Subject: Ten Most Corrupt Politicians of 2009
Nine out of the ten are Democrats....no surprise there....
Judicial Watch Announces List of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt
Politicians" for 2009
Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and
prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2009 list of
Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians." The list, in
alphabetical order, includes:
Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT): This marks two years in a row for
Senator Dodd, who made the 2008 "Ten Most Corrupt" list for his corrupt
relationship with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and for accepting
preferential treatment and loan terms from Countrywide Financial, a
scandal which still dogs him. In 2009, the scandals kept coming for the
Connecticut Democrat. In 2009, Judicial Watch filed a Senate ethics
complaint against Dodd for undervaluing a property he owns in Ireland
on his Senate Financial Disclosure forms. Judicial Watch's complaint
forced Dodd to amend the forms. However, press reports suggest the
property to this day remains undervalued. Judicial Watch also alleges
in the complaint that Dodd obtained a sweetheart deal for the property
in exchange for his assistance in obtaining a presidential pardon
(during the Clinton administration) and other favors for a long-time
friend and business associate. The false financial disclosure forms
were part of the cover-up. Dodd remains the head the Senate Banking
Committee.
Senator John Ensign (R-NV): A number of scandals popped up in 2009
involving public officials who conducted illicit affairs, and then
attempted to cover them up with hush payments and favors, an obvious
abuse of power. The year's worst offender might just be Nevada
Republican Senator John Ensign. Ensign admitted in June to an
extramarital affair with the wife of one of his staff members, who then
allegedly obtained special favors from the Nevada Republican in
exchange for his silence. According to The New York Times: "The Justice
Department and the Senate Ethics Committee are expected to conduct
preliminary inquiries into whether Senator John Ensign violated federal
law or ethics rules as part of an effort to conceal an affair with the
wife of an aide…" The former staffer, Douglas Hampton, began to lobby
Mr. Ensign's office immediately upon leaving his congressional job,
despite the fact that he was subject to a one-year lobbying ban. Ensign
seems to have ignored the law and allowed Hampton lobbying access to
his office as a payment for his silence about the affair. (These are
potentially criminal offenses.) It looks as if Ensign misused his
public office (and taxpayer resources) to cover up his sexual
shenanigans.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA): Judicial Watch is investigating a $12 million
TARP cash injection provided to the Boston-based OneUnited Bank at the
urging of Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank. As reported in the January
22, 2009, edition of the Wall Street Journal, the Treasury Department
indicated it would only provide funds to healthy banks to jump-start
lending. Not only was OneUnited Bank in massive financial turmoil, but
it was also "under attack from its regulators for allegations of poor
lending practices and executive-pay abuses, including owning a Porsche
for its executives' use." Rep. Frank admitted he spoke to a "federal
regulator," and Treasury granted the funds. (The bank continues to
flounder despite Frank's intervention for federal dollars.) Moreover,
Judicial Watch uncovered documents in 2009 that showed that members of
Congress for years were aware that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were
playing fast and loose with accounting issues, risk assessment issues
and executive compensation issues, even as liberals led by Rep. Frank
continued to block attempts to rein in the two Government Sponsored
Enterprises (GSEs). For example, during a hearing on September 10,
2003, before the House Committee on Financial Services considering a
Bush administration proposal to further regulate Fannie and Freddie,
Rep. Frank stated: "I want to begin by saying that I am glad to
consider the legislation, but I do not think we are facing any kind of
a crisis. That is, in my view, the two Government Sponsored Enterprises
we are talking about here, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not in a
crisis. We have recently had an accounting problem with Freddie Mac
that has led to people being dismissed, as appears to be appropriate. I
do not think at this point there is a problem with a threat to the
Treasury." Frank received $42,350 in campaign contributions from Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac between 1989 and 2008. Frank also engaged in a
relationship with a Fannie Mae Executive while serving on the House
Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac.
Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner: In 2009, Obama Treasury
Secretary Timothy Geithner admitted that he failed to pay $34,000 in
Social Security and Medicare taxes from 2001-2004 on his lucrative
salary at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an organization with
185 member countries that oversees the global financial system. (Did we
mention Geithner now runs the IRS?) It wasn't until President Obama
tapped Geithner to head the Treasury Department that he paid back most
of the money, although the IRS kindly waived the hefty penalties. In
March 2009, Geithner also came under fire for his handling of the AIG
bonus scandal, where the company used $165 million of its bailout funds
to pay out executive bonuses, resulting in a massive public backlash.
Of course as head of the New York Federal Reserve, Geithner helped
craft the AIG deal in September 2008. However, when the AIG scandal
broke, Geithner claimed he knew nothing of the bonuses until March 10,
2009. The timing is important. According to CNN: "Although Treasury
Secretary Timothy Geithner told congressional leaders on Tuesday that
he learned of AIG's impending $160 million bonus payments to members of
its troubled financial-products unit on March 10, sources tell TIME
that the New York Federal Reserve informed Treasury staff that the
payments were imminent on Feb. 28. That is ten days before Treasury
staffers say they first learned 'full details' of the bonus plan, and
three days before the [Obama] Administration launched a new $30 billion
infusion of cash for AIG." Throw in another embarrassing disclosure in
2009 that Geithner employed "household help" ineligible to work in the
United States, and it becomes clear why the Treasury Secretary has
earned a spot on the "Ten Most Corrupt Politicians in Washington" list.
Attorney General Eric Holder: Tim Geithner can be sure he won't be
hounded about his tax-dodging by his colleague Eric Holder, US Attorney
General. Judicial Watch strongly opposed Holder because of his terrible
ethics record, which includes: obstructing an FBI investigation of the
theft of nuclear secrets from Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory; rejecting
multiple requests for an independent counsel to investigate alleged
fundraising abuses by then-Vice President Al Gore in the Clinton White
House; undermining the criminal investigation of President Clinton by
Kenneth Starr in the midst of the Lewinsky investigation; and planning
the violent raid to seize then-six-year-old Elian Gonzalez at gunpoint
in order to return him to Castro's Cuba. Moreover, there is his soft
record on terrorism. Holder bypassed Justice Department procedures to
push through Bill Clinton's scandalous presidential pardons and
commutations, including for 16 members of FALN, a violent Puerto Rican
terrorist group that orchestrated approximately 120 bombings in the
United States, killing at least six people and permanently maiming
dozens of others, including law enforcement officers. His record in the
current administration is no better. As he did during the Clinton
administration, Holder continues to ignore serious incidents of
corruption that could impact his political bosses at the White House.
For example, Holder has refused to investigate charges that the Obama
political machine traded VIP access to the White House in exchange for
campaign contributions – a scheme eerily similar to one hatched by
Holder's former boss, Bill Clinton in the 1990s. The Holder Justice
Department also came under fire for dropping a voter intimidation case
against the New Black Panther Party. On Election Day 2008, Black
Panthers dressed in paramilitary garb threatened voters as they
approached polling stations. Holder has also failed to initiate a
comprehensive Justice investigation of the notorious organization ACORN
(Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which is
closely tied to President Obama. There were allegedly more than 400,000
fraudulent ACORN voter registrations in the 2008 campaign. And then
there were the journalist videos catching ACORN Housing workers
advising undercover reporters on how to evade tax, immigration, and
child prostitution laws. Holder's controversial decisions on new rights
for terrorists and his attacks on previous efforts to combat terrorism
remind many of the fact that his former law firm has provided and
continues to provide pro bono representation to terrorists at
Guantanamo Bay. Holder's politicization of the Justice Department makes
one long for the days of Alberto Gonzales.
Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)/ Senator Roland Burris (D-IL): One of
the most serious scandals of 2009 involved a scheme by former Illinois
Governor Rod Blagojevich to sell President Obama's then-vacant Senate
seat to the highest bidder. Two men caught smack dab in the middle of
the scandal: Senator Roland Burris, who ultimately got the job, and
Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, emissaries
for Jesse Jackson Jr., named "Senate Candidate A" in the Blagojevich
indictment, reportedly offered $1.5 million to Blagojevich during a
fundraiser if he named Jackson Jr. to Obama's seat. Three days later
federal authorities arrested Blagojevich. Burris, for his part,
apparently lied about his contacts with Blagojevich, who was arrested
in December 2008 for trying to sell Obama's Senate seat. According to
Reuters: "Roland Burris came under fresh scrutiny…after disclosing he
tried to raise money for the disgraced former Illinois governor who
named him to the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack
Obama…In the latest of those admissions, Burris said he looked into
mounting a fundraiser for Rod Blagojevich -- later charged with trying
to sell Obama's Senate seat -- at the same time he was expressing
interest to the then-governor's aides about his desire to be
appointed." Burris changed his story five times regarding his contacts
with Blagojevich prior to the Illinois governor appointing him to the
U.S. Senate. Three of those changing explanations came under oath.
President Barack Obama: During his presidential campaign, President
Obama promised to run an ethical and transparent administration.
However, in his first year in office, the President has delivered
corruption and secrecy, bringing Chicago-style political corruption to
the White House. Consider just a few Obama administration "lowlights"
from year one: Even before President Obama was sworn into office, he
was interviewed by the FBI for a criminal investigation of former
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's scheme to sell the President's
former Senate seat to the highest bidder. (Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm
Emanuel and slumlord Valerie Jarrett, both from Chicago, are also
tangled up in the Blagojevich scandal.) Moreover, the Obama
administration made the startling claim that the Privacy Act does not
apply to the White House. The Obama White House believes it can violate
the privacy rights of American citizens without any legal consequences
or accountability. President Obama boldly proclaimed that "transparency
and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency," but
his administration is addicted to secrecy, stonewalling far too many of
Judicial Watch's Freedom of Information Act requests and is refusing to
make public White House visitor logs as federal law requires. The Obama
administration turned the National Endowment of the Arts (as well as
the agency that runs the AmeriCorps program) into propaganda machines,
using tax dollars to persuade "artists" to promote the Obama agenda.
According to documents uncovered by Judicial Watch, the idea emerged as
a direct result of the Obama campaign and enjoyed White House approval
and participation. President Obama has installed a record number of
"czars" in positions of power. Too many of these individuals are
leftist radicals who answer to no one but the president. And too many
of the czars are not subject to Senate confirmation (which raises
serious constitutional questions). Under the President's bailout
schemes, the federal government continues to appropriate or control --
through fiat and threats -- large sectors of the private economy,
prompting conservative columnist George Will to write: "The
administration's central activity -- the political allocation of wealth
and opportunity -- is not merely susceptible to corruption, it is
corruption." Government-run healthcare and car companies, White House
coercion, uninvestigated ACORN corruption, debasing his office to help
Chicago cronies, attacks on conservative media and the private sector,
unprecedented and dangerous new rights for terrorists, perks for
campaign donors – this is Obama's "ethics" record -- and we haven't
even gotten through the first year of his presidency.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): At the heart of the corruption problem in
Washington is a sense of entitlement. Politicians believe laws and
rules (even the U.S. Constitution) apply to the rest of us but not to
them. Case in point: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her excessive and
boorish demands for military travel. Judicial Watch obtained documents
from the Pentagon in 2008 that suggest Pelosi has been treating the Air
Force like her own personal airline. These documents, obtained through
the Freedom of Information Act, include internal Pentagon email
correspondence detailing attempts by Pentagon staff to accommodate
Pelosi's numerous requests for military escorts and military aircraft
as well as the speaker's 11th hour cancellations and changes. House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi also came under fire in April 2009, when she
claimed she was never briefed about the CIA's use of the waterboarding
technique during terrorism investigations. The CIA produced a report
documenting a briefing with Pelosi on September 4, 2002, that suggests
otherwise. Judicial Watch also obtained documents, including a CIA
Inspector General report, which further confirmed that Congress was
fully briefed on the enhanced interrogation techniques. Aside from her
own personal transgressions, Nancy Pelosi has ignored serious incidents
of corruption within her own party, including many of the individuals
on this list. (See Rangel, Murtha, Jesse Jackson, Jr., etc.)
Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) and the rest of the PMA Seven: Rep. John Murtha
made headlines in 2009 for all the wrong reasons. The Pennsylvania
congressman is under federal investigation for his corrupt relationship
with the now-defunct defense lobbyist PMA Group. PMA, founded by a
former Murtha associate, has been the congressman's largest campaign
contributor. Since 2002, Murtha has raised $1.7 million from PMA and
its clients. And what did PMA and its clients receive from Murtha in
return for their generosity? Earmarks -- tens of millions of dollars in
earmarks. In fact, even with all of the attention surrounding his
alleged influence peddling, Murtha kept at it. Following an FBI raid of
PMA's offices earlier in 2009, Murtha continued to seek congressional
earmarks for PMA clients, while also hitting them up for campaign
contributions. According to The Hill, in April, "Murtha reported
receiving contributions from three former PMA clients for whom he
requested earmarks in the pending appropriations bills." When it comes
to the PMA scandal, Murtha is not alone. As many as six other Members
of Congress are currently under scrutiny according to The Washington
Post. They include: Peter J. Visclosky (D-IN.), James P. Moran Jr.
(D-VA), Norm Dicks (D-WA.), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), C.W. Bill Young
(R-FL.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-KS.). Of course rather than investigate this
serious scandal, according to Roll Call House Democrats circled the
wagons, "cobbling together a defense to offer political cover to their
rank and file." The Washington Post also reported in 2009 that Murtha's
nephew received $4 million in Defense Department no-bid contracts:
"Newly obtained documents…show Robert Murtha mentioning his influential
family connection as leverage in his business dealings and holding
unusual power with the military."
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY): Rangel, the man in charge of writing tax
policy for the entire country, has yet to adequately explain how he
could possibly "forget" to pay taxes on $75,000 in rental income he
earned from his off-shore rental property. He also faces allegations
that he improperly used his influence to maintain ownership of highly
coveted rent-controlled apartments in Harlem, and misused his
congressional office to fundraise for his private Rangel Center by
preserving a tax loophole for an oil drilling company in exchange for
funding. On top of all that, Rangel recently amended his financial
disclosure reports, which doubled his reported wealth. (He somehow
"forgot" about $1 million in assets.) And what did he do when the House
Ethics Committee started looking into all of this? He apparently
resorted to making "campaign contributions" to dig his way out of
trouble. According to WCBS TV, a New York CBS affiliate: "The reigning
member of Congress' top tax committee is apparently 'wrangling' other
politicos to get him out of his own financial and tax troubles...Since
ethics probes began last year the 79-year-old congressman has given
campaign donations to 119 members of Congress, including three of the
five Democrats on the House Ethics Committee who are charged with
investigating him." Charlie Rangel should not be allowed to remain in
Congress, let alone serve as Chairman of the powerful House Ways and
Means Committee, and he knows it. That's why he felt the need to
disburse campaign contributions to Ethics Committee members and other
congressional colleagues.
*This was written before the unfortunate passing of Sen. Murtha, may he rest in peace.*
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