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Disagreeable

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House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) indicted; the SEC officially opens an investigation into Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's (R-TN) stock transactions. Now all we need is to get Rove indicted for outing a CIA agent!

By the way, DeLay was a bit upset and called the prosecutor, Ronnie Earle, "a fanatic", "an unabashed partisan zealot". But a March 6 article in the El Paso Times reported: "....11 of the 15 politicians he has prosecuted over the years were Democrats." There is a list on the net of those 15 prosecutions, so I think it will a bit hard for DeLay to spin this one.
 
I have to admit, things are looking pretty bad for the Republicans right now. I really don't care, though, since I'm no diehard GOP supporter. That said, the Democrats don't exactly have a stellar record in the sleaze department either - you know who I mean, so I won't bother naming names.

The fact that politicians are corrupt and underhanded should come as a surprise to no one: that's how they got where they are. Honest people are usually chewed up and spit out as they reach the upper levels (or even local levels) of government.

I'm still not convinced of your premise, Disagreeable. You seem to think that GOP troubles will translate into big Democrat wins in the next elections, but I'd advise you not to boast about that theory too much. You could end up thoroughly humiliated in 2006.

Voters are, after all, fickle and it's difficult to foresee what all this will amount to a year from now. The public has a short memory.
 
We need major campaign contribution reform- the corporate world should not be buying the "peoples representatives"...In a Newsweek article, they suggest Delay may be only the tip of the iceberg...Apparently Abramoff's co-conspirator and partner has made a deal and will tell all- even one of Montanas Senators is being looked at for his working to get federal rule changes and money for a Minnesota :???: Indian tribes casino operations- in return received a healthy campaign contribution...

May be a hot time between now and election.......

note: the highlighting below is by Oldtimer if you couldn't guess :wink:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The real scandal of Tom DeLay
Monday, May 9, 2005 Posted: 12:14 PM EDT (1614 GMT)
Mark Shields


WASHINGTON, D.C. (Creators Syndicate) -- Forget the freebie trips across the Atlantic and the Pacific. Forget the casinos and the allegedly illicit contributions -- they represent only degrees of avarice.

To grasp the moral bankruptcy of the public Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, you only have to know about Frank Murkowski and Saipan.

Today, Frank Murkowki is the governor of Alaska, but from 1980 to 2002, he was a conservative Republican senator from Alaska.

How conservative? His voting record earned him zero ratings from organized labor's AFL-CIO and the liberal Americans for Democratic Action, and perfect 100s from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Conservative Union.

But as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Frank Murkowski became furious at the abusive sweatshop conditions endured by workers, overwhelmingly immigrants, in the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands, of which Saipan is the capital.

Because they were produced in a territory of the United States, garments traveled tariff-free and quota-free to the profitable U.S. market and were entitled to display the coveted "Made in the USA" label.

Among the manufacturers that had profited from the un-free labor market on the island were Tommy Hilfiger USA, Gap, Calvin Klein and Liz Claiborne.

Moved by the sworn testimony of U.S. officials and human-rights advocates that the 91 percent of the workforce who were immigrants -- from China, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh -- were being paid barely half the U.S. minimum hourly wage and were forced to live behind barbed wire in squalid shacks minus plumbing, work 12 hours a day, often seven days a week, without any of the legal protections U.S. workers are guaranteed, Murkowski wrote a bill to extend the protection of U.S. labor and minimum-wage laws to the workers in the U.S. territory of the Northern Marianas.

So compelling was the case for change the Alaska Republican marshaled that in early 2000, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Murkowski worker reform bill.

But one man primarily stopped the U.S. House from even considering that worker-reform bill: then-House Republican Whip Tom DeLay.

According to law firm records recently made public, lobbyist Jack Abramoff, paid millions to stop reform and keep the status quo, met personally at least two dozen times with DeLay on the subject in one two-year period. The DeLay staff was often in daily contact with Abramoff.

DeLay traveled with his family and staff over New Year's of 1997 on an Abramoff scholarship endowed by his client, the government of the territory, to the Marianas, where golf and snorkeling were enjoyed.

DeLay fully approved of the working and living conditions. The Texan's salute to the owners and Abramoff's government clients was recorded by ABC-TV News: "You are a shining light for what is happening to the Republican Party, and you represent everything that is good about what we are trying to do in America and leading the world in the free-market system"

Later, DeLay would tell The Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin that the low-wage, anti-union conditions of the Marianas constituted "a perfect petri dish of capitalism. It's like my Galapagos Island."

Contrast that with what then-Sen. Murkowski told me in a 1998 interview: "The last time we heard a justification that economic advances would be jeopardized if workers were treated properly was shortly before Appomattox."

The "Made in the USA" label means standards of quality and standards of conduct.

But more important than how a product is made is how the people who make that product are treated -- as human beings with innate dignity -- who are free to organize and entitled to a living wage.

Did somebody say something about moral values?

 
Oldtimer, I learned something from that post. Thank you. As I mentioned before, the Republican leadership in the House has replaced Delay with another one just like him. Republicans in DC apparently have no shame. Mike Brown, of FEMA, is still on the payroll! The next thing we know, Bush will be giving him the Medal of Freedom like he did George Tenet after Tenet resigned because he was wrong about WMDs in Iraq! Frist is being investigated. Rove and now Scooter Libby are outing CIA agents to reporters and neither has been fired, in spite of Bush's assertion that anyone in the White House found to be involved with that outing would be fired. Delay's pal Jack Abramoff's name is showing up even in a possible mob murder investigation.

Did you see who Bush has nominated for Head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency? Julie Myers. She's the daughter of General Myers and married to Michael Chertoff's chief of staff. She barely has the five years requirement of law enforcement to qualify for the job, but she has political connections. Bush picked David Safavian, a former lobbiest with ties to Jack Abramoff to oversee all federal procurements. He recently resigned suddenly, just as he was arrested.

They're putting all kinds of unqualified people into important offices of this government. We've found out from Mike Brown's inability to manage FEMA that's a dangerous thing to do.
 
Disagreeable said:
Republicans in DC apparently have no shame.

Nobody in Washington has any shame; it's not limited to the Republicans. Also, there's almost nothing we can do about it. Campaign finance reform, as we've seen with the 527's, only redirects the current of money flowing into politicians' pockets. Corruption is just something that we have to take into account, unless we start electing saints.
 
Disagreeable said:
They're putting all kinds of unqualified people into important offices of this government. We've found out from Mike Brown's inability to manage FEMA that's a dangerous thing to do.

Another thought on corruption:
It isn't limited to government. In virtually every workplace and every occupation, "connections" are often more esteemed than actual experience or talent. In every aspect of life, practically, this is true. Helping out family and friends - or friends of friends, if it happens to be advantageous to you - is a necessary facet of human nature. Looking out for oneself and one's kin is natural, but this normal process is retarded when somebody unscrupulous comes into power. Is this something that we can ever prevent?
 
mp.freelance said:
Disagreeable said:
They're putting all kinds of unqualified people into important offices of this government. We've found out from Mike Brown's inability to manage FEMA that's a dangerous thing to do.

Another thought on corruption:
It isn't limited to government. In virtually every workplace and every occupation, "connections" are often more esteemed than actual experience or talent. In every aspect of life, practically, this is true. Helping out family and friends - or friends of friends, if it happens to be advantageous to you - is a necessary facet of human nature. Looking out for oneself and one's kin is natural, but this normal process is retarded when somebody unscrupulous comes into power. Is this something that we can ever prevent?

In Bush's case he has put political loyalty and "yes" men ahead of the safety of citizens of the United States. I think that's an impeachable offense. When someone runs for a high government office, he is expected to take his responsibilites seriously. Bush, obviously, doesn't think that way. You're either "for him" or "against him"; anything else is apparently irrelevant. This country is less safe than we were before 9-11 because of his actions and I don't just mean in Iraq.

You may try to defend Bush's actions by saying "everybody does it" but that doesn't excuse him. First, not everyone does it. Nobody has done it to the extent Bush has put his cronies into important positions. Second, even if they did, it doesn't make it right. Bush is looked upon by many people, read Liberty Belle, as a straightforward, honest, moral man and yet you seem to think it's ok for him to put this country in danger by appointing less capable people just because "everybody does it."
 
You're obviously paranoid. I've never defended Bush any more than I've defend any politician, and what I said earlier is not an excuse. I'm not saying we have to excuse corrupt behavior, just that we have to anticipate it. Chances are, government will be corrupt. I've always thought DeLay was a piece of s---, and that sentiment has only been reinforced. Nonetheless, the fact you accuse GOPs of corruption, as if it applied to nobody else, is disingenious. If you consider yourself a dissident, as you obiously do, then at least be pragmatic about the shortfallings of both GOPs and Democrats.

I guess that what I mean to say is, corruption is something I expect from the people in government, Republican or Democrat. I never got my panties in a bundle over Clinton, and I'm planning to do so over Bush either. If you think that you'll ever find an honest politician, then I have a time-share deal I'd like to tell you about. I've said this before, but then again, nobody cares.
 
If you want some rainy day reading- this has quite a trail on Abramoff--politicians- casinos- mafia - murders- funding Israeli terrorism- pure political corruption from tribal leaders to D.C.-----Does not give a person faith in the operation of government........

This one will get big before its over........All they need to do is follow the money- and I'm sure its going to end up in some big pockets.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Abramoff
 
Ole Dis seems to have a short memory when it comes to her Man,,,,

but lets refresh it a little before she hurls to many stones at her own glass house,,,,,,,,,,,

The Clinton Legacy

The Progressive Review

This list was compiled at the end of the Clinton administration.

Our Clinton Scandal Index

RECORDS SET

- The only president ever impeached on grounds of personal malfeasance
- Most number of convictions and guilty pleas by friends and associates*
- Most number of cabinet officials to come under criminal investigation
- Most number of witnesses to flee country or refuse to testify
- Most number of witnesses to die suddenly
- First president sued for sexual harassment.
- First president accused of rape.
- First first lady to come under criminal investigation
- Largest criminal plea agreement in an illegal campaign contribution case
- First president to establish a legal defense fund.
- First president to be held in contempt of court
- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions
- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions from abroad

* According to our best information, 40 government officials were indicted or convicted in the wake of Watergate. A reader computes that there was a total of 31 Reagan era convictions, including 14 because of Iran-Contra and 16 in the Department of Housing & Urban Development scandal. 47 individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine were convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes with 33 of these occurring during the Clinton administration itself. There were in addition 61 indictments or misdemeanor charges. 14 persons were imprisoned. A key difference between the Clinton story and earlier ones was the number of criminals with whom he was associated before entering the White House.


STARR-RAY INVESTIGATION

- Number of Starr-Ray investigation convictions or guilty pleas to date (including one governor, one associate attorney general and two Clinton business partners): 14
- Number of Clinton Cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 5
- Number of Reagan cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 4
- Number of top officials jailed in the Teapot Dome Scandal: 3

CRIME STATS

- Number of individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes: 47
- Number of these convictions during Clinton's presidency: 33
- Number of indictments/misdemeanor charges: 61
- Number of congressional witnesses who have pleaded the Fifth Amendment, fled the country to avoid testifying, or (in the case of foreign witnesses) refused to be interviewed: 122

SMALTZ INVESTIGATION

- Guilty pleas and convictions obtained by Donald Smaltz in cases involving charges of bribery and fraud against former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy and associated individuals and businesses: 15
- Acquitted or overturned cases (including Espy): 6
- Fines and penalties assessed: $11.5 million
- Amount Tyson Food paid in fines and court costs: $6 million

CLINTON MACHINE CRIMES
FOR WHICH CONVICTIONS
HAVE BEEN OBTAINED

Drug trafficking (3), racketeering, extortion, bribery (4), tax evasion, kickbacks, embezzlement (2), fraud (12), conspiracy (5), fraudulent loans, illegal gifts (1), illegal campaign contributions (5), money laundering (6), perjury, obstruction of justice.

OTHER MATTERS INVESTIGATED BY SPECIAL PROSECUTORS
AND CONGRESS, OR REPORTED IN THE MEDIA

Bank and mail fraud, violations of campaign finance laws, illegal foreign campaign funding, improper exports of sensitive technology, physical violence and threats of violence, solicitation of perjury, intimidation of witnesses, bribery of witnesses, attempted intimidation of prosecutors, perjury before congressional committees, lying in statements to federal investigators and regulatory officials, flight of witnesses, obstruction of justice, bribery of cabinet members, real estate fraud, tax fraud, drug trafficking, failure to investigate drug trafficking, bribery of state officials, use of state police for personal purposes, exchange of promotions or benefits for sexual favors, using state police to provide false court testimony, laundering of drug money through a state agency, false reports by medical examiners and others investigating suspicious deaths, the firing of the RTC and FBI director when these agencies were investigating Clinton and his associates, failure to conduct autopsies in suspicious deaths, providing jobs in return for silence by witnesses, drug abuse, improper acquisition and use of 900 FBI files, improper futures trading, murder, sexual abuse of employees, false testimony before a federal judge, shredding of documents, withholding and concealment of subpoenaed documents, fabricated charges against (and improper firing of) White House employees, inviting drug traffickers, foreign agents and participants in organized crime to the White House.

ARKANSAS ALZHEIMER'S

Number of times that Clinton figures who testified in court or before Congress said that they didn't remember, didn't know, or something similar.

Bill Kennedy 116
Harold Ickes 148
Ricki Seidman 160
Bruce Lindsey 161
Bill Burton 191
Mark Gearan 221
Mack McLarty 233
Neil Egglseston 250
Hillary Clinton 250
John Podesta 264
Jennifer O'Connor 343
Dwight Holton 348
Patsy Thomasson 420
Jeff Eller 697

FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES: In the portions of President Clinton's Jan. 17 deposition that have been made public in the Paula Jones case, his memory failed him 267 times. This is a list of his answers and how many times he gave each one.

I don't remember - 71
I don't know - 62
I'm not sure - 17
I have no idea - 10
I don't believe so - 9
I don't recall - 8
I don't think so - 8
I don't have any specific recollection - 6
I have no recollection - 4
Not to my knowledge - 4
I just don't remember - 4
I don't believe - 4
I have no specific recollection - 3
I might have - 3
I don't have any recollection of that - 2 I don't have a specific memory - 2
I don't have any memory of that - 2
I just can't say - 2
I have no direct knowledge of that - 2
I don't have any idea - 2
Not that I recall - 2
I don't believe I did - 2
I can't remember - 2
I can't say - 2
I do not remember doing so - 2
Not that I remember - 2
I'm not aware - 1
I honestly don't know - 1
I don't believe that I did - 1
I'm fairly sure - 1
I have no other recollection - 1
I'm not positive - 1
I certainly don't think so - 1
I don't really remember - 1
I would have no way of remembering that - 1
That's what I believe happened - 1
To my knowledge, no - 1
To the best of my knowledge - 1
To the best of my memory - 1
I honestly don't recall - 1
I honestly don't remember - 1
That's all I know - 1
I don't have an independent recollection of that - 1
I don't actually have an independent memory of that - 1
As far as I know - 1
I don't believe I ever did that - 1
That's all I know about that - 1
I'm just not sure - 1
Nothing that I remember - 1
I simply don't know - 1
I would have no idea - 1
I don't know anything about that - 1
I don't have any direct knowledge of that - 1
I just don't know - 1
I really don't know - 1
I can't deny that, I just -- I have no memory of that at all - 1

THE CLINTON LEGACY:
LONELY HONOR

Here are some of the all too rare public officials, reporters, and others who spoke truth to the dismally corrupt power of Bill and Hill Clinton's political machine -- some at risk to their careers, others at risk to their lives. A few points to note:

- Those corporatist media reporters who attempted to report the story often found themselves muzzled; some even lost their jobs. The only major dailies that consistently handled the story well were the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times.

- Nobody on this list has gotten rich and many you may not have even heard of. Taking on the Clintons typically has not been a happy or rewarding experience. At least ten reporters have been fired, transferred off their beats, resigned, or otherwise gotten into trouble because of their work on the scandals. Whistleblowing is even less appreciated within the government. One study of whistleblowers found that 232 out of 233 them reported suffering retaliation; another study found reprisals in about 95% of cases.

- Contrary to the popular impression, the politics of those listed ranges from the left to the right, and from the ideological to the independent.

- We have not included victims of the Clinton machine, some of whom have acted with considerable danger and at considerable risk to themselves. They will be included on a later list.

PUBLIC OFFICIALS

MIGUEL RODRIGUEZ was a prosecutor on the staff of Kenneth Starr. His attempts to uncover the truth in the Vincent Foster death case were repeatedly foiled and he was the subject of planted stories undermining his credibility and implying that he was unstable. Rodriguez eventually resigned.

JEAN DUFFEY: Head of a joint federal-county drug task force in Arkansas. Her first instructions from her boss: "Jean, you are not to use the drug task force to investigate any public official." Duffey's work, however, led deep into the heart of the Dixie Mafia, including members of the Clinton machine and the investigation of the so-called "train deaths." Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reports that when she produced a star witness who could testify to Clinton's involvement with cocaine, the local prosecuting attorney, Dan Harmon issued a subpoena for all the task force records, including "the incriminating files on his own activities. If Duffey had complied it would have exposed 30 witnesses and her confidential informants to violent retributions. She refused." Harmon issued a warrant for her arrest and friendly cops told her that there was a $50,000 price on her head. She eventually fled to Texas. The once-untouchable Harmon was later convicted of racketeering, extortion and drug dealing.

BILL DUNCAN: An IRS investigator in Arkansas who drafted some 30 federal indictments of Arkansas figures on money laundering and other charges. Clinton biographer Roger Morris quotes a source who reviewed the evidence: "Those indictments were a real slam dunk if there ever was one." The cases were suppressed, many in the name of "national security." Duncan was never called to testify. Other IRS agents and state police disavowed Duncan and turned on him. Said one source, "Somebody outside ordered it shut down and the walls went up."

RUSSELL WELCH: An Arkansas state police detective working with Duncan. Welch developed a 35-volume, 3,000 page archive on drug and money laundering operations at Mena. His investigation was so compromised that a high state police official even let one of the targets of the probe look through the file. At one point, Welch was sprayed in the face with poison, later identified by the Center for Disease Control as anthrax. He would write in his diary, "I feel like I live in Russia, waiting for the secret police to pounce down. A government has gotten out of control. Men find themselves in positions of power and suddenly crimes become legal." Welch is no longer with the state police.

DAN SMALTZ: Smaltz did an outstanding job investigating and prosecuting charges involving illegal payoffs to Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, yet was treated with disparaging and highly inaccurate reporting by the likes of the David Broder and the NY Times. Espy was acquitted under a law that made it necessary to not only prove that he accepted gratuities but that he did something specific in return. On the other hand, Tyson Foods copped a plea in the same case, paying $6 million in fines and serving four years' probation. The charge: that Tyson had illegally offered Espy $12,000 in airplane rides, football tickets and other payoffs. In the Espy investigation, Smaltz obtained 15 convictions and collected over $11 million in fines and civil penalties. Offenses for which convictions were obtained included false statements, concealing money from prohibited sources, illegal gratuities, illegal contributions, falsifying records, interstate transportation of stolen property, money laundering, and illegal receipt of USDA subsidies. Incidentally, Janet Reno blocked Smaltz from pursuing leads aimed at allegations of major drug trafficking in Arkansas and payoffs to the then governor of the state, WJ Clinton. Espy had become Ag secretary only after being flown to Arkansas to get the approval of chicken king Don Tyson.

DAVID SCHIPPERS, was House impeachment counsel and a Chicago Democrat. He did a highly creditable job but since he didn't fit the right-wing conspiracy theory, the Clintonista media downplayed his work. Thus most Americans don't know that he told NewsMax, "Let me tell you, if we had a chance to put on a case, I would have put live witnesses before the committee. But the House leadership, and I'm not talking about Henry Hyde, they just killed us as far as time was concerned. I begged them to let me take it into this year. Then I screamed for witnesses before the Senate. But there was nothing anybody could do to get those Senators to show any courage. They told us essentially, you're not going to get 67 votes so why are you wasting our time." Schippers also said that while a number of representatives looked at additional evidence kept under seal in a nearby House building, not a single senator did.

JOHN CLARKE: When Patrick Knowlton stopped to relieve himself in Ft. Marcy Park 70 minutes before the discovery of Vince Foster's body, he saw things that got him into deep trouble. His interview statements were falsified and prior to testifying he claims he was overtly harassed by more than a score of men in a classic witness intimidation technique. In some cases there were witnesses. John Clarke has been his dogged lawyer in the witness intimidation case that has been largely ignored by the media, even when the three-judge panel overseeing the Starr investigation permitted Knowlton to append a 20 page addendum to the Starr Report.

OTHER

THE ARKANSAS COMMITTEE: What would later be known as the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy actually began on the left - as a group of progressive students at the University of Arkansas formed the Arkansas Committee to look into Mena, drugs, money laundering, and Arkansas politics. This committee was the source of some of the important early Clinton stories including those published in the Progressive Review.

CLINTON ADMINISTRATION SCANDALS E-LIST: Moderated by Ray Heizer, this list has been subject to all the idiosyncrasies of Internet bulletin boards, but it has nonetheless proved invaluable to researchers and journalists.

JOURNALISTS

JERRY SEPER of the Washington Times was far and away the best beat reporter of the story, handling it week after week in the best tradition of investigative journalism. If other reporters had followed Seper's lead, the history of the Clintons machine might have been quite different.

AMBROSE EVANS-PRITCHARD of the London Telegraph did a remarkable job of digging into some of the seamiest tales from Arkansas and the Clinton past. Other early arrivals on the scene were Alexander Cockburn and Jeff Gerth.

CHRISTOPHER RUDDY, among other fine reports on the Clinton scandals, did the best job laying out the facts in the Vince Foster death case.

ROGER MORRIS AND SALLY DENTON wrote a major expose of events at Mena, but at the last moment the Washington Post's brass ordered the story killed. It was published by Penthouse and later included in Morris' "Partners in Power," the best biography of the Clintons.

OTHERS who helped get parts of the story out included reporters Philip Weiss, Carl Limbacher, Wes Phelan, David Bresnahan, William Sammon, Liza Myers, Mara Leveritt, Matt Drudge, Jim Ridgeway, Nat Hentoff, Michael Isikoff, Christopher Hitchens, and Michael Kelly. Also independent investigator Hugh Sprunt and former White House FBI agent Gary Aldrich.

Sam Smith of the Progressive Review wrote the first book (Shadows of Hope, University of Indiana Press, 1994) deconstructing the Clinton myth and the Review developed a major database on the topic.

The Clintons, to adapt a line from Dr. Johnson, were not only corrupt, they were the cause of corruption in others. Seldom in America have so many come to excuse so much mendacity and malfeasance as during the Clinton years. These rare exceptions cited above, and others unmentioned, deserve our deep thanks.

THE CLINTON LEGACY
The Hidden Election

USA Today calls it "the hidden election," in which nearly 7,000 state legislative seats are decided with only minimal media and public attention. The paper took brief notice because this is the year the state legislatures perform their most important national function: drawing revised congressional districts based on the most recent census.

But there's another important national story here: further evidence of the disaster that Bill Clinton has been for the Democratic Party. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Democrats held a 1,542 seat lead in the state bodies in 1990. As of last November that lead had shrunk to 288. That's a loss of over 1,200 state legislative seats, nearly all of them under Clinton. Across the US, the Democrats control only 65 more state senate seats than the Republicans.

Further, in 1992, the Democrats controlled 17 more state legislatures than the Republicans. After November, the Republicans control one more than the Democrats. Not only is this a loss of 9 legislatures under Clinton, but it is the first time since 1954 that the GOP has controlled more state legislatures than the Democrats (they tied in 1968).

Here's what happened to the Democrats under Clinton, based on our latest figures:

- GOP seats gained in House since Clinton became president: 48
- GOP seats gained in Senate since Clinton became president: 8
- GOP governorships gained since Clinton became president: 11
- GOP state legislative seats gained since Clinton became president: 1,254
as of 1998
- State legislatures taken over by GOP since Clinton became president: 9
- Democrat officeholders who have become Republicans since Clinton became
president: 439 as of 1998
- Republican officeholders who have become Democrats since Clinton became president: 3

NATIONAL CONF OF STATE LEGISLATURES
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legman/elect/hstptyct.htm
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legman/elect/demshare2000.htm

http://emporium.turnpike.net/P/ProRev/wwstats.htm
 
DeLay indicted on money laundering charge

Monday, October 3, 2005; Posted: 6:56 p.m. EDT (22:56 GMT)


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Texas grand jury has brought a new charge of money laundering against Rep. Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader indicted last week on conspiracy charges stemming from a campaign finance probe, the congressman's office said Monday.

In a written statement, DeLay called the indictment another example of "prosecutorial abuse" by District Attorney Ronnie Earle.

"He is trying to pull the legal equivalent of a 'do-over,' since he knows very well that the charges he brought against me last week are totally manufactured and illegitimate," said the Texas Republican. "This is an abomination of justice."

In the initial indictment, DeLay was accused of conspiring with two associates to steer corporate contributions to state House candidates, which is illegal under state law, by sending the money through GOP groups in Washington.

That charge forced DeLay to give up his position as majority leader, but he said Sunday he thinks he will return to his leadership post after the case is resolved.

"I think it will be over and be over very, very soon. And I think I will go back to be majority leader," he told "Fox News Sunday." "And at the same time, I'm still a member of Congress. I'm going to be working on the agenda and doing everything I can to make good things happen."

DeLay, majority leader since 2002, also said the charge that he conspired to evade campaign finance laws in his home state of Texas was "politics at its sleaziest."

"My lawyers tell me that this is so frivolous, so over the top, so embarrassing to the judiciary that we ought to be able to get it out of here quickly," DeLay said.

The rules of the GOP conference call for members to give up leadership posts if they are indicted. House Republicans selected Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri as their acting leader, with Reps. Eric Cantor of Virginia and David Dreier of California also taking on additional duties.

DeLay's troubles stemmed from contributions to a political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), which was designed by DeLay to help the GOP capture control of the Texas House in 2002.

DeLay, 58, said Sunday Earle, a Democrat, was attempting to "change election law through the courts."

Earle has denied any partisan motivation, telling reporters in Austin Wednesday that 12 of the 15 public corruption cases he has prosecuted involved Democrats.

An attorney for DeLay, Dick DeGuerin, told CNN on Thursday that his client didn't violate the law and he hoped a judge would throw out the case. If not, he said, he hoped for a trial by the end of the year.
 

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