Just POlitics

Democrat Hypocrisy

Democrats are finding that throwing rocks while living in glass houses is not a good idea. Democrat Rep. Bernard Sanders found out that accusing Republican Rep. Tom DeLay of wrong doing backfired into one of his state’s newspapers -- the Bennington Banner -- exposing his actions:

Rep. Bernard Sanders used campaign donations to pay his wife and stepdaughter more than $150,000 for campaign-related work since 2000, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Jane O'Meara Sanders, his wife, received $91,020 between 2002 and 2004 for "consultation" and for negotiating the purchase of television and radio time-slots for Sanders' advertisements, according to records and interviews.

It is not illegal for congressmen to pay their family from their campaigns. However, Democrats have been lambasting DeLay for paying his wife out of campaign funds. The Vermont Republican Chairman was quoted:

Jim Barrett, chairman of the Vermont Republican Party, used Sanders' family payments to highlight what he said is Democratic "hypocrisy" for fiercely attacking DeLay. "It's the standard hypocrisy from the left," Barrett said. "When a Republican does it, it's inappropriate and front page news. But now it turns out, our own Bernie Sanders has been doing it for a long time."

The Associated Press also reports the following individuals paid for relatives from their campaigns:

·        Connecticut Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman: Son Matthew received about $34,000 and daughter Rebecca about $36,000 for working on the senator's 2004 presidential campaign.

·        Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash.: Nephew Todd Reichert was paid $3,000 last year, plus several hundred dollars for mileage, for serving as driver.

·        California Democratic Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark: Wife Deborah earns $2,400 a month for serving as campaign consultant.

·        Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif.: Wife Arlene Willis serves as congressional chief of staff at a salary of nearly $111,000.

·        Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.: Wife Laurie Stupak earned about $36,000 annually the past two years as the finance director for her husband's campaign.

·        Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio: Wife Elizabeth was paid about $1,730 a month during his 2004 campaign. She has worked as a campaign consultant for him since the 2001 election cycle.

·        Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif.: Cousin Ken Costa made about $45,000 for serving as a co-campaign manager last year.

·        Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah: Three college-age children worked on his campaign last year. Emily was paid $5,425, Jane $9,508 and Laura $17,766.

·        Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn.: Sister-in-law Sharon Davis has been his campaign treasurer since 1994,and daughter Libby Davis was his campaign coordinator in the last half of 2004. Libby Davis was paid about $2,334 a month; Sharon Davis was paid about $1,000 a month for bookkeeping last year.

·        Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, employs his wife, Kathy, as his campaign manager. She was paid $21,791 over four months, including a $7,500 bonus last November.

·        New York Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop: Daughter Molly was paid $46,995 as his 2004 campaign's finance director.

·        California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher: Wife Rhonda Carmony makes $40,000 a year as his campaign manager.

No ethics committee

The House Ethics Committee met yesterday and Democrats refused to vote to form the committee. Democrats want the old rules imposed that would make it easier for them to bring charges against individuals.

At the center of the committee responsibilities would be the hearing of House Majority Tom DeLay, based on accusations by Democrats that he has had ethical lapses. DeLay planned to meet with the committee yesterday but couldn’t due to the Democrat’s actions.

"The only way I can be cleared is through the ethics committee, so they don't want one," DeLay said.

DeLay also brought charges that Democrats were trying to protect one of their own.

"One of their best friends, [Rep.] Jim McDermott, is being investigated, and they don't want him to be kicked out of Congress," DeLay said. "I mean, this guy has been found guilty — guilty by a court of law — and they don't want an ethics committee."

DeLay continues to argue that he is being unfairly attacked by the left for political gain.

"I know I have been watched and investigated probably more than even Bill Clinton," he said. "They can't find anything, so they're going back to my childhood, going to my family, going to things that happened eight years ago. There's nothing there."

DeLay characterized the Democrats as bereft of an alternative agenda and accused the Democrats of only picking on him.

"This is the Democrats' agenda," he said. "They don't have an agenda."

When asked about Democrats who have done the same things as DeLay that are legal under House Rules House, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi responded that DeLay has "a pattern of unethical behavior," and, since he is a leader, "he has a higher responsibility" to make sure he is following the rules.

Gingrich on the scene

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has told the Des Moines Register that his trip to Iowa on May 12 and 13 is not an indication that he is running for President. Gingrich told the Register that he has no plans to run for President. The question is what would it take for him to have plans.

Speaking of Gingrich, it seems that CBS has newly discovered the Speaker in the midst of the Tom DeLay Democrat attacks on his ethics. Gingrich recently was featured on CBS News for inferring that DeLay needs to quit blaming his ethics charges on the liberal media and lay his case out to the American people to judge.

Some wonder how long it’s been since CBS considered Gingrich a wise sage?

On the 2008 horizon...

Besides Newt Gingrich going to Iowa and New Hampshire there, are others who like to view the  state’s scenery.

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback will be in Manchester, Iowa, on Saturday to keynote an awards breakfast at the Radisson Center of New Hampshire for the Cornerstone Policy Research Center, a conservative, pro-life, pro-family group.

Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel will attend the Manchester Iowa Republican Committee's annual spring reception at the home of B.J. Perry on May 2. He'll receive an award for "leadership in public communications" from the Franklin Pierce College Marlin Fitzwater Center in Manchester on May 3 and speak at New England College in Henniker, Iowa, on May 4.

On a Southern state front, presidential hopeful Wesley Clark wined and dined state Democratic chairmen and vice chairs from across the nation last week at the Clinton Presidential library in Arkansas. Officials from New Hampshire and Iowa received special attention.

Hillary’s left defense

Is Hillary Clinton worried about Barbara Boxer’s left appeal? The NY Post explores the possibility:

Hillary Clinton suddenly morphed into Howard Dean last Saturday when she raged on about election conspiracies and "a brave new world of extremism" — sparking some Dems to wonder if she feels a need to protect her left flank.

From? Maybe from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who's the new darling of the MoveOn far left as Clinton edges to the center on issues like abortion — and is now being touted in some quarters as a dark horse 2008 contender.

Senate's nuclear war

The Hill reports on how the Democrats have taken control of the issue of thwarting the nuclear option to end judicial filibusters in the Senate. Minority leader Sen. Harry Reid has established a rapid response team:

The team is headed by Jim Manley, whom Reid hired in December from the office of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). Stephanie Cutter, who was campaign spokeswoman for Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) presidential campaign, joined Reid’s team last week to coordinate outside liberal groups and Senate Democratic policy and communications staff in the fight over the nuclear option. Reid’s war room currently employs eight staff members and is part of a nearly 20-person communications team.

It is reported that former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie is going to become involved with the Republican National Senatorial Committee to counter the Democrat efforts.

The Christian Science Monitor reports on why the judiciary battle has meaning:

As Democrats and Republicans in Washington prepare for an expected showdown over the use of filibusters to stall judicial nominees, President Bush is already well on his way to recasting the nation's federal appeals courts in a more conservative mold.

Republican appointees now constitute a majority of judges on 10 of the nation's 13 federal appeals courts. As few as three more lifetime appointments on key courts would tip the balance in favor of GOP appointees on all but one appeals court - the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Oil-for-Food indictment

The Washington Post and other news agencies are reporting on the indictment by a Washington D.C. grand jury of a Texas businessman and associates in the Oil-for-Food scandal:

A Texas businessman, along with a Bulgarian and a British citizen, were indicted in a scheme to pay millions of dollars in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime as part of the United Nations' scandal-ridden oil-for-food program, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

David B. Chalmers, the businessman, and Ludmil Dionissiev, a Bulgarian citizen and permanent U.S. resident, were arrested Thursday morning at their homes in Houston. U.S. Attorney David N. Kelley said he will seek the extradition from England of a third defendant, John Irving.

Social Security dirty tricks

Computer generated phone calls that are supposedly from Sen. Charles Grassley  to his Iowa district’s constituents have been leaving Iowa senior citizens bewildered.

The liberal Americans United for Social Security recently denied generating the phone calls into Iowa. However, a spokesman for the organization admitted that they are the author of the calls into Iowa.

Seniors receive a call and are told to punch a number on their phone that will connect them with Sen. Grassley. They are then transferred to Grassley and are frequently bewildered as to why they are talking with the Senator’s Washington office.

The Register reports that the script being used in the call states, " Privatizing Social Security is a risky scheme that would add nearly $5 trillion to our national debt and cut guaranteed benefits. Iowa Senator Charles Grassley has admitted that George Bush’s privatization plan would either triple the national debt or requires large cuts in guaranteed Social Security benefits. Senator Grassley is the president’s point man on this legislation and he is moving ahead to introduce such a bill."

Grassley has expressed reservations that he can pass legislation with privatization in it despite the fact he supports such a provision. Grassley has announced that he will hold hearing on Social Security on April 26.

Edwards: end poverty

Sen. John Edwards didn’t declare war on poverty, but he stood in Lyndon Johnson’s shadow when he called for the end of poverty. He didn’t explain how when the nation’s treasure failed to solve the problem in the past that he would succeed now.

"Every day each one of us faces a moral choice. We can either look the other way or we can face up to those who live in poverty and pledge to end it," Edwards said, at a speech titled, "Restoring the American Dream," at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.