Judicial Watch Announces List of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted
Corrupt Politicians" for 2009
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* Discussion <http://www.judicialwatch.org/node/9615/talk>
*Contact Information:*
Press Office 202-646-5172, ext 305
*Washington, DC*
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:
*1. 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
<http://www.examiner.com/a-1449448%7EBank_of_America_PAC_money_behind_Dodd_s_Countrywide_loan.html>,
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
<http://www.judicialwatch.org/files/documents/2009/Senator%20Christopher%20Dodd%20Ethics%20Complaint%20April%2024%202009.pdf>
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.
*2. 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
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/us/politics/03ensign.html?_r=1&hp>/:
"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.
*3. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA):* Judicial Watch is investigating a $12
million TARP cash injection
<http://www.judicialwatch.org/news/2009/aug/jw-sues-treasury-records-tarp-funds-distributed-boston-bank-after-intervention-rep-bar>
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
<http://www.judicialwatch.org/news/2009/aug/jw-sues-treasury-records-tarp-funds-distributed-boston-bank-after-intervention-rep-bar>
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
<http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=108_house_hearings&docid=f:92231.wais>
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
<http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,432501,00.html> with a Fannie Mae
Executive while serving on the House Banking Committee, which has
jurisdiction over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
*4. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner:* In 2009, Obama Treasury
Secretary Timothy Geithner admitted that he failed to pay $34,000
<http://finance.senate.gov/press/Bpress/2009press/prb011309d.pdf> 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
<http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1886138,00.html>:
"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.
*5. 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
<http://www.judicialwatch.org/news/2009/jan/judicial-watch-urges-judiciary-committee-reject-holder-appointment>
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
<http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/28/democratic-donors-rewarded-with-wh-perks/?feat=home_cube_position1>
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
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203550604574361071968458430.html>.
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
<http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,550941,00.html> 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.
*6. 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
<http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/blagojevich/1515427,jesse-jackson-jr-ethics-probe-blagojevich-040709.article>/,
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
<http://uk.reuters.com/article/usTopNews/idUKTRE51G6Q620090217>/:
"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.
*7. 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.
<http://www.judicialwatch.org/news/2009/oct/obama-administration-tells-federal-court-privacy-act-does-not-apply-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
<http://www.judicialwatch.org/open-records> 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,
<http://www.judicialwatch.org/news/2009/oct/jw-obtains-documents-regarding-neas-controversial-8-10-conference-call-encouraging-art>
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
<http://www.judicialwatch.org/news/2009/nov/jw-obtains-more-documents-regarding-neas-conference-call-encouraging-artists-promote-o>
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
<http://www.judicialwatch.org/weeklyupdate/2009/47-soft-terrorism> 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.
*8. 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
<http://www.judicialwatch.org/news/2009/mar/judicial-watch-uncovers-documents-detailing-pelosis-repeated-requests-military-travel>
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
<http://documents.nytimes.com/c-i-a-reports-on-interrogation-methods#p=1>,
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.)
*9. 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
<http://thehill.com/index.php?as_q=murtha+pma&Itemid=315&option=com_gsearch&btnG.x=16&btnG.y=11>/,
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
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/29/AR2009102904699.html>/.
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
<http://www.rollcall.com/news/33974-1.html>/ 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
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/11/AR2009051101695.html>:
"Newly obtained documents...show Robert Murtha mentioning his
influential family connection as leverage in his business dealings and
holding unusual power with the military."
*10. 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
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/10/AR2008091003462.html>
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
<http://wcbstv.com/local/charles.rangel.ethics.2.1160326.html>, 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.
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