Republican Corruption in California: Three More Corrupt Republicans

[Joanne98]

Republican Corruption in California: Three More Corrupt Republicans
Seems Republicans are still as corrupt as ever, despite the defeat of corrupt Republican Pombo by Progressive superstar, Jerry McNerney. This is from the California Democratic Party:
http://corruptrepub.blogspot.com/

Pop quiz: Which Southern California Republican Congressman was the happiest to see San Diego-based U.S. Attorney Carol Lam whacked by the Bush crony - Alberto Gonzales?

a) Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar)
b) Ken Calvert (R-Corona)
c) Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands)
d) All of the above

The answer will be revealed later on, but first let's review.

A) Miller, the millionaire developer/part-time Congressman from Diamond Bar, has been living under the growing shadow of an FBI investigation into his potentially illegal real estate dealings. Of course, there are also the additional accusations facing Miller that he used his congressional staff for personal errands and that he pursued federal funding for projects beneficial to properties that he and his campaign contributors owned.

B) Then there's Calvert, another real estate investor who dabbles in his Congressional duties when it suits his business needs. In 2006, the FBI began investigating Calvert after the Los Angeles Times reported on Congressional earmarks benefiting redevelopment of land owned by a Calvert company. The paper reported that in one instance, after a $1.5 million earmark for fixing up the closed air base, Calvert and a partner sold the land for a nearly 100 percent profit a year after its purchase. Just last month it was reported that the Riverside County grand jury is investigating Calvert's land deals.

C) And then there is Jerry Lewis, the former Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. McClatchy Newspapers now reports that on the same day in May of '06 that it was reported the Justice Department was expanding the Duke Cunningham probe to look into Lewis' actions, "Kyle Sampson, then Gonzales' chief of staff, sent an e-mail to deputy White House counsel William Kelley, asking Kelley to call to discuss 'the real problem we have right now with Carol Lam that leads me to conclude that we should have someone ready to be nominated on 11/18, the day her 4-year term expires.'" Wow, what a coincidence. The same day the Justice Department starts looking into another Republican's activities, you start laying the groundwork to dump your U.S. Attorney. Nice.

It has become painfully obvious that this ethically-challenged trio all stood to gain from Lam's immediate removal from her post.

So which of these three amigos would have been happiest to see Lam fired from her post by the Bush Administration? The answer is d) All of the above.

Last November the American people wholeheartedly rejected the Republican Culture of Corruption (Richard Pombo ring any bells?), but it seems clear that the voters' clarion call has fallen on deaf ears in the Bush Administration - while these Republican Congressman continue to act like they are above the law.
http://corruptrepub.blogspot.com/

[natrat]

1. and what does that scumbag arnold have to say? nothing i'm sure

[Joe Bacon]

2. Ken caught with another hooker?

I still remember when Flynt caught him in the act during Clinton's impeachment, but IOKIYAR!

[Demeter]

3. Corrupt Republicans: Isn't That Redundant? n/t

[Peace Patriot]

4. The county election officials in that neck of the woods (to the east of L.A.,

San Bernardino Mountains/Riverside region), are also some of the most corrupt in the state of California. For instance, they colluded with Diebold shill, Connie McCormack, head of L.A. County elections, to drive our honest Secretary of State, Kevin Shelley, from office, after he sued Diebold, decertified their touchscreens and demanded to see their source code (six months prior to the 2004 election). The corruption charges against Shelley were bogus (and the opposite of the truth--he was one of the cleanest politicians and election officials in the entire country). Schwarzenegger then appointed Diebold shill, Bruce McPherson, to that office, who proceeded to illegally RE-certify Diebold touchscreens and to undo all of Shelley's reforms.

We now have a good Secretary of State again--Debra Bowen--one of the miracles of the '06 elections (the people outvoting the machines). And these same corrupt county election officials are now resisting her reforms--for instance, they are opposing Bowen's plan for top to bottom testing of all electronic voting machines. Public servants they are not. And--surprise, surprise--they also presided over the "election" of some of the most corrupt Republicons in Congress.

[Nevernever]

5. Don't forget Dianne Feinstein!

Oh yeah...she's a DEMOCRAT...sorry.

Still - I wonder when (if ever)the Senate Ethics Commitee will take a good look at corruption/profiteering by other members of MILCON (Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee)? Feinstein was Chair of this commitee from 2001-2005, during the same period that two of her husband's (Richard Blum) defense contracting companies, URS and Perini, fortuitously received contracts totalling more than $1 BILLION. Diane Feinstein has recently resigned from the subcommitee amid corruption speculation, however...

I am not debating the facts, here, or denying that the three ReThuglicans above are hopelessly corrupt a$$holes, but it just seems pretty self-serving to keep calling for ReB!tchlican blood, all the while denying that SOME Democrats are pulling EXACTLY the same BS.

http://www.counterpunch.org/frank04042007.html

"Here's a brief rundown of the Feinstein family's blatant war profiteering. In April 2003, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave $500 million to Perini to provide services for Iraq's Central Command. A month earlier in March 2003, Perini was awarded $25 million to design and construct a facility to support the Afghan National Army near Kabul. And in March 2004, Perini was awarded a hefty contract worth up to $500 million for "electrical power distribution and transmission" in southern Iraq.

But it is not just Perini that has made Feinstein and Blum wealthy. Blum also held over 111,000 shares of stock in URS Corporation, which is now one of the top defense contractors in the United States. Blum was an acting director of URS, which bought EG&G, a leading provider of technical services and management to the U.S. military, from the neocon packed Carlyle Group back in 2002.

"As part of EG&G's sale price," reports the San Francisco Chronicle, "Carlyle acquired a 21.74 percent stake in URS -- second only to the 23.7 percent of shares controlled by Blum Capital."

URS and Blum have since banked on the war in Iraq, attaining a $600 million contract through EG&G, which Sen. Feinstein permitted. As a result, URS has seen its stock price more than triple since the war began in March of 2003. Blum has cashed in over $2 million on this venture alone and another $100 million for his investment firm."

I am not saying that we shouldn't hold the RePIGlicans accountable for their DISGUSTING and corrupt actions, just that we have to hold THEM ALL accountable IN THE SAME WAY, regardless of affiliation. Feinstein may not be guilty of ANYTHING, actually, but to the casual observer, there would seem to be a huge conflict of interest here, at the LEAST...

[gratuitous]

6. The voters call has fallen on deaf ears

I don't dispute the characterization, but really, do you expect a bunch of crooks to just hand back what they stole? Nope, not a chance. Their modus operandi is to grab faster as the forces of the law start to close in. They're well aware of their own corruption; it's just that up until fairly recently, the cops were on the take, and they knew they were largely untouchable. You had to be as out-of-control corrupt as Duke Cunningham to get nailed. But the gang is starting to fall, and they know that their crime spree is coming to an end. So now's the time to really grab everything that isn't nailed down.

[GreenTea]

7. Corruption in N CA congressman John Doolittle (R-CA)-This pig Doollitle is as corrupt & slimy as any

of the many republicans facing corruption charges.

http://www.beyonddelay.org/summaries/doolittle.php

[RacingBobbie]

8. They need to throw

all of the pukes out of office and start with new ones, the ones in there now are so corrupt and hypocrites.