As Foley Gate unfolds, we have at least three investigations going on, with the FBI, the state of Florida and the Congressional Ethics Committee all in the mix. Are they going to investigate JUST THE SEX SCANDAL, or are they going to start given everything a much closer examination? If they give Foley a SERIOUS look under the microscope, I believe we could uncover a scandal at least as big as the Abramoff Scandal. I think this, because I have spent the morning looking into some of Foley's ALLEGED campaign expenditures, and they raise some serious questions.
For starters, he has come out and admitted he has an alcohol problem, and wants us to believe that is the root of his problems. Well, I can tell you that he regularly (was told twice a month) visited the Congressional Liquors store in Washington, DC. Store employees said he came in usually twice a month, most times paid cash, but not always...I guess not, since he wrote off almost $2,000 worth of beverage purchases at this store as fundraising expenditures.
However, that amount PALES in comparison to $130,000 of campaign funds he used to pay off his American Express Account! Now, call me strange, but I find it rather odd that the FEC never questioned payments to American Express in LARGE CHUNKS, never asking for a break down of payments, some of which were over $30,000.
Then, there is the matter of Constituent meals...there are a LOT OF THEM, but one in particular caught my attention. First, why would a Florida Congressman be having a meal with a constituent in very gay friendly Newport, Rhode Island? Further, this end of summer (8/31/05) meal was at the very FAMOUS and EXPENSIVE Cooke House which is half a block from the pier, and one of the most expensive small hotels on the water you would ever want to stay at....I eaten in the place, stayed in the hotel. The food is spectacular, service beyond compare, but why is a Florida Congressman meeting constituents there for a meal? Maybe he could explain this one when he explains private travel on what I am assuming was/is the private jet of the Pfizer Corporation.
He spent over $30,000 buying calenders from the Washington, DC Historical Society, so I guess he thought we would miss the $275 he spent on a constituent gift! Curious, any of you ever had your Congressman send you a gift? He donated to George Allen's campaign war chest, and used his campaign fund to pay off his Florida Corporate Taxes. These are just a few of the things I have found, and have a feeling a close examination of his financial records will raise some serious eyebrows, and futher expose the true corruptness of the Republican Party.
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Comments: 30
I have no doubt that there are Dems guilty of violations. People are people, and normally it'll be an equal proportion of Dems and Pubs. The deal here is that the temptations are more excessive with the people in power. The Republicans have had that power for twelve years now, with an obvious toothless oversight committee. So I would argue that the ethical violations are far greater and more numerous on the current Majority side of the equation.
Who here remembers when they actually changed the ethics rules in order to keep Delay as Majority Leader? That's a pretty damn blatant misuse of power. Unfortunately for the Republican people of this country it shows a lack of ethical standards on their part when they accept these "in your face" standards of immorality. I have a statement from a far-right pundit that is going to be my favorite quote for anytime the Republican Party wants to cry foul.
Pat Buchanan has stated that "When you tout yourself as being the Party of Morality and you get caught with your pants down, then you're going to get hammered far greater than if you didn't."
In my words, "If you build a glass house, you can't blame the neighborhood if you drive your car into it and it breaks all to hell".
Peace
i understand that they didn't want to out a gay congressperson. i understand that they thought that since he was a republican and he was pulling in votes, they shouldn't try to unseat this person.
hastert's office opted to give foley a word to the wise and not notify law enforcement, not share the information with their democrat colleagues because of the above concern. i hope that they didn't react the same way with others. was foley the only concern in the last several years that had strange contact with the pages? we don't know.
but they should have been ready, once they had chosen their course of action, to address this issue publicly. instead, it appears they had no fallback plan to stuffing this in a closet. they didn't seem to understand that their conduct might have compromised other white house pages that might have been on the receiving end of foley's behavior. it wasn't just THIS page and THIS congressman. people who approach others sexually in an inappropriate way have already demonstrated that their moral indicator is set on low.
my problem isn't with foley. we know, as a society, that there are sexual predators around. and i would classify inappropriate approaches by a congressman to white house pages as predatory behavior. the congressman was using his position in order to entice them into a sexual relationship, whether it was physically consummated or not. for myself, if someone was using my picture as a sexual object when masturbating, i think i would throw up.
my problem is that people who didn't have the proclivity for this kind of contact with the pages did not take some action to make sure that these or other behavior was not going on, that all of the pages were safe. the republican party advertises itself as the party of family values, and yet they chose the congressman's privacy and left the risk present.
my point is that it's not foley that was the problem. it's the hypocrisy of the leadership of the republican majority that is the problem.
That's completely untrue. Virtually every scandal that is engulfing politics right now is from the GOP culture of corruption. We MIGHT see one or two democrats involved in SOMETHING, such as Mr. Jefferson's bizarre $90,000 cash freezer, but I guarantee you that the overwhelming majority of political filth right now is coming from the party of zero values and zero accountabiilty, not the democrats.
One thing that people seem to be forgetting is that the republicans control EVERYTHING. This means not only that they have the ability to bury their own scandals to a significant degree (which means far GREATER scandal when the truth finally does leak out), but that those who were bribing elected officials had virtually no incentive to hand money to democrats. They hold no positions of power at any level of the federal government. They'd be idiots to try to bribe someone who had no power to make changes.
If you believe this is anything new in American history, I would suggest a quick trip to the library.
Yes I have. But when are you going to get to my point, instead of changing the topic to what sort of television I watch? Typical.
I know, I know, when it's Democrats who do the dirty deeds, they get a little slap on the wrist, then they go on back to work to (mis)represent the people just like nothing ever happened, but when it's a Republican, they are forced to resign, and the Democrats try to go as far up the chain as they can and scratch with their little claws to try and do as much damage as they can.
No wonder you've been the lost party since 1994.
Harping on Foley is a loser's game, it's whining and complaining. It isn't productive, it isn't useful, it's just silly. Of course, that doesn't mean it isn't politically expedient, now does it Porgie.
You seem to understand full well how to distract, obfuscate, obscure. First you bring up immigration, then you bring up Foley, then you bring up something else, and of course, the lovely name calling.
You've got this down to a science Porgie, and you really are to be commended. The squeaky wheel gets the grease seems to be a cliche you've mastered.
other than some whiny seven year old as a publicity stunt trying to give Bush a poorly written letter about his Mother the ILLEGAL ALIEN. Same way with the North American Union...it's DEAD until after the election. No one is busy faxing Congress right now, no one making calls to speak with aides to express our concerns. Other than maybe an interesting arrest of 500 ILLEGALS, or some great court decision deporting a few hundred of these illegal slime, it's a DEAD ISSUE until after November.
I bring up Foley for a reason... though against illegal scum criminals, I happen to be a DEMOCRAT. I am supporting a Democrat for Congress because I embrace his stand on most issues, especially where Bush's FAILED POLICY of Stay the Course is concerned. Foley, and the scandal surrounding his nefarious actions shows the Republican Party for what they really are in a way people can understand. It's BLACK AND WHITE, RIGHT AND WRONG, and the Republicans ARE WRONG BIG TIME. Bob Ney is in prison, all but forgotten, same with Duke Cunningham, and two members of the White House staff. Tom DeLay stepped down in the hopes that his eventual conviction will not damage the party too badly, especially since he'll cut a deal and then get his Presidential Pardon along with fall guy Scooter (pie) Libby.
I think what UPSETS YOU MJOST jJack, is that there are a lot of others here on Gather that agree with a lot of what I have to say, they follow and comment on my posts, unlike most of your drivel.
Being drunk 25 years ago is not the same AS TAKING BRIBES WHEN YOU ARE A UNITED STATED CONGRESSMAN YOU IDIOT.
What flipping planet are you living on. Are you such a dotard that you can't see the difference. Being drunk when you're in college cannot possibly compare to accepting a 50k dollar bribe from Saudi businessmen in return for favors.
You have got to be the dumbest son of a bitch on God's green earth.
I think Porgie thinks immigration is a dead issue because he knows it's an argument he can't win, he'd rather complain about the Foley thing for it's titillation value apparently.
I would wager there are no less than 6 articles in this section alone where Porgie is discussing this so called "dead" issue.
Let's get back to your GPA and your days in Vietnam, that's the really IMPORTANT stuff isn't it Porgie?
jJack....try quoting me accurately...I said the immigration debate is DEAD until after the election, because it is not going to move one way or the other until after the fall elections.
jJack....try quoting me ACCURATELY...said I was a Vietnam Era Veteran, and as for the GPA....you figure out a way to put up a WAGER of say $50,000 that is collectable, and be more than happy to prove it to you. YOu seem so SURE OF YOURSELF, put your money where your MOUTH IS BOY.
Hey Porgie, I'll bet you if you can answer the question with a better answer than mine.
Why do you suppose you get the most comments of all the articles here in this section?
Mainly because of my input, side kick---
You currently have four articles here, with a total of 104 posts, of which, 25 belong to ME ! ! ! !
If you count all of your posts, responding to my posts, I account for over half of your comments.
How's that for a "clue"??? How's that for "crunching" numbers??? *ROFL*
Quote you "accurately?" I'm not even sure YOU could do that *ROFL*
By the way, it was the last word of you post above that really got me rollin' on the floor guffawing.
Not in the Election 2006 section, which is what I specifically directed my comments to.
Not like I am FORCING YOU TO WRITE in my threads
Yes, I am forced to respond to your idiotic stupidity. No one else seems capable, or willing.
Exactly, but you conveniently forgot to mention Democratic Congressman Richard Jefferson who was caught this year with 50K in bribes inside of his freezer. DIDN'T WANT TO BRING THAT UP HUH!!!
You are so goddamned hypocritical. It really is pathetict.
What about the fact that those three that you named have resigned or been forced out, but Mr. Murtha is still sitting in Congress. A bit of a double standard, no?
Of course not, because only Republicans are bad, oh except for
Marion Barry - Democrat - mayor of Washington, D.C., from 1979 to 1991 and again from 1995 to 1999. Convicted of cocaine possession after being caught on videotape smoking crack cocaine. Sentenced to six months in prison.
Robert Torricelli - Democrat - Withdrew from the 2002 Senate race with less than 30 days before the election because of controversy over personal gifts he took from a major campaign donor and questions about campaign donations from 1996.
James McGreevey - Democrat - New Jersey Governor . Admitted to having a gay affair. Resigned after allegations of sexual harassment, rumors of being blackmailed on top of fundraising investigations and indictments.
Gary Condit - Democrat - US Democratic Congressman from California. Condit had an affair with an intern. Condit, covered up the affair and lied to police after she went missing. No charges were ever filed against Condit. Her remains were discovered in a Washington DC park..
Daniel David Rostenkowski - Democrat - U.S. Representative from Illinois from 1959 to 1995. Indicted on 17 felony charges- pleaded guilty to two counts of misuse of public funds and sentenced to seventeen months in federal prison.
John Murtha, Jr. - Democrat - U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania. Implicated in the Abscam sting, in which FBI agents impersonating Arab businessmen offered bribes to political figures; Murtha was cited as an unindicted co-conspirator
Gerry Eastman Studds - Democrat - U.S. Representative from Massachusetts from 1973 to 1997. The first openly gay member of Congress. Censured by the House of Representatives for having sexual relations with a teenage House page.
James C. Green - Democrat - North Carolina State House of Representatives from 1961 to 1977. Charged with accepting a bribe from an undercover FBI agent, but was acquitted. Convicted of tax evasion in 1997.
Raymond Lederer - Democrat - U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania from 1977 to 1981. Implicated in the Abscam sting - convicted of bribery and sentenced to three years in prison and fined $20,000.
Harrison Arlington Williams, Jr. - Democrat - U.S. Senator from New Jersey from 1959 to 1970. Implicated in the Abscam sting. Allegedly accepted an 18% interest in a titanium mine. Convicted of nine counts of bribery, conspiracy, receiving an unlawful gratuity, conflict of interest, and interstate travel in aid of racketeering. Sentenced to three years in prison and fined $50,000.
Frank Thompson, Jr. - Democrat - U.S. Representative from New Jersey from 1955 to 1980. Implicated in the Abscam sting, convicted on bribery and conspiracy charges. Sentenced to three years in prison
Michael Joseph Myers - Democrat - U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania from 1976 to 1980. Implicated in the Abscam sting - convicted of bribery and conspiracy; sentenced to three years in prison and fined $20,000; expelled from the House of Representatives on October 2, 1980.
John Michael Murphy - Democrat - U.S. Representative from New York from 1963 to 1981. Implicated in the Abscam sting. Convicted of conspiracy, conflict of interest, and accepting an illegal gratuity. Sentenced to three years in prison and fined $20,000.
John Wilson Jenrette, Jr - Democrat - U.S. Representative from South Carolina from 1975 to 1980. Implicated in the Abscam sting. Convicted on bribery and conspiracy charges and sentenced to prison
And let's not forget Big Willy...
William Jefferson Clinton- Impeached by the House of Representatives over allegations of perjury and obstruction of justice, but acquitted by the Senate. Scandals include Whitewater - Travelgate Gennifer Flowersgate - Filegate - Vince Fostergate - Whitewater Billing Recordsgate - Paula Jonesgate- Lincoln Bedroomgate - Donations from Convicted Drug and Weapons Dealersgate - Lippogate - Chinagate - The Lewinsky Affair - Perjury and Jobs for Lewinskygate - Kathleen Willeygate - Web Hubbell Prison Phone Callgate - Selling Military Technology to the Chinesegate - Jaunita Broaddrick Gate - Lootergate - Pardongate
WOW! I wonder how all those people went to jail for ABSCAM, but Mr. Murtha got away. How bout that luck, huh.
Have fun trying to downplay how (not) above it all is the Democratic party.