Quote:
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Originally Posted by reconmike
Sure Host here you go,
Can you explain how a Governor can appoint his homosexual lover to post as important as homeland security for the state, when he had no credentials for the position or wasnt even an US citizen?
Now a wee bit of US senator Torricelli's foleys and how the very upright and ethical state of New Jersey handled it.
How can a candidate pull out after the ballot deadline, and thenthe state and national democratic party can get a new candidate on the ballot when by New Jersey law they should have been SOL. I can tell you, the NJSC which is controled by go figure democrats.
Now Host like I said earlier I CAN post more than 5 pages of the shit the democrats have pulled in Jersey but I have neither the time or energy to do so.
I truly hope these do not count as "feeling" posts becuase I have given you a few examples of how this state works. I am suprised you do not live here, this
is a democrats wet dream state, next to Washington DC that is, where you can be a convicted crack smoking felon and still get elected to a council seat as long as that 'D" is infront of your name.
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reconmike....here are the "stats" from states around the nation, since 2000:
<b>2004: Sitting Connecticut Governor John Rowland, republican</b>. Admitted receipt of bribes
for selling the influence of his office in exchange for a plea deal that sent him to a one
year jail sentence in a federal prison....
<b>2005: Sitting Ohio Governor Bob Taft, republican.</b> "Pled Guilty to Ethics Violations -
Fined
On August 18, 2005, Bob Taft pled "no contest" in Franklin County Municipal Court to
charges for failing to disclose 47 golf outings, five dinners, and 29 other favors paid for by
friends. Taft was charged the maximum financial penalty for each of his crimes, totaling
$4000. <h3>Among the violations were three trips to Toledo's Iverness Club with Tom Noe</h3>,
who paid for at least one of the outings.
Gov. Taft was the first Ohio governor ever to be convicted of a crime.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/ohi...ocket.php#Taft
(take a look at the descriptions of the other ten people associated with Gov. Taft who were convicted in criminal prosecutions, and or recieved fines in connection with the "ethics violations" of the governor.) One of the ten, Thomas Noe, is pictured with this description:
Quote:
Thomas Noe - Convicted - Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison and Ordered to Pay $16.7 Million
Thomas Noe has been indicted in two separate, but overlapping investigations for a
variety of corrupt activities in Ohio and in national politics.
On October 27, 2005, Noe was indicted in a federal investigation on three felony counts of
Conspiracy, Conduit Contribution Violations, and False Statements.
In that investigation, Noe was accused of funneling $45,400 to the Bush-Cheney 2004
re-election campaign through other donors. After already donating the maximum $2,000 to
Bush-Cheney '04, he pledged to raise an additional $50,000 at an fundraising dinner in
October, 2003. Noe recruited 24 friends as "conduits," advancing them money or reimbursing
them for contributions to Bush's campaign. Additionally, Noe gave $20,000 to two friends to
act as "super-conduits" by recruiting their own friends and performing the same scheme. The
Bush campaign later named Mr. Noe a "Pioneer" for raising at least $100,000 overall
On October 31, 2005, Noe pled not-guilty to all three felony charges. However on May 31, 2006,
Noe changed his plea to guilty to all three charges.
On February 13, 2006, the Lucas County District Court of Ohio charged Noe with embezzling at
least $1 million and laundering more than $2 million from a $50 million rare-coin investment
that he managed for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation. Noe pled not guilty to all 53
felony counts, including Racketeering, Theft, Forgery, Money Laundering, and Tampering with
Records. On August 22nd, a judge consolidated 8 charges into a single theft charge, reducing
the charges against Noe to 46.
There are suspicions that Noe used some of the rare-coin money to pay his conduits for the
Bush campaign or to donate to other political candidates. It's been reported that he used
between $4 million and $6 million from the coin investments to pay off debts as well as
purchase a house, boats, and cars.
Noe was convicted on November 13 of 29 counts. On November 20th, Noe was sentenced to prison
for 18 years. On November 27, Noe was ordered to pay the state of Ohio $13.7 million in
restitution, and must pay an additional $3 million, the cost of the probe into Noe's actions.
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<b>2006: <b>Former Illinois Governor George Ryan,republican</b> convicted by Scooter Libby
prosecutor and US attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald. Ryan received an 8 year sentence after his
federal trial on corruption charges. We covered the conviction here at TFP, last year:
<b> Ex Illinois Gov Ryan Convicted & Liberal Press Hides His Party Affiliation</b>
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=103553
<b>2006 Sitting Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher, republican</b> indicted on midemeanor
corruption charges:
Quote:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...2/ai_n18682840
Lexington Herald-Leader, February, 2007
premium Content provided
in partnership with premium
As Yogi Berra famously said, "It ain't over 'til it's over." And events last week reminded us
that Gov. Ernie Fletcher's BlackBerry Jam ain't over.
Yes, he cut a deal last summer to get the misdemeanor indictments against himself dropped.
Yes, he pre-emptively pardoned a host of cronies and underlings.
And yes, the special Franklin County grand jury ended its 18-month investigation in November,
issued its report and went home.
But there's still Sam Beverage.
And Dan Druen.
Beverage, a former Transportation Cabinet official, faces a perjury trial scheduled to begin
Feb. 19. He allegedly lied to the grand jury the day after Fletcher's Rotunda Pardoning Party.
Last week, a Virginia judge told Druen, also a former Transportation Cabinet official, that he
must return to Kentucky to testify at the Beverage trial......
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Quote:
http://www.topix.net/content/kri/162...60653582635242
Fletcher not first governor to be indicted
By Ryan Alessi
Lexington Herald-Leader
May 21, 2006
Immediately after the May 11 indictment of Gov. Ernie Fletcher, Kentucky officials began
wringing their hands about how it made Kentucky appear to the rest of the country.
Some called it 'an embarrassment' and said it would stain the state's reputation.
But Fletcher is hardly alone among U.S. governors, at least a half a dozen of whom have found
themselves embroiled in legal troubles in the last few years.
'We're just joining the crowd,' said Scott Lasley, assistant professor of political science at
Western Kentucky University. 'I'm not convinced this is a major blight on the state.'
As for Fletcher's political future -- that may be a different story.
Few governors in history have been able to withstand that type of an image hit and salvage
their political careers. And a review of recent governors slapped with legal charges shows
that the opposite party typically gains the upper hand in the next election.
'That often happens,' said Larry Sabato, the national political observer and professor at the
University of Virginia Center for Politics. 'But you can also have the same party win by
dumping the incumbent -- if they can find a strong candidate that can prove independence' from
the tarnished governor.
The three misdemeanor charges against Fletcher -- conspiracy, political discrimination and
official misconduct -- stem from a yearlong investigation into the administration's hiring
practices.
If convicted, Fletcher could face jail time and have to leave office.
Lasley said such a patronage investigation isn't as damaging in the minds of voters as, say,
trading government favors for money or a sex scandal. But it still registers higher on that
rough scale than a political scandal, which might include receiving improper campaign
donations, he added.
Joining the club
For the last year, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been investigated by the U.S. attorney's
office for improper hirings based on political connections instead of qualifications -- eerily
similar to Fletcher's situation.
Blagojevich, unlike Fletcher, hasn't been charged. Still, the investigation has hung like a
cloud over the Democrat's re-election bid this year.
Last month, a jury convicted Blagojevich's predecessor, Republican George Ryan, on charges of
taking bribes and misusing the governor's office. Blagojevich played up Ryan's problems in the
2002 governor's race by trying to link the embattled incumbent to his Republican opponent,
who, in an unfortunate coincidence, shared the last name Ryan.
Last summer, Ohio's Republican Gov. Bob Taft pleaded guilty to violating ethics laws for not
disclosing golf outings paid for by a campaign donor.
Now, Democratic Congressman Ted Strickland is the early favorite to win this fall's open
governor's race because Taft has become so unpopular, said Herb Asher, political science
professor at Ohio State University.
'What's been interesting here is that (Republican candidate) Ken Blackwell is trying to tap
into that and paint himself as an agent of change, even though he's been part of the
establishment for years,' Asher said.
That race could be 'a good road map' for Kentucky Republicans if Blackwell pulls it off, Asher
added.
Recent problems
Other governors' problems and the subsequent fallout include:
Democratic New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey, who, in August 2004, resigned after announcing
he was gay. It was later revealed he had an affair with man he hired as the state's homeland
security adviser, even though that aide had few credentials.
Democrats kept the position last fall when U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine defeated Republican
businessman Doug Forrester in an expensive, contentious race.
In June 2004, Connecticut's Republican governor, John Rowland, resigned after it was revealed
he improperly accepted gifts. He was later sentenced to a year in prison.
Rowland's lieutenant governor, M. Jodi Rell, took over and distanced herself enough from the
scandal to build relatively high approval ratings. Sabato, from the University of Virginia,
said she is 'way ahead' in her bid for re-election this fall.
Former Alabama Gov. Don E. Siegelman, a Democrat, is on trial on charges of racketeering and
accepting bribes during his term from 1999 to 2003. Siegelman narrowly lost to Republican Bob
Riley in 2002, as rumors of corruption bubbled up. Siegelman is running again this year to try
to unseat Riley.
In Kentucky's history, only two other sitting governors have been indicted. In 1929, Flem
Sampson, a Republican, was charged with receiving improper gifts.
The charges stemmed from a textbook scandal and were later dropped. But Republicans didn't win
the governor's race again until 1943.
Before that, Republican Kentucky Gov. William S. Taylor was indicted in connection with the
January 1900 assassination of Democratic Kentucky Gov. William Goebel.
As for Fletcher, his future remains in doubt as supporters and GOP strategists continue to
survey Kentucky's political landscape to test his chances of winning again in 2007.
'At the end of the day, Fletcher's fate will be determined by his fellow Republicans,' said
Lasley, from WKU. 'You can survive hits from the opposition party. It's when you lose major
support in your party is when you're in trouble.'
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To sum things up, reconmike, since 2004, 3 sitting republican governors and a fourth, recent
republican governor, were convicted or pled guitly to corruption charges, and two of them
received federal prison sentences of one year or more. The two sentenced to prison were
prosecuted by US attorneys appointed by president Bush.
In your New Jersey examples, even with Bush appointed US attorneys presumably examining the
evidence of corruption against Gov. McGreavy and former US senator Robert Torricelli, both
democrats, neither politician committed offenses that were deemed serious enough to merit
indictment or prosecution, even though we now know that all US attorneys were pressured to
aggressively and speedily investigate and prosecute democratic politicians between 2004 and
2006....as a condition for continuing as US attorneys.
The "record" in the first six years of the "00's" decade, when measured by indictments and
convictions of governors and their "associates" and political patrons, even in an era and
atmosphere of a highly politicized, partisan US DOJ, clearly demonstrates that repulican
governors, just as their federal office holding fellow party members, are much more corrupt
than their democratic opponents.
I would welcome a discussion on the history and background of the charges in the failed first, and then in the second, successful prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don E. Siegelman, a democrat convicted of corruption charges last year....but acquitted, in two criminal trials of huge numbers of other criminal charges brought by a politically motivated and extremely zealous, republican appointed US Attorney. Siegelman was successfully defended against almost all charges....there were so many, in both trials, that it was probably close to impossible to totally escape any convictions.
Contrast Siegelman's prosecutions....and Starr's Whitewater investigation with the restrained.....very few charges brought, only one strong indictment of one suspect, no hype or publicity from the prosecutor; prosecution of Scooter Libby by special counsel, Patrick Fitzgerald, or Fitzgerald's prosecution of ex-Gov. Ryan, compared to Siegelman's prosecutions in Alabama.....