Filed under: 2012 Election, Breaking, Conservatives, Corruption, Governors, Scandal, Senate | Tags: 2012, Affair, Bribery, Cindy Hampton, Doug Hampton, Extramarital Affair, John Ensign, Mark Sanford, Nevada, Paul Coggins, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Senate, Senate Ethics Committee
It looks like Republican Sen. John Ensign didn’t just have an extramarital affair with a married campaign staffer–he also paid her a substantial amount of hush money:
Sen. John Ensign’s attorney acknowledged Thursday that the Nevada Republican’s parents paid nearly $100,000 to the family of his mistress around the time she and her husband left his staff in April 2008.
Paul Coggins, Ensign’s attorney, said in a statement that the senator gave Doug Hampton, Cindy Hampton and their two children gifts worth $96,000 and that “each gift was limited to $12,000.”
[...]
His disclosure comes as the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington called on the Justice Department to investigate potential criminal wrongdoing of Ensign reportedly giving Cindy Hampton more than $25,000 in a severance package. The group says that under federal law, failing to report contributions of more than $25,000 can result in five years in jail.
[Emphasis mine]
I would be surprised if this hush money payout didn’t land Sen. Ensign before the Senate Ethics Committee–this is at least a serious breach of the public trust, if not a violation of public disclosure and accountability laws.
Mark Sanford, Sarah Palin, John Ensign–it looks like the GOP is continuing their long, slow collapse. At this rate, there won’t be anyone left to run for President in 2012.
Filed under: 2012 Election, Conservatives, Corruption, Government, Governors, Polls, Right-Wing Noise Machine, Scandal | Tags: 2012, Alaska, Corruption, David Frum, Ethics, Numbers, Quitter, Republicans, Sarah Palin
The verdict on Gov. Sarah Palin’s resignation is in–and things are not looking good for the soon-to-be ex Governor:
At the same time just 37% of Americans now say they believe Palin is fit to be President, while 55% say she is not. And while her move last week may not have hurt her overall favorability, it does seem to have negatively impacted voters’ inclination to some day put her in the White House. 57% of respondents said her resignation makes them less likely to support her in a future Presidential bid.
[Emphasis mine]
And, still, the reason for Gov. Palin’s resignation still isn’t clear. Was it for a presidential bid? To get her family out of the limelight? To deal with the various ethical charges that have been brought against her?
Well, subsequent interviews with Palin appear to point to the latter, with Palin basically claiming that the ethics charges against her were paralyzing. But that’s a pretty damn poor justification–resigning because there are so many ethical charges against you that you can’t possibly fight them all and still do your job. And it certainly doesn’t bode well for your political future when you basically have to admit that your state would be better off without you running it.
But, more importantly, Palin’s allegations that fighting the ethical charges against her would be too costly for the people of Alaska appears to be completely false:
During her resignation speech last week, Palin presented herself as a heroic defender of the taxpayer. She said that money being spent on government lawyers to defend against these “frivolous ethics violations” could be “going to things that are very important, like troopers and roads and teachers and fish research.” Palin repeated exactly the same point this week.
But David Murrow, a spokesperson for the Governor, said in an interview that much of this money was budgeted to the lawyers in advance and would have gone to them anyway, even if state lawyers hadn’t been defending against these ethics complaints.
In response to our questions, the Governor’s office provided us with a detailed breakdown of the millions Palin has claimed has gone to defending against ethics complaints. It does list roughly $1.9 million in expenditures.
But Murrow, the spokesperson, acknowledged to our reporter, Amanda Erickson, that this total was arrived at by adding up attorney hours spent on fending off complaints — based on the fixed salaries of lawyers in the governor’s office and the Department of Law. The money would have gone to the lawyers no matter what they were doing. The complaints are “just distracting them from other duties,” Murrow said.
In other words, while these lawyers might have been free to do other legal work for the state, the ethics complaints have apparently not had the real world impact Palin has claimed, and didn’t drain money away from cops, teachers, roads and other things.
[Emphasis mine]
Plus–according to TPM–there are only three outstanding ethics complaints against Palin, anyway.
Even conservative commentator and former Bush speechwriter David Frum thinks Palin is toast:
Between her speeches and her book deal, [Palin] can reasonably hope to earn $10 million over the next two years. She’ll fly in private jets, sleep in sumptuous hotel suites, receive rhapsodic applause.
Yet there will be no escaping another story line. Faced with exasperating criticism and the accumulating cares of public office—she quit to cash in. Her admirers can excuse anything, but to the much larger audience of non-admirers, Palin will look a lot like those CEOs who wrecked their banks and the national economy while accepting huge bonuses for themselves. John McCain’s slogan in 2008 was “Country First.” Palin’s in 2012? “I seen my opportunities, and I took ‘em.”
[Emphasis added]
Sarah Palin has become a fascinating story again; her abrupt resignation is so bizarre–there is no positive way to spin it, there is no real upside in quitting unless she plans never to hold elected office again.
Like I remarked a few days ago, we might have just borne witness to the steepest rise and fastest fall of any politician in modern American history; much like a meteorite crashing to earth, it’s hard not to watch in awe.
UPDATE: And then there’s this:
David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, told Newsmax that Palin has to stop complaining. “You’ve got to recognize that there are people who want you to fail,” he said. “And if you spend your time worrying about them, or whining about what they say, at the very least it’ll get you off your game.”
Filed under: Conservatives, Corruption, Government, Scandal | Tags: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General, Fail, George W. Bush, Republicans, Texas, Texas Tech University
Former Bush administration Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has landed a teaching gig at Texas Tech:
Alberto Gonzales, who resigned as the Bush administration’s embattled attorney general nearly two years ago, has lined up a fall-semester teaching spot at Texas Tech University, the university confirmed today.
Gonzales, who was Gov. George W. Bush’s lawyer, Texas secretary of state and then a Texas Supreme Court justice before joining Bush in Washington, will be working in the university’s political science department, teaching a “special topics” course on contemporary issues in the executive branch, according to Dora Rodriguez, a senior business assistant in the department.
Filed under: 2010 Election, 2012 Election, Breaking, Conservatives, Corruption, Government, Polls, Scandal | Tags: 2010, 2012, Alaska, Alaska Lieutenant Governor, Elections, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Sean Parnell
Alaska Governor (and 2008 GOP VP candidate) Sarah Palin announced that she will resign the Governorship of Alaska later this month, transferring power to Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell
Developing…
UPDATE: Palin has confirmed that she will resign the Governorship on July 26th.
Personally, I can think of only two reasons for her abrupt resignation. The first is that Palin wants to focus on a candidacy for President. But if that’s the case, then this is perhaps the worst move she can make, abandoning the people who elected her before her first term is even over. It makes her look feckless and untrustworthy and ruthlessly ambitious; it certainly doesn’t make her look the least bit Presidential.
And even if Palin wants to run for President, her term ends in January, 2011–which would give her plenty of time to campaign if she simply chose to wait her first term out. But abandoning her office like this is putting nails in her Presidential coffin.
Or, it could be the case that there’s a major scandal coming down the pipeline that is likely to sink Palin’s political career and she’s trying to head it off at the pass–I mean, if she already resigned then there can’t be any pressure on her to resign, regardless of how bad her scandal is.
We don’t know for sure why Palin stepped down the way she did (though there are rumors) but it’s likely her resignation signals the end of her political career. Considering that Sarah Palin was a virtual unknown just one year go, it looks like she may have been the steepest rise and fastest fall of anyone in modern political history.
Filed under: 2010 Election, Conservatives, Corruption, Economics, Government, Health Care, International, Iraq, Progressives, Right-Wing Noise Machine | Tags: Congress, Democrats, Hypocrisy, Nancy Pelosi, Patrick McHenry, Politicking, Republicans
Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry lets slip the GOP’s real goal:
“We will lose on legislation. But we will win the message war every day, and every week, until November 2010…our goal is to bring down approval numbers for Pelosi and for House Democrats. That will take repetition. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”
That’s right–the Republican Party’s priority isn’t fixing the economic crisis. It’s not creating jobs or growing the economy. It’s not getting our troops safely out of Iraq or helping them to succeed in Afghanistan. It’s not reforming our health care system or ensuring that Social Security and Medicare remain strong. It’s not helping hard working families keep their homes or afford to send their kids to college.
No, the Republican Party’s #1 priority is hurting the Democrats’ approval ratings; their only goal is regaining political power.
This is why the GOP is–and should remain–in the minority. They’ve become so obsessed with politicking that they don’t remember what they were elected to do in the first place; they can’t look at anything outside of whether or not it’s politically advantageous to them. While the adults work to clean up the messes the Republicans made, all the Republicans can think about is how they can start making more messes.
Every Democrat in the country should have Rep. McHenry’s words memorized–the American people need to be constantly reminded of just how frivolous and unserious the Republican Party has become.
Filed under: Conservatives, Corruption, Economics, Government, House, Progressives, Scandal, Senate | Tags: Congress, Democrats, Economic Stimulus Package, Harry Reid, Hypocrisy, Mitch McConnell, Pork, Republicans
Remember the weeks-long Republican campaign to derail the economic stimulus package? Remember all the ranting about “pork” and complaining about “wasteful spending dressed in ’stimulus’ clothes“? Remember the Republicans complaining that it was”generational theft“ “larded up with wasteful spending“?
Well, turns out the Republicans have no problem with wasteful spending when it benefits them:
A ten percent increase in the budget for Congressional operations was needed because Senate Republicans wanted to retain previous staff levels despite having lost roughly 20 percent of their ranks in the 2008 elections, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said Wednesday.
[...]
Reid, asked about the increase at a press conference, initially dodged the question, speaking instead about spending in general.
The unsatisfied reporter repeated the question about a ten percent raise for the congressional budget. “How is that going to help get out of the depression?” she pressed.
Don’t blame us, said Reid.
“We had a situation — you should direct that question to Senator McConnell,” he said, referring to the Senate Minority Leader, “because we had trouble organizing this year. He wanted to maintain a lot of their staffing even though they had lost huge numbers. And the only way we could get it done is to do what we did. So you should direct that question to Senator McConnell.”
A McConnell spokesman didn’t immediately return a phone call.
Oh, the hypocrisy.
So, according to Republican logic, spending money to help the American people through an economic crisis is wasteful pork that should be opposed at all costs, yet spending a couple billion dollars to give Congressional Republicans bigger staffs is a completely worthwhile and necessary expense.
When it comes to helping you, the GOP is the Party of No. But when it comes to helping themselves, the GOP is the Party of Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie. ‘Let them eat cake’ indeed.
Filed under: 2010 Election, Corruption, Government, Governors, Progressives, Scandal, Senate | Tags: Congress, Crime, Democrats, Illinois, Perjury, Rod Blagojevich, Roland Burris
He hasn’t even been in office for two months and Roland Burris is already under investigation:
Sangamon County state’s attorney John Schmidt is reviewing documents provided by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to determine whether perjury charges should be filed against U.S. Sen. Roland Burris.
[...]
Burris caused an uproar by releasing an affidavit in which he supplemented his testimony before a legislative impeachment committee that asked whether he had had any contact with anyone close to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, including the former governor’s brother Rob Blagojevich, who was in charge of fundraising for the impeached governor.
Burris did not mention any contact with Rob Blagojevich in his testimony before the impeachment committee but said in his affidavit dated Feb. 4 that the governor’s brother had, in fact, asked him to raise money for the former governor before Blagojevich appointed Burris to the Senate.
In other words, Burris deliberately withheld the fact that he was approached by Blagojevich’s camp and asked for money in exchange for a Senate appointment.
Unless the Senate gets fed up with Burris’ antics and expels him, it looks like Roland Burris will be an embarrassment to the Democratic Party and the state of Illinois until at least early 2011.
Even if he’s around that long, though, there is a silver lining–this scandal should make it easier for Burris to be defeated in a primary, ensuring that the Democrats put fourth a competent Senate candidate in the 2010 elections.
UPDATE: It looks like Burris is being sent to the Senate Ethics Committee.
UPDATE II: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is calling for Burris to be expelled from the Senate.
Filed under: Breaking, Corruption, Government, Governors, Media, Progressives, Scandal | Tags: Democrats, Illinois, Illinois Lieutenant Governor, Illinois Senate, Impeachment, Pat Quinn, Rod Blagojevich
The Illinois Senate just voted to remove Governor Rod Blagojevich from office, 59-0.
Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn will now be sworn in as the 41st Governor of Illinois.
UPDATE: They also voted 59-0 to bar Blagojevich from ever holding elected office in Illinois again.
Filed under: Breaking, Corruption, Economics, Government, Governors, Progressives, Scandal | Tags: Democrats, Ginger Ostro, Illinois Lieutenant Governor, Illinois Senate, Impeachment, Pat Quinn, Rod Blagojevich
IL Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn is getting prepared for the Illinois Senate to remove Rod Blagojevich from office, a vote on which could occur as early as today.
Quinn has traveled to the state capitol and, even though Blagojevich’s staff was initially reluctant to facilitate any sort of transition, he is now meeting with some of Blagojevich’s advisers, including budget director Ginger Ostro.
Quinn has already outlined a set of priorities for when he takes office:
*Integrity: Quinn said he will work to restore the faith of Illinois citizens in their government.
*State budget: Quinn has begun huddling with the state budget director and has asked state legislative leaders to move back the scheduled budget address from Feb. 18 to March 18 so he can assess the state’s finances.
*The broader economic picture: Quinn plans to meet with the state’s Washington delegation to make sure Illinois is getting a fair share of the federal economic stimulus package.
*Campaign finance: Quinn’s reform commission, headed by former federal prosecutor Patrick Collins, is expected to make proposals for new state ethics and campaign finance laws that Quinn hopes to get approved by the Legislature this spring.
Even if he is removed from office, though, Blagojevich won’t go away–I’m sure he’ll continue trying to clear his name long after this story is dead and buried and his place in the pantheon of horribly-corrupt politicians is secured.
Filed under: 2008 Election, 2010 Election, Corruption, Government, Governors, Progressives, Scandal | Tags: 2010, Congress, Democrats, Illinois, Jan Schakowsky, Primary, Rod Blagojevich, Roland Burris
Yesterday, Roland Burris was sworn into the United States Senate, taking over the seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
Today, Burris apparently has the first challenger to his 2010 re-election:
Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.) is open to running against Roland Burris in 2010, potentially setting up a contested Democratic primary for the scandal-tainted Illinois Senate seat.
Schakowsky, leaving the Burris swearing-in ceremony Thursday, told Politico that “time will tell” whether she’d run or not. Asked whether she was ruling a run in or out, she said, “No.”
I expect there will be more where this came from–the fact that Burris is in the Senate solely because of Rod Blagojevich is a major weakness, as is the fact that Burris has frequently lost bids for statewide office in Illinois.
Also, this may pose a problem:
But Burris’ record as state attorney general contradicts this squeaky clean image. It shows Burris to be more like a stereotypical Illinois politician: He steered state business to friends, gave state jobs to family and later, as a private lobbyist, benefited from his political ties.
Yeah–primary, please.
Filed under: Breaking, Corruption, Government, Governors, Progressives, Scandal, Senate | Tags: Democrats, Congress, Bill Clinton, Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, John Cullerton, Michael Madigan, Illinois Supreme Court, Illinois House of Representatives, Impeachment, Illinois Senate, Republcians, David Ellis, Thomas Fitzgerald
This time the margin was even bigger:
The 117-1 vote by newly sworn-in House members came after Blagojevich oversaw the swearing-in of an Illinois Senate that will serve as the jury during his impeachment trial.
The second impeachment by the House was necessitated by today’s seating of a new legislature reflecting the results of the Nov. 4 general election. The House voted last Friday to impeach Blagojevich 114-1-1.
Illinois’ Senate also voted 58-0 to approve a set of rules that will guide the impeachment trial; apparently, they’re based on the same rules used by the United States Senate when Bill Clinton was impeached.
Here’s more:
The Senate then got started on what in a court of law might be described as pre-trial motions. David Ellis, the House prosecutor and legal counsel to House Speaker Michael Madigan, read into the Senate record the 13-point article of impeachment against Blagojevich, recounting the criminal charges that resulted in the governor’s arrest on Dec. 9 as well as various allegations of abuse of power.
Ellis then was escorted out of the Senate chamber. [Senate President John] Cullerton swore in Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Fitzgerald, who will preside over the trial, to do “justice according to law.” Fitzgerald has now directed the senators to take an oath to be sworn-in as Blagojevich’s jurors.
I hope the Senate moves swiftly, but with all due diligence and deliberation; the quicker Blagojevich is out of office, the better off the people of Illinois will be.
Filed under: 2008 Election, Conservatives, Corruption, Economics, Government, House, Immigration, Polls, Progressives, Right-Wing Noise Machine, Technology | Tags: 1980s, 1992, 2008, 2020, Congress, Democrats, Reform, Republicans, Ronald Brownstein, Ronald Reagan, The National Journal, Tom Davis
Ronald Brownstein writes in The National Journal:
To grasp how powerfully demographic change is reshaping the political landscape try this thought experiment about the 2008 election.
Start by considering the electorate’s six broadest demographic groups — white voters with at least a four-year college degree; white voters without a college degree; African-Americans; Hispanics; Asians; and other minorities.
Now posit that each of those groups voted for Barack Obama or John McCain in exactly the same proportions as it actually did. Then imagine that each group represented the share of the electorate that it did in 1992. If each of these groups voted as it did in 2008 but constituted the same share of the electorate as in 1992, McCain would have won. Comfortably.
[...]
[Now] pitch the thought experiment forward 12 years. Imagine that the major demographic groups voted as they did in 2008, but cast a share of the vote equal to their expected share of the population in 2020. (For argument’s sake, let’s divide whites among college and noncollege voters in the same proportions as today.) In that scenario, Obama beats McCain by nearly 14 points — almost twice as much as in 2008.
This is exactly why Republican paeans to Ronald Reagan and pledges to return to their “conservative roots” aren’t the solution. America is a far different place than it was in the 1980s–going back to what helped you get elected 30 years ago won’t necessarily get you elected today.
Unfortunately, Republicans seem intent on avoiding the introspection and change necessary to put them back in the majority. They’re content to spew platitudes about technology and “conservative roots” because it’s a lot easier than actual modernization and reform.
Former GOP Rep. Tom Davis is the voice of reason here:
We’ve long-since given up on the African-American vote. We’re forfeiting the Hispanic vote with unwarranted and unsavory vitriol against immigrants. Youth vote? Gone. We ask for nothing from these idealistic voters, we offer little except chastisement of their lifestyle choices and denial of global warming, and we are woefully behind the Democrats in learning how to connect with them.
Soccer moms? They’re not comfortable with much of our social policy agenda, so many are gone as well. NASCAR dads? They’re our last redoubt, and the trends even there are not encouraging as unemployment rises and 401 (k)s are decimated. They want clean, competent government that meets basic challenges. They don’t see tax cuts or stimulus checks that net them another $500 per year as meaningful, and they are not comfortable with the profligate deficits that result. As one veteran Republican campaign professional told pollster Charlie Cook: Voting for tax increases hurts politically much more than voting for tax cuts helps.
[...]
What we can’t do is go back. I’ve heard much talk of going back to our conservative roots, to the issues that helped us win in 1980 and 1994. That issue matrix has changed so much as to be nearly unrecognizable now. The voters who dealt us our electoral disasters in 2006 and 2008 did so because they thought we were all too true to our roots. That we were exclusive, favored rich over poor, and didn’t care sufficiently for the plight of the little person.
Also, I suspect this call to return to our “roots” really is a call to do nothing. And doing nothing, I hope Republicans will agree, is not an option.
Davis is right–all of this talk about “conservative roots” is really Republicans reassuring themselves that their core ideas and philosophy are fine, that it’s nothing but superficial, cosmetic problems that are dragging them down. And as long as they’re working off the premise that their core philosophy is still popular, they won’t be able to make any worthwhile progress.
The GOP rose to power by building a strong ideological base. As time has gone on, that base has diminished in size, but the GOP’s fervency of belief has gotten enough of those voters to the polls to keep Republicans in the majority.
But the failures of the past few years has both eroded their base and harmed their ability to turn that base out. The GOP continually narrowed their focus down to issues that appeal solely to their base, but now their focus might be so narrowed that they might not be able to relate to anyone else anymore.
Davis presents some good ideas as to how the fundamentals of the GOP can be altered to suit the current political climate. The question is, is anyone listening? Because the future of the GOP just might depend on it.
Filed under: Breaking, Corruption, Government, Governors, Progressives, Scandal | Tags: Illinois, Illinois House of Representatives, Illinois Senate, Impeachment, Rod Blagojevich
Acting on yesterday’s recommendation by a state legislative committee, the Illinois House of Representatives has voted 114 to 1 to impeach Rod Blagojevich.
Now the state Senate will hold a trial to determine whether or not he should be removed from office; it’s expected they might conclude their proceedings by the beginning of February.
Filed under: Corruption, Government, Progressives, Scandal, Senate | Tags: Congress, FBI, Illinois, Illinois House of Representatives, Illinois Senate, Impeachment, Rod Blagojevich
The impeachment of Rod Blagojevich is proceeding smoothly:
A state legislative panel was set to recommend the impeachment of the Illinois governor accused of trying to sell president-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat, according to a draft report released by the committee ahead of its meeting Thursday.
A 69-page draft report, to be voted on later Thursday, concluded that there was sufficient evidence that Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was arrested on December 9 and in what prosecutors called a “political corruption crime spree,” abused his power.
“The citizens of this state must have confidence that their governor will faithfully serve the people and put their interests before his own,” the committee wrote.
“It is with profound regret that the committee finds that our current governor has not done so.”
The committee found that “the totality of the evidence warrants the impeachment of the governor for cause.”
Now the Illinois House of Representatives has to vote on the panel’s recommendation to impeach. If they pass it, it will go to the Senate who will then conduct a trial to determine whether or not Blagojevich will be removed from office.
The legislature is also waiting on a decision from a federal judge on whether or not prosecutors can release the FBI wiretaps so they can be used as evidence in the impeachment proceedings.
A lot of the damage is already done here–Blagojevich already appointed someone to the vacant Senate seat. But Blagojevich still deserves impeachment–at the very least–so I hope the process runs smoothly and concludes quickly.
Filed under: 2008 Election, Breaking, Conservatives, Corruption, Government, Governors, IOKIYAR, Polls, Progressives, Scandal, Senate | Tags: Al Franken, Congress, Courts, Democrats, Hypocrisy, Judiciary, Minnesota, Minnesota Recount, Norm Coleman, Republicans
Surprising exactly nobody, Norm Coleman is challenging the results of the Minnesota recount in court:
Republican Norm Coleman, who received 225 fewer votes than DFLer Al Franken in the U.S. Senate recount, will challenge the result in court. He told reporters at a state Capitol news conference that a lawsuit, known as an election contest, would proceed.
[...]
Coleman, whose Senate term ended on Saturday, began the recount on Nov. 19 with a 215-vote lead. His attorneys have said they believe he would have prevailed if the board had reviewed 650 absentee ballots they say may have been wrongly rejected, along with up to 150 ballots they say were counted twice and 133 Minneapolis votes that were counted using election day machine results after the ballots couldn’t be found during the hand recount.
It’s funny that Coleman is going to fight this for as long as he can, considering:
I guess quitting in the name of healing and unity is only a good idea if you’re a Democrat, huh?
But Coleman won’t concede and we all know why: he has nothing to lose. Even if he accomplishes nothing but ingratiating himself to the Republican establishment, it will have been worth it. As Nate Silver said,
Norm Coleman doesn’t have much of a future in electoral politics. Defeated Presidential candidates sometimes have nine lives, but defeated Senatorial candidates rarely do, and in his career running for statewide office, Coleman has lost to a professional wrestler, beaten a dead guy, and then tied a comedian. He doesn’t have much to lose by fighting this to its bitter conclusion.
The longer Coleman fights, the longer the Senate Democratic caucus goes without their 59th member. And the fiercer he fights, the more he delegitimizes Franken and undermines him as a United States Senator.
In the end, both of those are good for the Republican Party. So if Norm fights hard enough, he might get rewarded with a nice bit of right-wing welfare to help him round out his days in Washington. Because if we’ve learned nothing else from all this, it’s that Norm Coleman is Norm Coleman’s favorite special interest group.
Filed under: 2008 Election, Conservatives, Corruption, Government, Governors, Polls, Progressives, Scandal, Senate | Tags: Al Franken, Congress, Courts, Democrats, Harry Reid, Illinois, Illinois Secretary of State, Jesse White, John Cornyn, Judiciary, Minnesota, Minnesota Recount, Norm Coleman, Powell v. McCormack, Recount, Republicans, Rod Blagojevich, Roland Burris, Supreme Court, Texas
In the ongoing Roland Burris saga, I’ve already written that Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White’s will refuse to certify Burris’ appointment, which is required for Burris to take his place in the Senate.
But it’s questionable whether or not White has the legal authority to defy Governor Blagojevich. In all likelihood he doesn’t, and Burris’ will probably take him to court and win his certification.
Unfortunately, Senate Democrats are hitching themselves to White’s gambit and will use Burris’ lack of a certification to keep him from being inaugurated tomorrow:
The first thing the Senate leadership plans to do is to demand, under Rule 2 of the Standing Rules of the Senate, a certificate containing “the name of the person elected or appointed, the date of the certificate, the name of the governor and the secretary of state signing and countersigning the same, and the State from which such Senator is elected or appointed.”
Oh, snap! At Harry Reid’s urging, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White is refusing to sign such a certificate. No idea whether White’s refusal to sign is legal or not, but that little technicality should be enough to keep the Democrats from having to seat Burris when he shows up on Tuesday.
This means that, as soon as the courts overturn White’s obstinance, Senate Democrats won’t have any justification for blocking Burris.
Then there’s this:
In a conference call with reporters, [Texas Senator John] Cornyn said Republican Senators fear that Senate Democratic leaders may try to seat Franken next week even if an official winner has not been declared in the election. But the Texan said Republicans are prepared to launch a filibuster to prevent Franken from being seated until state officials declare a winner and all legal challenges are exhausted.
“There will be no way that people on our side of the aisle will agree to seat any Senator provisionally unless a certificate of election has been signed” and all court cases about the Senate race have been completed, Cornyn said.
I wrote this morning that, according to Minnesota’s election law, Minnesota can’t certify a winner in the Senate election until Norm Coleman’s legal challenges are decided in court. In other words, Coleman can prevent Franken from being named the official winner of the election for as long as he can keep his case in the courts. And now Senate Republicans are using the same justification Senate Democrats are using with Burris to block Franken.
Yeah, it’s a mess.
I’ve come to the conclusion that Burris should be seated. He should be expelled from the Senate as soon as he takes office, but he should be seated. Because seating him is a constitutional question, while expelling him is a political question.
Rod Blagojevich is the Governor of Illinois. He has all the power and authority of the Governor of Illinois, including the ability to fill vacant Senate seats. And Roland Burris meets all the constitutional requirements to be a United States Senator. The Supreme Court ruled in Powell v. McCormack that the Senate can’t keep someone from taking office if they’re constitutionally eligible, which Burris is.
But like I said, expulsion is a political question–the Senate can expel any member for any reason. And in this case, Burris certainly should be expelled; he was appointed to the seat Blagojevich was trying to sell to the highest bidder. His appointment raises questions as to whether or not Burris struck some sort of deal with the Governor. There’s no evidence he did but, considering the nature of the Blagojevich scandal, Burris should have anticipated that he would get dragged into this by virtue of his acceptance.
Where does that leave things? In poor shape, unfortunately. If the courts compel White to certify Burris, the Senate will have to seat him. Expulsion could be the next step, but Senate Democrats would look bad for trying to do an end-run around the constitution and they’ll look like failures when Burris is inaugurated despite all of their efforts. And now they’ve backed themselves into a corner with Franken, meaning that the Senate now has no good justification to seat Franken until Coleman has his days–or weeks, or months–in court.
All in all, Senate Democrats bungled the Burris issue from the start, and now they’ve left themselves open to criticism from a lot of places. I’m not really sure where they can go from here–hopefully they can think of something I haven’t. Because, to me, this looks like a pretty big fumble, unfortunately.
Filed under: Conservatives, Corruption, Economics, Government, International, Iraq | Tags: Africa, Darfur, Famine, Foreign Policy, George W. Bush, Iraq, Military, Republicans, Robert Mugabe, Rwanda, Save The Children, Starvation, Zimbabwe
In Zimbabwe, the number of people in need of emergency food aid has jumped to 5.5 million. According to the UN, two-thirds of the country lives on one meal–or less–per day.
And all of this is because of acts of man, not acts of God:
The sophisticated agricultural sector that formed the backbone of the economy has been “stripped for parts”, the irrigation systems destroyed, machinery and storehouses dismantled, he adds. Even if power were to change hands today, farming would take “more than five years” to recover.
Agriculture needs “inputs”, he says, and it needs that at the right time. But the planning and know-how have been systematically dismantled. “This will be by far the worst harvest,” Brian says. This sector was the one that Mr Mugabe, when he was a guerrilla leader, was famously warned by Mozambique’s President Samora Machel not to destroy, otherwise “you will face ruin”.
He heeded that advice, until it was expedient after 2000 to cash in the commercial farms to shore up his political base. The farms, almost all white-owned, were seized and after much anti-colonial posturing the lion’s share of them was handed out to his cronies for them to treat as their playgrounds.
Since then farmland and food have been used as weapons to starve Mr Mugabe’s enemies and enrich his allies. The country is in ruins, but the ruling clique is still in power.
[...]
There are already signs that international donors are reluctant to commit funds without a change of political leadership. Save the Children warned this week that there is already a shortfall of 18,000 tonnes of food aid for January.
When talking about the corruption that has consumed the country since independence, Zimbabweans often fall back on the proverb that explains the endless greed of the regime: “You never finish eating the meat of an elephant”. But there are increasing signs that this elephant’s bones were picked clean in 2008. Each sector, from mining to manufacturing and flower farming, has been looted completely. With a cholera epidemic raging, the economy by default now using the dollar, analysts believe Zimbabwe may be hitting the bottom.
Yeah, Zimbabwe needs a change in leadership; Robert Mugabe needs to see the inside of a jail cell–or coffin–as soon as possible. But right now, the people of Zimbabwe need food; political machinations and negotiations should take a back seat to helping those in immediate need.
We ignored Rwanda. We were all talk and no action on Darfur. How many African tragedies will occur while the western world watches on? Imagine how much good we could have done if all the billions we spent in Iraq, all the billions we spent on bailouts and stimulus packages for our ruined economy, were spent instead on helping Africa. Imagine how much good the hundreds of thousands of American soldiers in Iraq could have done ending the genocide in Darfur or delivering food and medicine to the people of Zimbabwe.
George W. Bush’s record on AIDS in Africa is one of the few bright spots in a very dark Presidency, that can’t be denied. But the foreign policy blunders and economic mismanagement of the past eight years have hamstrung America’s ability to do good where the world needs it most. There was a time when America would be on the forefront of solving Zimbabwe’s crisis; I look forward to the time when we can provide that kind of moral leadership once again.
Filed under: Corruption, Governors, House, Progressives, Race, Scandal, Senate | Tags: Bobby Rush, Congress, Democrats, Harry Reid, Illinois, Illinois Legislature, Illinois Secretary of State, Jesse White, Rod Blagojevich, Roland Burris
I have to say, Blagojevich’s selection of Roland Burris is almost brilliant.
Blagojevich picked someone not affiliated with any of Illinois’ political machines. He picked someone who isn’t a close ally of his. In fact, Burris has run against Blagojevich in the past, and he condemned Blagojevich’s pay-to-play scheme as “appalling.” In addition, Burris is the first African-American elected to statewide office in Illinois; he’s a distinguished public servant who has earned a lot of respect among Illinois politicians.
In other words, Blagojevich picked someone so sterling, so clean that he’s practically daring Harry Reid and the Democrats to expel him. In fact, Rep. Bobby Rush actually dared them to expel Burris:
There are no African-Americans in the Senate, and I don’t think that anyone, any U.S. Senator who is sitting right now would want to go on record to deny one African-American from being seated in the U.S. Senate. I don’t think they want to go on record doing that.
[...]
Let me remind you that the state of Illinois and the people of the state of Illinois in their collective wisdom have sent two African-Americans to the U.S. Senate. That makes a difference. This is not just a state of Illinois matter … but indeed, by this decision, it has tremendous national importance.
I disagree with Rep. Rush. I don’t think that, if a Senate seat is won by a minority, it should always be held someone from that minority group. While I believe wholeheartedly in increasing the diversity of the United States Senate, America is a a democracy; we give people power because we think they will do the best job. In this case, Burris won’t be able to the best job; the taint of scandal and illegitimacy will hang over him for his entire tenure in the Senate.
Still, this puts Senate Democrats in a tough position. Under any other circumstance, Burris would be a fantastic choice. But these aren’t other circumstances. While Burris might be a good candidate with a strong record, he’s only going to the Senate because of Rod Blagojevich; that, in and of itself, disqualifies him. I just hope that Harry Reid has the spine to follow through with his promise to kick out anyone Blagojevich appoints.
UPDATE: Here’s a welcome sight–Harry Reid is showing some spine:
The Senate will not seat Roland Burris if Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich attempts to appoint him, a Democratic leadership aide said.
Majority Leader Harry Reid views Burris as “unacceptable,” the aide said.
Now, if only Reid was as willing to stand up to Republicans as he is willing to stand up to his fellow Democrats…
UPDATE II: Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White is saying he won’t certify Burris’ appointment, which would keep him from the Senate:
As I have previously stated publicly, I cannot co-sign a document that certifies any appointment by Rod Blagojevich for the vacant United State Senate seat from Illiois.
Although I have respect for former Attorney General Roland Burris, because of the current cloud of controversy surrounding the Governor, I cannot accept the document.
Of course, there’s some question as to whether White has the legal authority to defy Blagojevich. Here’s what Illinois law says about the Secretary of State’s role in appointments:
Sec. 5. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State:
- To countersign and affix the seal of state to all commissions required by law to be issued by the m Governor.
- To make a register of all appointments by the Governor, specifying the person appointed, the office conferred, the date of the appointment, the date when bond or oath is taken and the date filed. If Senate confirmation is required, the date of the confirmation shall be included in the register.
In other words, if White resists the appointment, this will wind up in court and it will probably be resolved in Blagojevich’s favor. The only way this appointment can be prevented–if it even can be prevented at this point–is if the Illinois legislature removes Blagojevich from office before White is compelled to certify the appointment.
We’ll just have to see how this plays out.
UPDATE III: President-elect Obama responds:
Roland Burris is a good man and a fine public servant, but the Senate Democrats made it clear weeks ago that they cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat. I agree with their decision, and it is extremely disappointing that Governor Blagojevich has chosen to ignore it. I believe the best resolution would be for the Governor to resign his office and allow a lawful and appropriate process of succession to take place. While Governor Blagojevich is entitled to his day in court, the people of Illinois are entitled to a functioning government and major decisions free of taint and controversy
UPDATE IV: While Burris isn’t a strong Blagojevich ally, he is a supporter–Burris served as the Vice-Chair of Blagojevich’s gubernatorial transition team and has raised money for Blagojevich in the past.
Filed under: Breaking, Corruption, Governors, Live Blog, Scandal | Tags: Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, Roland Burris
Ishmael here. I’ll be live-blogging embattled Illinois governor and all-around hairpiece Rod Blagojevich’s press conference, set to begin at 2 p.m. Central.
Before the press conference starts, let’s talk a little bit about Roland Burris, who Blago is set to name to the empty Illinois Senate seat. He was Illinois Attorney General under one of the few non-corrupt Illinois governors, Jim Edgar. He lost a Senate primary to Paul Simon (the one with the bow ties, not the one with the guitar). And in 2002, he, Blago, and Paul Vallas fought a close primary race for the governorship.
In hindsight, it seems amazing that Blago got elected in the first place, let alone won reelection in 2006. How did he do it? Apparently, through radio ads like this:
UPDATE 1:15 p.m.: WGN reporters wondering what the “opportunistic” Roland Burris will do now that he’s being dragged through Blago’s mud. Tribune reporter Rick Pearson mentions that Burris constructed a mausoleum with space on it for his future accomplishments (e.g. first African-American governor of Illinois). Progress Illinois notes that Burris smacked Blago down pretty hard after his arrest.
UPDATE 1:28 p.m.: Politico has Harry Reid’s statement (emphasis mine):
It is truly regrettable that despite requests from all 50 Democratic Senators and public officials throughout Illinois, Gov. Blagojevich would take the imprudent step of appointing someone to the United States Senate who would serve under a shadow and be plagued by questions of impropriety. We say this without prejudice toward Roland Burris’s ability, and we respect his years of public service. But this is not about Mr. Burris; it is about the integrity of a governor accused of attempting to sell this United States Senate seat. Under these circumstances, anyone appointed by Gov. Blagojevich cannot be an effective representative of the people of Illinois and, as we have said, will not be seated by the Democratic Caucus.
UPDATE 1:37 p.m.: Capitol Fax says Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White will not certify Burris’ appointment. Whether he can actually refuse to do it isn’t clear, but five bucks says that question won’t get answered at the press conference.
UPDATE 1:54 p.m.: WGN’s Robert Jordan is wearing a pretty snazzy suit (on CLTV’s rebroadcast of the 12 p.m. news) and predicting that this will speed up the impeachment process in the Illinois legislature. Jordan’s also an excellent dancer.
UPDATE 2:01 p.m.: And here we go! Blago says Feliz Navidad.
UPDATE 2:04 p.m: Burris speaks! We’re in a bunch of crises, and the people of Illinois need proper representation in Washington. The man looks good for 71 years old.
UPDATE 2:06 p.m.: President-Elect Obama has “strapped it up,” whatever that means.
UPDATE 2:10 p.m.: Burris takes question: Why won’t the appointment be tainted? He’s just accepting his appointment, that’s all. Blago called him on Sunday night. No comment on “what the governor’s circumstance is,” but he’s innocent until proven guilty. Burris is totally blindsided by the idea that his consulting firm gave $14K to Blago. Capitol Fax has the number as $11K. Blago has “enjoyed the limelight he’s had,” but doesn’t want to hog it or answer questions. Yet he is anyway.
UPDATE 2:12 p.m.: Bobby Rush is making his way up to the podium and defending Burris.
UPDATE 2:17 p.m.: This is huge. Rush is saying we should applaud the appointment and is going to take the case to Dick Durbin. He keeps repeating that it’s an issue of national importance, and that we should separate the appointee from the appointer.
UPDATE 2:20 p.m.: Blago, dashing out, repeats that all the political fallout should stay focused on him, although he’s innocent of any wrongdoing. Shakes Rush’s hand and thanks him for coming to the press conference.
UPDATE 2:30 p.m.: We knew this already, but there’s really no good solution to this, other than impeaching Blagojevich ASAP. Progress Illinois has the full statements from Blago and Rush (emphasis mine):
Blago: The people of Illinois are entitled to have two United States senators represent them in Washington, D.C. As governor, I am required to make this appointment. If I don’t make this appointment, then the people of Illinois will be deprived of their appropriate vote and voice in the United States Senate. Therefore, I am hear to announce my intention to appont an individual who has unquestioned integrity, extensive experience, and is a wise and distiguished senior statesman of Illinois. This man was actually once an opponent of mine for governor.
…
And now I’d like to ask everyone to one last thing: Please don’t let the allegations against me taint this good and honest man.
Rush:
I applaud the governor for his decision. And I would ask you to not hang or lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointor. Separate, if you will, the appointee from the appointor. Roland Burris is worthy. He is the only one, I belive, that can stand in the gap in these tumultuous times and gather the confidence — restablish the confidence of the people of the State of Illinois.
As far as certification is concerned, I think the Secretary of State acted prematurely in issuing the statement. I’m not sure whether or not he has any authority to actually certify or not. But I do know that he should be concerned about how the people of the state of Illinois will react to him not certifying this particular individual, Roland Burris, to replace the president-elect.
As far as my colleagues in the Congress, I intend — or we intend — to persuade them or to challenge them or to do whatever — beg them — whatever it may take to get them to reverse their decision. … I don’t think that any U.S. senator who is sitting in the U.S. Senate right now wants to deny one African-American from being seated in the U.S. Senate. I don’t think they want to go on record doing that.
UPDATE 2:40 p.m.: Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn is holding his own press conference. The people of Illinois need to stand up for a special election. Blago has disgraced himself and should be removed from office. He thinks Burris made a mistake in accepting this appointment. He’s being very moderated in his responses — Quinn has a reputation as being a little fiery, but he’s being fairly even-keeled here. Cleaning up Illinois politics is a “herculean task,” but he has faith in Jesse White.
UPDATE 2:48 p.m.: Quinn seems confused by Burris’ acceptance of the appointment. He reiterates that Blago should leave office. Press conference over.
[Edited for formatting -- DS]
Filed under: 2008 Election, Conservatives, Corruption, Government, Governors, IOKIYAR, Polls, Progressives, Right-Wing Noise Machine, Scandal, Senate | Tags: 2008, Al Franken, Congress, Democrats, Jesse Ventura, Minnesota, Minnesota Supreme Court, MNGOP, Norm Coleman, Recount, Republicans, Stupidity, Tim Pawlenty
[No, I will not apologize for my terrible headline.]
The Minnesota GOP is panicking because Al Franken appears to be the winner of the Minnesota recount.
They’re so panicked they’ve sent out a hilarious press release begging for money. Let’s look:
As you may know, the precinct recount phase of the Minnesota Senate race was won by Sen. Norm Coleman on Election Day.
Yes, and? Norm Coleman’s margin of victory was so slim it triggered an automatic recount. Automatic recounts exist because there are often errors in counting votes on election night. Usually there aren’t enough errors to change the outcome of an election, since candidates tend to win by pretty wide margins. But that wasn’t the case in this election, hence the recount.
The point of a recount is to discover and resolve those errors in order to ensure that the person who’s declared the winner of the election was the person who actually got the most votes. That raises the question, then, of why the MNGOP doesn’t want to make sure that every vote is counted correctly.
Moving on:
But Al Franken still won’t concede. Instead, Franken raised millions of dollars from liberals in New York and Hollywood to fight a “legal” battle to undo the will of the voters.
First, the margin of victory was so slim that it triggered an automatic recount, as required by Minnesota law. In other words, even if Franken had given up on election night, there still would have been a recount, because election officials want to be sure that the person who takes office really did win the most votes. They’re picky like that.
Second, considering Norm Coleman’s ongoing scandals, I don’t think the MNGOP is in any position to attack anyone else’s’ fundraising sources.
[Franken] even got the Minnesota Supreme Court to order canvassing boards to consider about 1600 previously rejected and questionable ballots.
Out of the 7 Justices on the MN Supreme Court, 4 were appointed by Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty: Chief Justice Eric Magnuson, G. Barry Anderson, Lorie Skjerven Gildea and Christopher Dietzen. One Justice was appointed by Independent Governor Jesse Ventura: Helen M. Meyer.
This means the MN Supreme Court has a 5-2 non-Democratic majority. So how in the world would Franken “get” the court to do anything considering that he’s a partisan candidate for political office? It’s not like we have a Democratic candidate in cahoots with a Democratic court.
Perhaps the MN Supreme Court ruled in Franken’s favor because his case had legal merit. Imagine that.
Then again, I guess the MNGOP wouldn’t raise any money at all if they had to admit that they couldn’t litigate their way out of a paper bag.
Now, Republican Norm Coleman has until December 31st to fight against Franken’s liberal legal team to keep his Senate seat.
First, it’s not his Senate seat; it belongs to the people of Minnesota. If Coleman won the most votes, then it’s his seat. But he’s not entitled to it unless he’s determined to be the winner of the election, which is what this whole recount business is supposed to sort out.
Second, the letter opens by accusing Franken and his “liberal allies” of “working feverishingly [sic] to steal the Minnesota Senate election.” But the MNGOP does on to beg for money so that Norm Coleman can fight the results of the recount in court.
Guess what? If the state determines that the your opponent won the most votes and you challenge their decision in court, It’s not the other guy “stealing” the election. It’s you.
How rediculous is it that the MNGOP is accusing the guy who won the most votes of “stealing” the election, while portraying the guy using the courts to swing the election in his favor as fighting the good fight?
Perhaps they should follow the same advice they–idiotically–gave Al Franken on election night and just give up already. If anything, it would at least save them some embarrassment.
