate.
In 1983, Gerry Studds and Dan Crane were both censured and reprimanded for their inaapropriate behavior with Congressional pages. Neither were expelled (though they should have been), but Crane lost his reelection bid. Studds continued to be reelected until his retirement in 1997, and he never apologized for it. (His reelection simply speaks volumes about the idiocy of the voters in Massachusetts, but we knew that from Kennedy's continued reelection.)
To be fair, in 1995, Dan Rostenkowski was convicted and removed from office for his role in the House Post Office scandal, where there was several allegations--admitted by Robert Rota whewn he plead guilty--of laundering money through the House Post Office.
The House Banking Scandal in 1992 led to the expulsion or ouster of seventy-seven Representatives. Those charged and convicted faced corruption charges for kiting months worth of checks through the bank. The voters that got rid of their representatives involved made it known through their votes that they weren't happy with the corruption, and the ouster set the stage for the Republican landslide in 1994.
The public dislikes ethical lapses like the ones committed by Rep. Conyers and Rep. Jefferson. And it nauseates me to see people applauding the likes of corrupt politicians.
Marcie