In a recent thread some commenters had a hard time explaining what constitutes an actual real estate scandal. It will help to contrast John Solomon’s Edwards turd with a story like this:
Last March, Sue Ellen Wooldridge, then the head of the Justice Department’s environmental division, bought a $1 million vacation home with Don R. Duncan, the top lobbyist for oil company ConocoPhillips. Nine months later, Ms. Wooldridge signed off on a settlement agreement that let ConocoPhillips delay the installation of pollution-control equipment and the payment of fines.
Just to make matters cozier, the third owner of the beach house is J. Steven Griles, the former No. 2 official at the Interior Department who’s now the target of a Justice Department criminal investigation into his dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Oh, and Ms. Wooldridge, who lives with Mr. Griles, once worked with him at Interior, where she gave Mr. Griles ethics advice and defended his actions during an inspector general investigation.
Obvious conflicts of interest, flagrant quid pro quo, misuse of government authority, it’s all in there. In bizarro world, where everything works exactly the opposite of here, this administration would be a civics textbook.
Let’s also stipulate that Steny Hoyer has a tin ear. He hasn’t broken any laws, yet, but if Democrats consolidate their authority, and nobody shames him out of this sort of behavior, then it’s a matter of time. For that reason I hope that Sen. Tim Johnson recovers quickly so that he and Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (who?) can get their respective ethics committees going full steam. The Democratic party will benefit as much as anybody if overactive Committees open too many ethics investigations rather than too few. The utter dereliction of ethics under the Republican Congress contributed significantly to the astonishing corruption that ensured their catastrophic losses in ’06.
Heronymus
I would be perfectly happy to see Congress start investigating the government and leave off investigating baseball.
Oh, and thanks; I found you through Kung Fu Monkey, looking for any Intelligent Conservatives.
ImJohnGalt
This is why I love this blog. John (the conservative) rails against the Republicans, and Tim (the liberal) calls the Dems to account.
FWIW, I think Hoyer is retarded. It’s not just a tin ear. If he thinks that it’s okay that he pays for 130 rooms for lobbyists just because it’s not techically illegal, he’s a moron who deserves to lose and be replaced by someone who really wants ethics reform, instead of someone who only calls for it when the Republicans are demonstrating why we want ethics reform in the first place.
Ellison, Ellensburg, Ellers, and Lambchop
Whoops! Oh-fer-two.
DougJ
Funny, stuff, EEEL. You’re as witty as ever.
dreggas
I think you’ll find a mix here of both Dems and Real Conservatives (excluding the few trolls who are nothing more than Bushites and worshippers of the almighty cod-piece), Tim on the other hand I believe is a certified D.
Welcome to Balloon-Juice.
dreggas
and here’s example one…I am sure the rest will come out soon. This kinda stuff is like chum for the bottom feeders.
DougJ
Amen. You’ve come to the right place.
Tsulagi
I liked the WaPo article you linked to. It mentioned Ms. Woolridge’s attorney said there were no conflicts as his client checked the appropriateness of the purchase with a Justice Dept. ethics lawyer. Yeah, that’s where you want to get sound advice on ethics, this administration’s Justice Dept.
Guess that was poor Duke Cunningham’s slip. He should have gotten Gonzales’ ethics attorneys to approve the sale of his home to a defense contractor. Who immediately put it back on the market, months later dumping it at a $700k loss. It Duke had thought to get the coveted Gonzales seal of ethics approval in advance before giving the contractor favors, he might not be the convicted felon he is today.
But these two examples do not begin to compare to the craven, wanton destruction of the public confidence exhibited by Reid when he put the wrong name for a piece of property he owned on a disclosure form.
srv
Look, just like the Endangered Species Act protects species from evil landowners, the Endangered Scumbag Act protects scumbags from evil liberals.
If we can’t protect a few scumbags, how can we protect our childrens future?
chopper
you’re right, the conservative commentors here are a bunch of idiots.
The Other Steve
How come this lady gets a vacation home, and I don’t get a pony?
Jake
Re Hoyer: Step a way from the damn loophole and no one gets hurt.
ThymeZone
My position in a nutshell: Fuck all corrupt politicians, no matter which party they belong to.
It’s not like government isn’t hard enough without turning it into a trough for pigs.
The Other Steve
Hey, before you guys go off thinking John Cole is some sort of reasonable guy…
He’s not. The commentors here simply beat him into submission so that he agrees with us all the time.
It’s true. Darrell told me.
ThymeZone
Heh. As if that were possible. I have a few dings on my backside from his rhetorical heel. I could never beat him into anything he didn’t already believe in.
John’s conversion is all on his own. If anything we probably slowed him down.
tBone
Mac admits he’s neither intelligent nor a conservative? Frankly I didn’t expect that kind of honesty or self-awareness from him.
Redleg
My favorite part is where Ms. Wooldridge “gave Mr. Griles ethics advice.” Ha ha ha ha. I almost spewed water all over my computer!
Krista
Probably. Any time he’s found himself agreeing with ppGaz, Slide or Paddy, he probably wound up going through a family size bottle of Rolaids.
dreggas
I would profer this as another example of a REAL SCANDAL:
Click here
Zombie Santa Claus
Why don’t we ever hear the good news about cronyism? For one thing, if everyone who’s anyone’s in the club, everyone knows everyone and can trust everyone else’s motives. For another thing, it’s good government to care about your constituents at the lobbying firms. It’s like the bar in “Cheers” where everybody knows your name, what you drink, and how much you owe on the tab. This is the kind of personal, hands-on government most people in this country can only dream of. You get the best government money can buy, a far better return on your investment than Joe Schmoe who only pays $4k a year in taxes. Why should HE get such a swell relationship? Why is this automatically such a BAD thing that the guys who pay the government more money get better government? Why SHOULDN’T we encourage the entrepreneurial spirit that made America great amongst our leaders? If our leaders can’t lead themselves in the direction of prosperity, how can they lead the rest of us there?
Fledermaus
Well at least the GOP isn’t accepting donations from people accused of financing terrorist training camps in Afganistan. Whoops.
Well at least the care at the VA is outstanding and troops in the surge have the latest and best equipment. crap foiled again.
Um, well at least the Vice President isn’t shooting people in the face this week.
Doug H
Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (who?)
Ooh, ooh, Mr. Kottah, I know that one!
Rep. Tubbs-Jones (D-East Side) is a former Cuyahoga County prosecutor who jumped over to the legislative branch when Louis Stokes retired. She can be a bit meddlesome, like when she tried to back one of her staffers for mayor, but she’s an excellent choice for the ethics committee. Think of Maya Angelou’s eloquence combined with S. Epatha Merkerson no-nonsense attitude.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
See? All good news, yet these nattering nabobs of negativism constanty croon about the plummeting sky. It’s enough to make a decent American want to puke, I tell you.