Tomy DeLay just indicted for conspiracy.
Posted By: Lurker on 2005-09-28
In Reply to:
It is just one scandal after another with these guys.
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Law school 101. Not indicted does not mean not guilty.
I think everyone knows that he had prescriptions from more than a couple of docs.
No one on your side of the fence has answered my question posed above. If MJF had aired an ad against stem cell research, would you have had the same reaction? Would Rush have had the same reaction? I think not. I think you would have applauded him for his courage and his willingness to do such a thing especially in light of the seriousness of his disease. Another question, what do you think about Nancy Reagan and her son Ron being pro stem cell research openly?
Cheney and Gonzales indicted? sm
Applauding this one. Link below.
http://www.krgv.com/2008/11/18/1001457/Guerra-Indicts
More DeLay fun and
AP: DeLay, Blunt Traded Secret Donations
By JOHN SOLOMON and SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writers1 hour, 33 minutes ago
Tom DeLay deliberately raised more money than he needed to throw parties at the 2000 presidential convention, then diverted some of the excess funds to longtime ally Roy Blunt through a series of donations that benefited both men's causes.
When the financial carousel stopped, DeLay's private charity, the consulting firm that employed DeLay's wife and the Missouri campaign of Blunt's son all ended up with money, according to campaign documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist recently charged in an ongoing federal corruption and fraud investigation, and Jim Ellis, the DeLay fundraiser indicted with his boss last week in Texas, also came into the picture.
The complicated transactions are drawing scrutiny in legal and political circles after a grand jury indicted DeLay on charges of violating Texas law with a scheme to launder illegal corporate donations to state candidates.
Blunt last week temporarily replaced DeLay as House majority leader, and Blunt's son, Matt, has now risen to Missouri's governor.
The government's former chief election enforcement lawyer said the Blunt and DeLay transactions are similar to the Texas case and raise questions that should be investigated regarding whether donors were deceived or the true destination of their money was concealed.
These people clearly like using middlemen for their transactions, said Lawrence Noble. It seems to be a pattern with DeLay funneling money to different groups, at least to obscure, if not cover, the original source, said Noble, who was the Federal Election Commission's chief lawyer for 13 years, including in 2000 when the transactions occurred.
None of the hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations DeLay collected for the 2000 convention were ever disclosed to federal regulators because the type of group DeLay used wasn't governed by federal law at the time.
DeLay has temporarily stepped aside as majority leader after being indicted by a Texas prosecutor.
Spokesmen for the two Republican leaders say they disclosed what was required by law at the time and believe all their transactions were legal, though donors might not always have know where their money was headed.
It illustrates what others have said, that money gets transferred all the time. This was disclosed to the extent required to be disclosed by applicable law, said Don McGahn, a lawyer for DeLay. It just shows that donors don't control funds once they're given.
Blunt and DeLay planned all along to raise more money than was needed for the convention parties and then route some of that to other causes, such as supporting state candidates, said longtime Blunt aide Gregg Hartley.
We put together a budget for what we thought we would raise and spend on the convention and whatever was left over we were going to use to support candidates, said Hartley, Blunt's former chief of staff who answered AP's questions on behalf of Blunt.
Hartley said he saw no similarity to the Texas case. The fact that DeLay's charity, Christine DeLay's consulting firm and Blunt's son were beneficiaries was a coincidence, Hartley said.
Much of the money — including one donation to Blunt from an Abramoff client accused of running a sweatshop garment factory in the Northern Mariana Islands — changed hands in the spring of 2000, a period of keen interest to federal prosecutors.
During that same time, Abramoff arranged for DeLay to use a concert skybox for donors and to take a golfing trip to Scotland and England that was partly underwritten by some of the lobbyist's clients. Prosecutors are investigating whether the source of some of the money was disguised, and whether some of DeLay's expenses were originally put on the lobbyist's credit card in violation of House rules.
Both DeLay and Blunt and their aides also met with Abramoff's lobbying team several times in 2000 and 2001 on the Marianas issues, according to law firm billing records obtained by AP under an open records request. DeLay was instrumental in blocking legislation opposed by some of Abramoff's clients.
Noble said investigators should examine whether the pattern of disguising the original source of money might have been an effort to hide the leaders' simultaneous financial and legislative dealings with Abramoff and his clients.
You see Abramoff involved and see the meetings that were held and one gets the sense Abramoff is helping this along in order to get access and push his clients' interest, he said. And at the same time, you see Delay and Blunt trying to hide the root of their funding.
All of these transactions may have strings attached to them. ... I think you would want to look, if you aren't already looking, at the question of a quid pro quo, Noble said.
Blunt and DeLay have long been political allies. The 2000 transactions occurred as President Bush was marching toward his first election to the White House, DeLay was positioning himself to be House majority leader and Blunt was lining up to succeed DeLay as majority whip, the third-ranking position in the House.
The entities Blunt and DeLay formed allowed them to collect donations of any size and any U.S. source with little chance of federal scrutiny.
DeLay's convention fundraising arm, part of his Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee (ARMPAC), collected large corporate donations to help wine and dine Republican VIPs during the presidential nominating convention in Philadelphia in late summer 2000. DeLay's group has declined to identify any of the donors.
Blunt's group, a nonfederal wing of his Rely on Your Beliefs Fund, eventually registered its activities in Missouri but paid a $3,000 fine for improperly concealing its fundraising in 1999 and spring 2000, according to Missouri Ethics Commission records.
Both groups — DeLay's and Blunt's — were simultaneously paying Ellis, the longtime DeLay fundraiser who was indicted along with his boss in Texas in the alleged money laundering scheme.
The DeLay group began transferring money to Blunt's group in two checks totaling $150,000 in the spring of 2000, well before Republicans actually met in Philadelphia for the convention. The transfers accounted for most of money Blunt's group received during that period.
DeLay's convention arm sent $50,000 on March 31, 2000. Eight days later, the Blunt group made a $10,000 donation to DeLay's private charity for children on April 7, 2000, and began the first of several payments totaling $40,000 to a northern Virginia-based political consulting firm formed by DeLay's former chief of staff, Ed Buckham.
That consulting firm at the time also employed DeLay's wife, Christine, according to DeLay's ethics disclosure report to Congress.
Hartley said Blunt was unaware that Mrs. DeLay worked at the firm when he made the payments, and that she had nothing to do with Blunt's group.
On April 14, 2000, Concorde Garment Manufacturing, based in the Northern Marianas Islands that was part of Abramoff's lobbying coalition, contributed $3,000 to Blunt's group.
Hartley said the donation was delivered during a weekend of fundraising activities by Blunt and DeLay but his boss did not know who solicited it.
Concorde, derided for years in lawsuits as a Pacific island sweatshop, paid a $9 million penalty to the U.S. government in the 1990s for failing to pay workers' overtime. The company was visited by DeLay.
The company was a key member of the Marianas garment industry that the islands' government was trying to protect when it hired Abramoff to lobby DeLay, Blunt and others to keep Congress from imposing tougher wage and tax standards on the islands.
After the November 2000 election, Abramoff's firm billed its Mariana Islands clients for at least one meeting with Blunt and three meetings with Blunt's staff, billing records show. Abramoff's team also reported several meetings with DeLay and his staff on the issue, including one during the presidential convention.
On May 24, 2000 — just before DeLay left with Abramoff for the Scottish golfing trip — DeLay's convention fundraising group transferred $100,000 more to Blunt's group. Within three weeks, Blunt turned around and donated the same amount to the Missouri Republican Party.
The next month, the state GOP began spending large amounts of money to help Blunt's son, Matt, in his successful campaign to become Missouri secretary of state. On July 25, 2000, the state GOP made its first expenditure for the younger Blunt, totaling just over $11,000. By election day, that figure had grown to more than $160,000.
Hartley said Blunt always liked to help the state party and the fact that his son got party help after his donation was a coincidence. They are unrelated activities, he said.
Exchanges of donations occurred again in the fall. Just a few days before the November election, DeLay's ARMPAC gave $50,000 to the Missouri GOP. A month later, the Missouri GOP sent $50,000 to DeLay's group.
___
Associated Press Writer David Lieb in Missouri contributed to this story.
On the Net:
Documents for this story are available at: http://wid.ap.org/documents/delay/index.html
Former Aide to DeLay
November 21, 2005
Former Aide to DeLay Pleads Guilty in Conspiracy Case
By DAVID STOUT
and PHILIP SHENON
WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 - Michael Scanlon, former aide to a powerful congressman and onetime partner of a wealthy lobbyist, pleaded guilty today to a federal conspiracy charge as part of a deal in which he agreed to cooperate with an investigation into possible wrongdoing by some lawmakers.
Mr. Scanlon's comedown from a young and wealthy Washington power-player to disgraced felon, formalized before Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle of Federal District Court here, had been expected. But it still may have sent shivers down Capitol corridors.
Mr. Scanlon agreed to pay restitution totaling more than $19 million to the tribes and faces up to five years in prison. He was allowed to remain free on $5 million bond. After pleading guilty, the well-tanned Mr. Scanlon appeared incongruously cheerful. Asked by reporters why he was smiling, he replied, I'm always smiling.
Mr. Scanlon, 35, was accused of conspiring to defraud Indian tribes out of millions of dollars as part of a lobbying and corruption scheme that involved wining and dining of some lawmakers, treating them to lavish trips and contributing to their campaigns.
Representative Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican, who heads the House Appropriations Committee, was alluded to in the indictment (although not by name) as a main beneficiary of largess, in return for helping Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon with their clients.
Lawyers involved in the case have confirmed that Mr. Ney is the Representative #1 cited in the indictment. The congressman - who has not been charged - has asserted that he was duped by the two and is cooperating with prosecutors, a spokesman for Mr. Ney says.
Mr. Scanlon's lawyer, Plato Cacheris, was asked whether any other members of Congress had anything to fear. I have no comment on that, he replied.
Until recently, Mr. Scanlon occupied a powerful - and lucrative - position at the intersection of political power and lobbying influence. For several years, he worked as a top aide to Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, the Republican majority leader. He left Mr. DeLay's office in 2000 to become an associate of Jack Abramoff, a Republican lobbyist.
Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon earned more than $80 million representing a few wealthy Indian tribes on gambling issues. Those transactions have been under investigation by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee as well as federal prosecutors.
In an e-mail message made public by the committee, Mr. Scanlon seemed to lust for wealth, and seemed to see the Indian tribes as easy targets. I want all their money!!! he wrote of one tribe in 2002. Referring to the money available from another tribe, he exclaimed, Weeez gonna be rich!!!
Mr. DeLay has been indicted in Texas on charges involving political fund-raising that are not related to the inquiry in which Mr. Scanlon pleaded guilty today. And Mr. Abramoff has been indicted in Florida on unrelated fraud-and-conspiracy charges involving an attempt to buy a fleet of casino boats.
Like Mr. Ney, Mr. DeLay has been named as a beneficiary of Mr. Abramoff's and Mr. Scanlon's generosity. He, too, has denied wrongdoing. Mr. Cacheris, when asked whether Mr. DeLay had reason to worry over Mr. Scanlon's cooperating with prosecutors, said, You'll have to ask his lawyers.
Troops die without body armor. Why the delay?
For Lack of Body Armor, Troops Die. Why the Delay? |
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Paul Rieckhoff on body armor in USA Today: Rieckhoff and other veterans are calling for a congressional investigation. That's justified. Tracking their complaints could save lives in future wars — not to mention this one.
From USA Today
After Army and Marine Corps generals were summoned Wednesday to a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill, the brass emerged with vows to improve body armor for all U.S. troops in Iraq.
That's good to hear, but shouldn't it have happened sooner?
Members of Congress were reacting to a newly reported analysis by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner, which concluded that 80% of the fatal injuries to Marines in the study might have been prevented by additional armor coverage. Side armor, a special concern, is just beginning to arrive in Iraq.
The armor situation fits a deadly pattern of blunders by the war's architects. The quick invasion of Iraq happened as planned, but — as former Iraq civilian administrator Paul Bremer acknowledges in his new book — the Bush administration didn't anticipate the widespread and lethal insurgency that followed.
The occupying U.S. troops soon found themselves facing deadly new tactics with inadequate armor on both their vehicles and themselves. This tragic miscalculation has had tragic consequences.
To date, 1,510 soldiers and 633 Marines have died in Iraq, many of them killed by rifle shots or explosions in which better armor could have made a difference.
Army generals say the body armor used by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan has already been improved seven times. All soldiers there have bullet-proof body vests called Interceptors, which have front-and-back ceramic plates. Side panels, which are added to the Interceptors to provide more coverage, are just now being distributed to Marines.
Defending their body-armor decisions, Army spokesmen conjure up images of medieval combatants whose ever-heavier personal armor brought their horses to their knees. A soldier wrapped in armor can't fight in the heat of Iraq, they say.
Maybe not, but the Pentagon owes further explanations to military families and to Congress, which since 2001 has appropriated $302 billion to cover operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of the questions that need answering include:
• Was there proper planning? Thousands of troops arrived in Iraq with old-style flak jackets. Not until January 2004 did all troops have the new Interceptor vests, according to a Government Accountability Office report released last year.
•Was the armor upgraded fast enough? The Marine Corps says it moved quickly to add side armor upon learning the news from the examiner's report. But the Army has yet to supply its soldiers with side protection.
• Do the services have adequate supply systems? Those systems appear hobbled by slow turnarounds and poor reliability. In November, more than 18,000 vests were recalled for failing to meet ballistics tests.
Army and Marine commanders know that no battle plan survives the first contact with the enemy. The question is how quickly the services adapt. The answer in Iraq is tooslowly, says Paul Rieckhoff, who led an Army platoon there protected only by the flak jackets, which can't stop an AK-47 round.
The body armor delays mirror problems with the Humvee. Not until last July did the Army finally replace its soft-skinned Humvees, proven tragically vulnerable to roadside bombs, with a fully armored version.
Rieckhoff and other veterans are calling for a congressional investigation. That's justified. Tracking their complaints could save lives in future wars — not to mention this one. |
My bet is Delay will be found innocent and Rove is old news.
Besides, last time I check we had a system of balances in this country. The time and the law will prevail, I have no doubt.
Pot meets kettle. You mean like Tom Delay's 2000-2001
We are still dealing with the aftermath. But hey, he was just trying to help out the shrub and the rest of the GOP good ole boys.
I don't think it's a conspiracy ....
but the gist, that the FDA did approve it, is true.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verichip
There are already things a bit like this now... with implants people get being tagged for identification. (Say your body is burned in a fire. You may be traced with your fake knee.)
But I could see the government coming up with this a a tracking device for say, child molesters. I bet a lot of people would LIKE that.
Not into conspiracy theories....
You hare serious anger issues. And other issues as well.
9/11 and conspiracy theories
For a very long time, there have been people who claimed that 9/11 didn't happen as reported. It's been claimed the black boxes were found by NYC firefighters, yet this was denied by the FBI. It was claimed that the remnants of a plant were never found at the Pentagon. There have been even more *theories* than this.
Up until recently, my common sense told me these *theories* were just ridiculous, and I never EVER gave them a second thought.
Now that I realize that every single thing this president has done has been dishonest, I'm not so sure about 9/11 any longer because I don't think there is anything this man WOULDN'T do, regardless of how heinous, to force Americans to *agree* with his policies by using fear, coercion and intimidation. Most things I used to consider to be simply *unthinkable* are quickly becoming not only thinkable but possible and maybe even likely under Bush.
Lately, when I wake up every morning, I hope I will find that the last 5 years have just been a horrifically bad dream, just like that other famous Texan: Bobby Ewing.
Oh, do I smell conspiracy?
The plot thickens!
No, not a conspiracy....it is a game that...
the poster enjoys...though one of the standard lines is "I won't play your game" and then does exactly that. Frankly, I could not care less. The posts all say the same thing, in the flowery elitist condescending language...should be patently obvious to anyone who would like to go into the archives. But it does not really matter...the poster has made it personal, and the posts are in direct opposition to everything the posterior states are liberal qualities.
I came on this board a few weeks ago and just asked posters to define what they viewed as a "liberal." I got varying descriptions...and then I got a couple of posters who said there were no true liberals in the Democratic party. And based on the description of liberal ideals of other posters, and applying that to how those same posters post...I am left with the idea that that person...the one who said there were no true liberals in the Democratic party...is probably the closest to the truth. LINOs I guess. Liberals in name only.
Have a good day.
I am not a conspiracy theorist, but it is odd
that this was posted the same day that one of Dennis Kucinich's brothers was found dead.
Conspiracy Theory..........
Author: Taylor Caldwell
In The Captains and the Kings (1976) Caldwell takes on the global power brokers. In this book we find, running through the story line, a description of the way the international financiers and industrialists (all private consortiums owned by an elite of the world's richest families and persons) hijack governments around the globe; instigating wars and gaining control over the warring countries through manipulation of the enormous debts incurred during a war. Mentioned too is the Council on Foreign Relations; and while a disclaimer states that all persons portrayed in the book are fictional, it is clear that the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as another major organization of the globalists are both very real organizations. Also described is the idea that political systems everywhere, and certainly in the US, are almost totally dominated by the ruling elite; and that no one even gets into the running for a major political office unless the elite believes the person is under their control. It is explained that this can be direct control; e.g., the candidate takes a solemn oath to be true to that organization above all others; or indirect control: the candidate is known to have done something illegal or scandalous. The threat of public exposure can then be used to bend the person to the will of the elite. Politicians can also be compromised through a "set-up". When necessary the elite will play that hand (conform or be ruined by the controlled media). It is further explained that there have been a few who were not under the control of the elite (back in the 40s and 50s) and who had some success on their own. These individuals were not corruptible and in such cases very dirty tricks were employed against them. There is a figure in the book obviously symbolising JFK, who went along with the elitists (his father's cronies), but who once in power went his own way - resulting in his assassination.
Conspiracy theorists will never allow themselves
They are too busy spinning and doubting to embody that concept.
Conspiracy Nuts
Wow, now I know how crazy we must have looked supporting Gore in the recount and steadfastly hanging on to hope since he had won more of the popular vote. It's time to let it go and move on. Obama is the president-elect. Deal with it and focus your energy where it can be beneficial to someone. Yikes, get over it you sound like nut jobs.
conspiracy theory
Economic crisis well controlled so far, maybe to give the republicans a chance at winning and to keep Bush from being blamed. Will they let the flood gates loose in January? Let us go into full blown economic depression? So far, they have only rescued themselves, not ordinary people. Maybe there won't be anything left to help ordinary people?
You take one conspiracy nutjob
who is obviously a disturbed man who owns guns and you blame Fox News for what he did. Are you kidding me?
I've said this before and I will say it again.....Fox News has the highest ratings....higher than MSNBC and CNN combined. A lot of people are not happy with the way are country is being run and they obviously like what they hear on Fox or they wouldn't be watching it.
Fox News is not the root of all evil. Government corruption, however, is. So why don't you try holding ALL politicians accountable for their actions instead of blaming Fox News and Bush for everything.
I call it a conspiracy theory because it is...
You mention scientists, demolition experts, police, eye witnesses...but someone had to be responsible for whatever you think might have happened, and therein lies the conspiracy theory. So who do the scienists, demolition experts, police, and eyewitnesses think is behind whatever they think they know or saw? And do you have any documentation for any of this? Especially since people actually SAW the planes fly into the buildings...unless you are saying the planes were flown into the buildings to cover up the "demolition" Or the "demolition" just happened to be planned at the same time the planes flew into the buildings? And if there were no planes and the eye witneses to that (including most of the world on television) were all victims of mass hallucination...what happened to the people on those non-existent planes? They never existed either?
Sounds like a conspiracy theory to me. No offense intended...just calling it like it is.
oh yes -- the vast media conspiracy
to hide the TRUTH from the American public!!!!! That's rich. You're mask of sanity is slip-slip-slipping. PAY NO ATTENTION to the man behind the curtain - we at Faux are the ONLY media you can trust! Really. . . we mean it . . . we would never deceive you . . . we have Rove, Morris, Malkin, Coulter, O'Reilly, Hannity . . . a virtual treasure trove of impartial commentators.
Yay! Another conspiracy theory for your scrapbook.
You can fess up now. You're Michael Moore.
Right?
The left wing conspiracy...Hehe!
nmx
Looks more like fact that the machines are flawed than conspiracy..sm
And debating about whether the machines, chads, cards, etc are functioning properly would best be done BEFORE the election than afterwards. Duh!
Conspiracy theories about Vincent Foster...sm
Vincent's death will always be a mystery. I wasn't there, you weren't there, so who is to say what actually happened? Personally, I don't believe the Clintons are murderers, or at the top of some killing machine as some wing nuts suggest. That's not a small accusation, and to make the claim there should be lots of evidence to back it up.
If the Clintons were smart enough to have so many people murdered w/o a trace, then why in the world would he allow himself to be drug through the mud on a sex scandal and ML still alive to tell her story? Another mystery. And what does Vincent Foster have to do with the sex JB scandal anyway? Most of what I read is s-p-e-c-u-l-a-t-i-o-n. I had to say that slow because somebody going to miss it. Anyway, I have no doubt right wingers would give Regan, Bush Sr, and Bush Jr the benefit of the doubt with these type of accusations flying around. I've seen it done, over and over.
Check out the link below. I don't buy any of it, but it's tit for tat since right-wingers are so sure Clinton has a stack of dead bodies somewhere. The psychology of it all is that we are more likely to trust (give the benefit of the doubt or assume innocence until proven guilty) our party.
Albeit nearly 30 years after the fact, Juanita's story is the only one that makes me say *hmmmm, maybe.* I've seen her on interviews and she seemed genuinely distraught. It is unfortunate that she waited 20 years to speak out and did not press charges (that I know of). Now her story is just, well, her story.
The rest of the women, who *claimed* Clinton raped or harrassed them turned around then and took benefit from their claims in some monetarily or fame seeking fashion. Sorry if I think their stories hold little to no merit.
The pathology of the conspiracy theorist's mind
tacit dismissal. They will find flaws in this decision and hang on like mad dogs. Mark my words.
I think perhaps you are a closet republican because that is quite the conspiracy theory.
x
ah...I see your post below...interresting conspiracy theory....sm
I don't agree. Bush and Cheney will be well out of it in 2009. The changes that come will be all Obamas and dem congress.
Not arguing, though... I won't waste anymore of your time.
you live in a chronic state of conspiracy theory
how sad for you 
lol, not it isn't, it's trying to show conspiracy theories are silly no matter what.
party on
What facts have you researched to dismiss this as conspiracy theory?nm
z
Unless it's a crazy conspiracy-theory driven right winger
nm
Nah, just that 'vast left-wing conspiracy' thing
lot of that going on nowadays!
National security? Civil liberties? Must be socialist conspiracy
This is an amazing article that not too suprisingly will probably go unaddressed, right along with Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae corporate bailout story. The're too busy getting ready for the coronation ball. However, I just wanted to thank you for passing this along. The links and other articles also lead to some insightful and interesting reads on stories that will probably end up thrown under the royal coach. Let them eat cake!
Just stop the conspiracy by showing your BC, why hire three law firms...HMMM
Just stop the conspiracy by showing your long form BC...HMMM
And yes, Lynn is my name, not a handle; geesh I guess another conspiracy in the making. nm
nm
Care to post the right fringe rumor rag conspiracy theory link
I am not into solving prevarication puzzles. Further comment might be forthcoming if you spit out precisely what you are trying to say here.
Just stop the conspiracy by showing your long form BC, why hire three law firms...HMMM
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