The State Senate Finance Committee's Hearing On Inter-Agency Agreements (i.e., Gov TBag getting caught with his hands in the cookie jar is about to start.
The room is filled with lots of veterans, and many of them are none-too-happy with Gov Tbag channelling the Ghost Of Richard Nixon ("When the President does it, that means it's not illegal").
I've often said that the reason republiCons lie to reporters, is because they can. Big E, in a story here on MnProgressiveProject.com demonstrates Kline lying on Esme Murphy's show last weekend; that's NOT the first time a republiCon has lied to Esme - Norm Coleman, a/ka "The Fourth Most Corrupt Senator," lied to Esme as documented here last February.
Not to be outdone in blatant mendacity, Mary Kiffmeyer wrote a Letter To The Editor last Saturday, November 14th. The scandal over a failed faith-based banking venture that lasted a mere six years in Otsego was at issue. While the whole letter needs to be fact checked (and, it will!), one claim clearly stood out:
"I personally did not own or operate a bank nor do I own a "holding company". My husband Ralph and I, along with over 85 other small investors from the community put money into a start-up community bank in 2003 by purchasing shares of stock,..." Mary Kiffmeyer, 14 Nov. 2009, CitizenNewspaper.com
Sources of Compensation
Name Of Source
Riverview Community Bank - Director and Owner
Now, keep in mind that Mary Kiffmeyer certified that the required information provided to the Campaign Finance Board was "complete, true and correct" - under penalty of law.
Everybody catch the disconnect? In March 2009, under penalty of law, Mary Kiffmeyer reported she owned a bank; in November 2009 she wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper saying she didn't.
Was Mary Kiffmeyer lying then, or is she lying now?
I'm guessing now; reporters like, say, Esme Murphy, don't do squat when GOPers like, say, Mary Kiffmeyer, lie to them.
The Associated Press is reporting the jury has reached a verdict in one count in the Jack Abramoff related trial of former Abramoff lobbying associate Kevin Ring. Ring "served" as Chief of Staff for former Rep. John Doolittle and as a Senate Judiciary subcommittee aide to Sen. John Ashcroft. Both Doolittle and Ashcroft are GOPers, as in GreedOverPrinciples types.
Here, in a short segment, Bill Moyers explains in general terms what the Abramoff Scandal is all about, and why - IMNSHO - GOP today stands for GreedOverPrinciples. Let's look!!!
210 days ago, on August 4th, 2008, Team Coleman Spokesman Mark Drake took the podium at a press conference at the Capitol. Drake claimed Coleman has been "open" and "transparent" with regards to RentGate and UtilityBill. Further, Mark Drake promised, under questioning, to check with the campaign about allowing members of the media to see an actual utility bill, so members of the media could verify who's name the utility bills are in and that Coleman was paying what he should be and not violating the Gift Ban.
210 days later, said utility bills have yet to be produced.
And it seems the media has lost interest. Which, of course, demonstrates once again exactly why GOPers lie to the media:
On August 4th, at a press conference, Team Smokescreen's Spokestool, Mark Drake, promised the assembled media he'd check with "the campaign" about providing an actual utility bill for Norm's sweetheart deal for an apartment in a pal's Washington, D.C. "shack" (it's a million dollar townhouse), and get back to said media. Needless to say, Spokestool Drake never got back to 'em. Hence, the "T Plus" in the title, above.
I bring this up, because it seems Minnesota's Most Ethically-Challenged Politician, ol' Smokescreen himself, Norm Coleman, now has a little problemo with his St. Paul "shack", which Norm apparently refinanced for around 3/4 of a million smackers ($775,000.00, apparently), in early 2007.
Investigative Reporter Tom Lyden, of the local Fox TV affiliate, has the story, and it's a good one!
She has now hired an attorney in her little Troopergate scandal, in which she allegedly misused government power against her (admittedly crazy) brother-in-law.
Granted, the daughter-is-pregnant thing isn't really a strong political issue. It calls into question Palin's family values, but probably shouldn't be used against her too much.
That being said -- did McCain actually take any time whatsoever to consider his choices, or was Palin a desperation pick to distract from wall-to-wall coverage of Barack Obama's incredible acceptance speech at the DNC in Denver? We may never have an answer, but appearances are damning. Either way, we're beginning to get a picture of a drastically underprepared Vice Presidential candidate, and a campaign in absolute disarray.
Given the skeletons that have come out of Palin's closet in just the first few days of her time in the national spotlight, it's becoming more and more necessary to wonder whether McCain has any control over himself, his campaign, or his party.
Norm Coleman's sweetheart living arrangement in Washington may not just be sleazy, slimy, and otherwise unethical: it may violate the congressional gift ban.
It turns out that since Coleman is paying below market rate for his posh bachelor pad near Capitol Hill (owned by K Street fixer and Coleman confidant Jeff Larson), there's little chance that he's actually paying his utility bills -- which would violate the ban.
As yesterday's Huffington Post piece notes, this would otherwise be a small fish in a very big pond of issues -- but it's the Coleman campaign and its political pearl-clutchers that have slammed Al Franken for past tax issues in several states -- it smacks of the pot calling the kettle black.
The issue may seem like a small fish in an otherwise big electoral pond. But questions surrounding living arrangements have already played a significant role in the Minnesota Senate race. Franken himself was attacked for, and politically hurt by, revelations that he had not paid taxes in states in which he performed as a comedian (he had paid higher fees to his state of residence, but he is still charged with not being completely forthcoming).
As for Coleman, the optics of having a big-time GOP insider, in effect, providing roughly a few thousand dollars a month in free cable, electricity, and Internet could prove equally problematic. On a more serious level, a utilities subsidy may present an ethics violation.
"This is a legitimate question to be asking in light of the fact that he is apparently renting from someone with an interest in his official actions as a senator," said Mary Boyle of the good government group Common Cause. "It would be one thing if he was paying above market value and they could argue that it is included in his rent. But he is paying below market for this apartment. At a minimum [not paying utilities] would be a violation of the congressional gift ban. Certainly under no way is it okay for a member of Congress to be taking free or subsidized rent or benefits from anyone, particularly from someone you are working with."
Reaction from Coleman suggests that he too finds the utilities issue troubling. The Huffington Post placed more than two-dozen calls to his campaign spokesperson and Senate office over the course of several weeks. Despite leaving more than ten voice and email messages including the basic request to discuss the utilities bill, not one aide ever returned a request for comment. The Minnesota Democrat Party has, likewise, asked Coleman to provide a bill from the utility company Pepco to put the issue to rest. The Senator has not complied.
The whole piece is worth a read, including Coleman's questionable conduct in securing a place for Larson on the Republican National Convention Host Committee and other sleazy-looking details. The point here is this: how proper is it for a sitting U.S. Senator to have such a cozy arrangement, especially with a K Street type like Larson, and how proper is it for that Senator to attack his opponent for issues he himself seems to have?
Does it seem like there's a new Republican scandal in the news every single week? Well, that may be because there is.
That seems like an awful lot of corruption, scandal, hypocrisy, impropriety, and jail-worthy crime, huh? A lot of corruption. One might say an entire Culture of Corruption.
