Florida Republican Representative Resigns Effective Immediately

[Drake Tungsten]

And I'm inclined to believe you pick and chose editorials which are to your political liking.

That Chicago Tribune piece is a news story, not an editorial. PWNED AGAIN!!!

I think that you have become like a Drake for the democrats. (ie taking their partisan positions to the point of rediculousness)

Luckily, I don't really believe this crap. Can't say the same for Oerdin...

[Drake Tungsten]

Still, the House leadership hasn't removed Bob Ney from his position

Seriously, when is William Jefferson going to be removed by the Democratic leadership? Or is he just going to be allowed to stay in Congress while a Republican who committed the same sin is forced out, ala Studds/Foley?

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

And I'm inclined to believe you pick and chose editorials which are to your political liking.

That Chicago Tribune piece is a news story, not an editorial. PWNED AGAIN!!!

He just can't stop.

[Ramo]

The Studds matter occurred over two decades ago and Jefferson hasn't been convicted. Get your analogies straight. It's Studds/Crane (same punishment) and Traficant/Ney (Traficant was expelled from Congress).

[GePap]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

Still, the House leadership hasn't removed Bob Ney from his position

Seriously, when is William Jefferson going to be removed by the Democratic leadership? Or is he just going to be allowed to stay in Congress while a Republican who committed the same sin is forced out, ala Studds/Foley?

Jefferson hasnot been indicted yet, and the Democratic party just endorsed a Democratic opponent of his. On the other hand Ney has pled guilty to corruption already, and yet the Repugs have not done anything.

If the best you are able to do is try to compare Democratic behavior towards a member under invsetigation and claim it should be compared to Republicans behavior towards a member who has been convicted, then you are really grasping at some sad, sad straws.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by GePap
Jefferson hasnot been indicted yet, and the Democratic party just endorsed a Democratic opponent of his. On the other hand Ney has pled guilty to corruption already, and yet the Repugs have not done anything.

Congress is in recess.

[GePap]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Congress is in recess.

As stated already, Jefferson has not even been indicted. Ney was on trial for months while Congress was in town, and the Republican leadership did nothing about Ney even then.

So Drake's comparison remain pathetic at best. Shame to see you going along with such crass idiocy.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
While I think that the republicans are worse (especially right now), I think that you have become like a Drake for the democrats. (ie taking their partisan positions to the point of rediculousness)

There's a difference between a good troll and a hack. One is funny and the other is pathetic.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

Still, the House leadership hasn't removed Bob Ney from his position

Seriously, when is William Jefferson going to be removed by the Democratic leadership?

AFAIK, he has been. It's up to the GOP to remove him, since they control what gets to the floor.

[DRoseDARs]

Press Release of Senator Reid

http://reid.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=264714&

REID GOES BEYOND ETHICS REQUIREMENTS, DISARMS GOP SMEAR CAMPAIGN
Monday, October 16, 2006

Washington, DC— Senator Harry Reid of Nevada today issued the following statement:

“Last month, Republicans openly boasted that they would engage in a campaign of personal attacks and smears to hold onto power in Washington. In recent days, we witnessed their latest attempt to do just that.

“Republicans may believe in cover-ups. I believe in ensuring all facts come to light.

“Last week, a highly misleading report by the Associated Press implied that I made a profit selling land I no longer owned. That article was wrong. Here are the facts: I bought the land in 1998, I sold it in 2004, and I listed my ownership of the land on official Senate disclosure forms every single year.

“Now I have taken an additional step. Today, I directed my staff to file amended financial disclosure forms noting that in 2001, I transferred title to the land to a Limited Liability Corporation. As the amended forms make clear, this routine legal move in no way altered my actual ownership of the land. On each disclosure form after 2001, I have added a note to clarify that the land already disclosed in detail on those forms was owned by me through the LLC.

“The Ethics Committee has not yet advised me whether I should file these amended forms, but even if I am not required to do so I am happy to go beyond what is needed to provide the fullest disclosure. The amended forms make clear what was true all along – I owned the land through the LLC when I sold it in 2004.

“Also, in the course of preparing the amended disclosure forms, my staff has identified some clerical errors and two minor matters that were inadvertently left off my original disclosure forms. First, in 2004 I sold about one third of an acre in my hometown of Searchlight. Second, a quarter acre of land that I received from my brother in 1985 appreciated in value above the $1,000 reporting threshold at some point in recent years. Both of these items will be listed on my amended disclosure forms.

“Finally, I have acted today to respond to another issue some plan to raise. I have sent a personal check in the amount of $3,300 to my political campaign to fully reimburse the campaign for donations it made over several years to the employee holiday fund in my apartment building. These donations were made to thank the men and women who work in the building for the extra work they do as a result of my political activities, and for helping the security officers assigned to me because of my Senate position. The donations came from my campaign – no taxpayer dollars were ever involved.

“When the campaign first donated to the holiday fund, its experienced lawyer William Oldaker advised us that such donations were permissible. The campaign's current lawyer, Marc Elias, says the same thing. Nonetheless, I am reimbursing the campaign from my own pocket to prevent this issue from being used in the current campaign season to deflect attention from Republican failures.”

[Drake Tungsten]

Now you're just quoting press releases? The other hacks at least write their own material...

[Bosh]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

Can someone explain to me what the Reid "corruption" scandal is all about?

Get in line. I'm still waiting to find out what the Foley "sex" scandal (see also: Foley "pedophile" scandal) is all about...

Its just like the Dubai scandal, neither of them have too much content (the pages were 16, that's the age of consent in DC, what's the big freaking deal?). What is going on is that for years the Republicans have fostered irrational hysteria about terrorism and gays and that in the Dubai and Foley scandals that same irrational hysteria comes back to bite them in the ass. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

[Drake Tungsten]

I can sort of see that.

[Ramo]

... I'm inclined to think there may be some ethical questions about Reid's behavior.

Then you can explain what they are. What was so "corrupt" about what he did? Put up or shut up.

[Drake Tungsten]

Calling it a "corruption" scandal was unjustified hyperbole on my part, to make fun of the the Foley "sex" or "pedophilia" scandal. It doesn't look like Reid did anything corrupt in this case (it's certainly not as worrying as his links to Abramoff), but he does seem to having broken some Senate ethics rules.