senate ethics committee Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

Can you be a playa in 2011?

With the intense media scrutiny over Anthony Wiener’s Internet exploits, with John Edwards and Arnold Schwarzenegger being in the news for their famous infidelity, somebody had to ask the meaningless question so why shouldn’t it be me? Can you run women, can you chase babes, can you be a playa in the year 2011? I think the answer is yes. Yes, with multiple caveats.

If you’re a politician and you’ve run a campaign on family values you are stuck. You should be faithful to your wife and enjoy your marriage. If you’re caught in a compromising position you should resign. If you’re caught sending sexually explicit instant messages, tweets, e-mails or the electronic equivalent of flirting, you should resign. This is all about trust. If you run for office as a family values politician and then you’re caught playing around, you have lied to your constituents and you should resign in shame. I don’t think it matters if you’re caught with your pants down (the actual act of sex).

If you’re an elected official and you’re not a “family values” politician, then I think you should be given a lot more leeway. You haven’t projected yourself as somebody with higher moral standards. Instead, you projected yourself as someone who can get stuff done. On the other hand, if you’re caught in a compromising position, like Anthony Wiener, but then went out of your way to lie to your constituents to try to cover up the problem, you should resign. Your philandering, your mental infidelity, is between you and your wife. When you take the oath of office you’ve agreed not to lie to your constituents. If you’re caught lying, like Anthony Wiener, you should resign.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are many other politicians besides Anthony Wiener who have lied to their constituents and they should resign. John Ensign lied, probably broke the law and resigned only when he knew he was going to have to testify and probably be sanctioned by the Senate Ethics Committee. I have no idea why David Vitter is still in the Senate. I don’t know why his constituents reelected him. The inference is that there’s no other Republican within the state of Louisiana who could represent the state any better than David Vitter without soliciting prostitutes. I find the thought preposterous. (I find the thought that Louisiana reelected an obvious criminal, William Jefferson, mind-boggling.)

So, can you be a playa in 2011? What do you think?

By ecthompsonmd|2011-06-10T06:09:36-04:00June 10th, 2011|Party Politics|Comments Off

Sergio Garcia is fading at the Byron Nelson Championship in Dallas, Texas. Whatever he thought he fixed in his mental game isn’t fixed. Currently, Joe Ogilvie leads by one stroke.
I find it interesting that Fox News has decided to keep Sarah Palin on the payroll since it’s clear that she is now exploring a presidential run. They dropped Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum as soon as they were considering a presidential run but not Sarah Palin. Why? Is it that Sarah Palin isn’t really considering a presidential run? Maybe Sarah Palin is doing her Donald Trump bit and simply trying to drum up publicity for herself. She’s been able to cash that publicity in and make some significant money (just bought a new house in Arizona).
No matter how much the public thinks that Paul Ryan’s budget balancing, Medicare killing plan is wrong for America, the Republicans are continuing to push it. If you’re in a hole, I guess you can do one of three things – stop digging, continue digging or try to climb out of the hole. Republicans have decided to continue digging.
The LA Times has a nice and very long discussion on Bruce Ivins, who was the odd researcher accused in the anthrax killings. I’m still not convinced that this is the guy. Yep, he is weird, but being weird isn’t a crime.
President Obama is in Joplin, Missouri today. My heart and prayers continue to go out to the residents of Joplin.

I really dislike politicians who in front of the cameras in Washington talk about cutting this and cutting that but when they’re at home in front of their constituents they’re bashing the government for not doing more. Today’s example is Representative Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania. He voted to cut EPA funding; yet, in front of his constituents is complaining that the EPA is not doing more.
Former Senator John Ensign is hoping that the Department of Justice cannot use incriminating e-mails which will surely land him in jail. Basically, as I understand it, the Senate Ethics Committee could obtain evidence in multiple different ways which may not be transferable to the Department of Justice. For more information on this legal conundrum read this.
I continue to be amazed at how the Republicans are trying to sell this “cut and grow” idea to the American people. Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, continue to try to sell the American people on trickle-down theory. If all we did was cut this or that money would then roll down to small business and small businesses would thrive. Over the last 30 years we’ve tried this theory so many times and as a whole it hasn’t worked. The one thing that is clear with trickle-down theory is that the rich get richer.
So far, I think the most interesting candidate on the Republican side is Mitt Romney. He’s trying to walk a tight rope. He’s trying to play up his credentials as a financial wiz but the same time separate himself from the Wall Street Christians and against that which nearly destroyed our economy. He has the same type of balancing act with healthcare. He can’t support the national healthcare reform that was passed by Congress last year or he’ll alienate many Republicans. At the same time, he’s trying to push his own credentials as a healthcare fixer because of what he passed in Massachusetts, which is almost identical to the national healthcare reform plan. Finally, lots of evangelical Christians are unsure if they can embrace a Mormon. It is difficult if not impossible to win enthusiastic Republican support without the support of evangelical Christians.
The New York Times is trying to tell me that their coverage is so great that I should pay $35 per month for their award-winning reporting. It seems to me that the Wall Street Journal has outstanding coverage also. They’re asking me to pay a third less than the New York Times. What’s up with that? Are the Washington Post and the LA Times going to follow suit? One of the distinct advantages of the Internet was that I was able to access multiple different sources of information. Am I going to have to shell out money for this information? Is advertising revenue down that much?
Everyone is not flocking to the theaters just because the movie is in 3-D. For some reason this is a surprise to Hollywood. (Psst, Hollywood… we will sit down and look at movies that are entertaining and enjoyable. More like Thor and less like the Green Hornet.) As a whole, I haven’t found the 3-D experience to be all that additive to a excellently written film. I just saw the movie Thor and I didn’t think that the three-dimensional qualities were helpful at all. BTW, I’m looking forward to seeing Kung Fu Panda 2. I really enjoyed the first one. I”m hoping that they, the producers, don’t screw this sequel up.

So what’s on your mind the Sunday afternoon?

By ecthompsonmd|2011-05-29T16:53:00-04:00May 29th, 2011|Budget, Environment, Healthcare, Sports|Comments Off

Senator Ensign is worse than gutter slime

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To catch up on the Senator John Ensign scandal, here are a couple of posts (here and here). There is plenty that we have learned about Senator Ensign. He basically used his position to get sex from a married woman who worked for him. I thought that Senator Ensign was slime before. This story is only missing drugs and rock’n’roll. It has a bizarre, secretive religion called The Family. It has a jealous husband. It has rich parents helping to pay off the married woman and her sap of a husband. It has a cover-up with the help of another Senator. There are a couple of people in this tale who need to go to jail. Ensign is one of them. (The Senate Ethics Committee report is here.)

From TPM:

The Senate Ethics Committee has uncovered extensive evidence that former Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) and others broke U.S. law by trying to cover up an affair Ensign had with a campaign aide, the wife of one of his top Senate staffers.

The panel has forwarded the evidence of criminal activities to the Department of Justice for further investigation, which it is required to do in any investigation that turns up evidence of criminal wrongdoing, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who chairs the ethics panel, and Johnny Isakson (R-GA), said in letters to the DOJ and FEC released Thursday along with a final report from a special prosecutor handling the case.

“The committee voted unanimously to refer Senate findings to the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission because we have reason to believe that Sen. Ensign violated laws within their jurisdiction,” Boxer said in a rare floor speech addressing the committee’s usually private proceedings.

The evidence the committee uncovered is so egregious, Boxer said, that a special counsel assigned to the case was set to recommend expulsion had Ensign not resigned. The potential criminal actions include aiding and abetting the violation of the one-year post-employment lobbying ban, discrimination on the basis of gender, false statements to the FEC and obstruction of justice, among others. (more…)