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| 5/23 |
| 2008/7/21-23 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush, Politics/Domestic/Election] UID:50644 Activity:high |
7/21 Look at all these corrupt Democrats. But how can this be? Democrats
are supposed to be noble and good. And getting the Green party off
the ballot sounds... undemocratic.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08193/896353-454.stm
\_ They are all HITLER
\_ Corruption seems to be endemic to the human experience,
unfortunately. I don't believe anyone (here) has claimed that
Democrats are all noble and good. Is that a Straw Man you are
furiously bashing?
\_ And yet, strangely, they still won't be the party that sold out the
government to Halliburton, Worldcom, and Enron.
\_ What exactly does "sold out the government" mean?
\_ Started a ruinous war to further profits for.
\_ Yet, strangely, Democrats voted to authorize that war.
An inscrutable contradiction!
Could it be that Democrats also profit from Corporate
America, Inc.?
But that's silly. Corporations are evil and Democrats
are axiomatically good.
\_ And yet, strangely, they're collaborators, not
instigators. Their culpability is still less than that
of the GOP, war-profiteering-wise.
\_ Strangely, I think you need to justify that.
\_ And stranger still, I think the charges need to
be justified first.
\_ A majority of Democrats in Congress voted against the
war, but you already knew that. Don't the facts get
in the way of your supposed rhetorical point.
\_ A majority of Democrats in the Senate voted for it.
Enough in the house to pass the resolution. They
are Democrats. A few Republicans also voted against
it, so what?
\_ An overwhelming majority of Republicans voted
for the resolution and an overwhelming majority
of Democrats voted against it, even when it
took quite a bit of moral and intellectual
courage to do so. The resolution would have
passed without any Democratic support whatsover,
since the GOP was in the majority. Why are you
so hellbent on re-writing history? Are you a
GOP partisan? Ashamed of your earlier war support?
I remember when Bush supporters were smashing
courage to do so. Why are you so hellbent
on re-writing history? Are you a GOP
partisan? Ashamed of your earlier war support?
I remember when war supporters were smashing
shop windows and beating opponents of the war,
where was your outrage then?
\_ I am still wondering why the Democrats didn't try to
impeach Bush. God, they have no balls at all.
Repubs impeach a guy for oral sex while Democrats win
control of Congress and proceed to mostly whine
about a supposed war criminal.
\_ I don't seem them whining about war crimes. Who
does that? Not the mainstream ones, anyway. You
get guys like Paul, Gravel, + Kucinich but nobody
votes for those guys. People vote for the status quo.
\_ You mean they are complicit and aren't opposed to
the war? That makes it better for them? I was
giving them some credit. People voted Dems
into office because they were unhappy with
the Repub leadership and the Dems turned
around and did absolutely nothing. And now
morons believe Obama is gonna change that?
\_ Better to do nothing than to do something
stupid. Stupid.
\_ They did do the stupid thing themselves.
They authorized the war, continue to
fund it, and Obama says he'll keep troops
there indefinitely. Yay.
Politics is all about complaining about
whatever bad thing exists. Like gas prices.
Look at the price of gas! Vote for me!
What am I gonna do about it? Who cares,
vote for me. War? War is bad right? Vote
for me!
\_ More lies. Obama said he will bring
the troops home. Do you get your
playbook from Rove?
the troops home.
\_ That's why the Dems will never get
anything done. They don't want to make
bad decisions. That never stopped the
Republicans, who beat the Dems like a drum.
Good leaders aren't afraid to stick
their necks out. They worry about being
proven right later. I'm not saying bad
decisions are a good thing, but I'd say
no decisions at all is worse. We don't
need a government if we're not going to
take any actions. Just refund the tax
dollars to the citizens then. I think a
token rumbling about impeaching Bush
would have been a good thing, even if
they didn't actually go through with it.
Instead, they approve everything Bush wants.
\_ Kucinich has repeatedly tried to get
articles of impeachment to the House
floor, but cannot get the votes. This is
the way a Democracy works. There are
other ways to win in politics, other
than beating your opponent like a drum.
That is the Rove playbook. Did FDR ever
beat anyone like a drum? No one would
dispute that he got a lot done.
\_ "Did FDR ever beat anyone like a drum?
YES! Geez, don't you know any history?
\_ Where and when? Maybe you define
beating like a drum differently
than me, but mostly FDR was a good
consensus builder, not a 50% + 1
kind of divisive leader like the
Bush/Rove/Cheney gang.
\_ They tried, over and over again, to get a time-
table for withdrawal passed, and you know what
the GOP did? Filibustered. That's right, the
party that threatened the "nukular" option if
the Dems filibustered turned around and fili-
bustered. Couple that with Bush's veto-frenzy,
and the charge that the Dems did nothing
quickly becomes: the GOP cock-blocked every
way they could. But hey, go ahead and blame the
Dems for the GOP's fuckups. |
| 5/23 |
|
| www.post-gazette.com/pg/08193/896353-454.stm Print Print 12 face charges in bonus scandal Millions in public funds used for political gain, probe finds Friday, July 11, 2008 By Dennis B Roddy and Tracie Mauriello, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Bradley C Bower/Associated Press Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett, right, yesterday announces grand jury presentments in the bonusgate scandal investigation. HARRISBURG -- Grand jurors here and in Pittsburgh cataloged what they described as a culture of corruption that allowed former state Rep. Sean Ramaley and 10 current and former Democratic staffers to divert millions of dollars in state resources, including more than $1 million in illegal pay bonuses. The jurors said Mr Veon and the staff members conspired to arrange hefty year-end pay bonuses to House employees who worked on political campaigns over a three-year period, while Mr Ramaley is accused of working full-time on his 2004 House campaign in Beaver County while drawing a taxpayer salary as a member of Mr Veon's staff. It found that tax money was used to bump third-party candidates Ralph Nader and Carl Romanelli from the Pennsylvania ballot in 2004 and 2006. Grand jurors said state money was used to provide a no-work job to a high-ranking House aide's mistress. State employees were routinely diverted from their jobs to provide political services and, in the case of Mr Veon, to transport his motorcycles to South Dakota for his vacation and to provide dinners to members of Mr Veon's informal basketball league. "The theft of taxpayers' funds and resources was extensive," said state Attorney General Tom Corbett, who yesterday filed an array of charges against Mr Veon, Mr Ramaley and the others, while hinting at more to come. "Let me make this perfectly clear: This is not the conclusion," he said at a news conference here. Attorneys for Mr Veon and Mr Ramaley said their clients are innocent of wrongdoing. In addition to Mr Veon and Mr Ramaley, charges were filed against: Michael L Manzo, 39, former chief of staff to Majority Leader Bill DeWeese. Mr Manzo is accused of conspiracy in connection with the bonus scandal, engineering ballot challenges using state workers and hiding a girlfriend on the state payroll in a phony state office above a cigar store on Pittsburgh's South Side. Jeff Foreman, 57, currently legal counsel to House Minority Whip Keith McCall. He is accused of participating in the bonus plot while chief of staff to Mr Veon and of directing an ongoing, partisan political operation from inside Mr Veon's Capitol office. She is accused of organizing House employees to work on legislative campaigns on state time and doing so herself during Mr Veon's unsuccessful re-election campaign in 2006. Scott V Brubaker, 43, former director of administration for the House Democrats. He is accused of playing a key role in arranging the illegal bonuses, directing state workers to perform political tasks and helping to orchestrate challenges to opponents' petitions for ballot spots. Jennifer Brubaker, 36, who is married to Mr Brubaker and who directs the House Democratic Office of Legislative Research, the scene of a search warrant execution last August. She is accused of directing legislative employees to do political work in her office, including opposition research. Brett W Cott, 36, a top aide to Mr Veon, who is accused of widespread corruption, including conspiracy in the bonus scandal and running an ongoing political operation out of Mr Veon's state office. "Brett Cott's title on Veon's staff was policy analyst, but according to numerous witnesses he was hired because of his campaign skills and was one of the lead promoters of the culture of using taxpayer funds for campaign purposes," the grand jury said. Patrick J Lavelle, 29, who the grand jury described as a full-time political operative in Mr Veon's Harrisburg office who had no other duties beyond fund raising. Annamarie Peretta-Rosepink, 45, director of Mr Veon's Beaver County district office. She is accused of directing state employees to work on an array of political campaigns, including those of state Rep. Wayne Fontana, as well as for other Democratic candidates. She also is accused of roles in the Nader and Romanelli petition challenges. Stephen AH Keefer, 38, former director of information technology for the House Democrats. He is accused of directing state employees to work on political campaigns, using state equipment to design political materials and creating a special Leaders' Communications Office with public funds to transmit political messages. Earl J Mosley, 53, former director of personnel for the House Democrats. Grand jurors said he helped arrange payment of the illegal bonuses, and obtained a bonus himself for campaign work. Mr Corbett yesterday pointedly declined to clear Mr DeWeese, the House Democratic leader who was ostensibly in charge of the caucus. "The investigation is continuing," was Mr Corbett's only answer. Mr DeWeese was widely known to have cooperated in the bonus probe. In November, Mr DeWeese fired Mr Manzo, Scott Brubaker, Mr Mosley and four others when their names turned up on e-mails discussing state bonuses in return for political work. His spokesman, Tom Andrews, said current House staff members charged yesterday had been suspended without pay and benefits. Mr DeWeese issued a statement calling the charges "an indictment of a culture that has existed in all four caucuses of the General Assembly for far too long." Key testimony in the grand jury was provided by one of the major conspirators in the bonus plot -- former director of member services Eric Webb. Mr Webb kept track of political hours worked by state employees, and created a series of spreadsheets to rate their political work with an eye toward additional state pay. Among the more sensational charges were allegations that Mr Manzo arranged the hiring of Angela Bertugli, with whom he had a sexual affair that began in the summer of 2004 in Harrisburg. Grand jurors said Mr Manzo said he would use Mr DeWeese's clout to get Miss Bertugli admitted to law school. Prior to her admission, the grand jury said he installed Miss Bertugli in a state-paid office above a cigar store on Pittsburgh's South Side, where she had no actual legislative duties. In January 2006, she was moved to a Downtown office in Pittsburgh but "continued to spend up to 70 percent of her paid time doing schoolwork or nothing" with the remaining 30 percent mostly spent on campaign-related tasks. At Mr Manzo's direction, the presentment declares, Miss Bertugli left the state payroll and spent two weeks working on the campaign of state Rep. The grand jury said the challenge to Mr Nader, who sought a place on the Pennsylvania ballot in 2004 as a Green Party candidate for president, was essentially divided between Mr Veon's Beaver Falls district office and his Capitol office in Harrisburg. Mrs Peretta-Rosepink, the Beaver Falls office manager, directed the Western Pennsylvania portion of the effort and Mr Foreman and Mr Manzo coordinated Harrisburg efforts. More than 34,000 signatures were challenged and Mr Nader was kept off the ballot. It was generally assumed at the time that Mr Nader's presence on the ballot could siphon votes from Democratic nominee John Kerry. The grand jury identified 36 state employees who were involved in the Nader ballot challenge, 29 of whom received state bonuses for 2004. Two years later, the same tactic was used to keep Carl Romanelli, a Green Party candidate, off the ballot for US Senate. "Brett Cott assumed the laboring oar in organizing and orchestrating the operation," the grand jury wrote. Once again, Mr Foreman assisted in directing the contribution of Mr Veon's office staff "which worked day in and day out on the petitions, while being paid by the taxpayers." Larry Otter, Mr Romanelli's lawyer in the petition challenges, today said he was "sick" at the extent of state labor involved. "God knows what was going on the behind the scenes to get Romanelli off the ballot. Eric Buxton, a former employee of the Caucus Information Technology Office, testified under a grant of immunity and said he developed a system to allow mass e-mail commun... |