Why did he have to quit:
A GOP lobbyist and fundraiser with close ties to the White House has quit a Homeland Security Department advisory committee following allegations of influence peddling and quid pro quo donations to the Bush presidential library.
Department spokeswoman Laura Keehner confirmed to United Press International that Stephen Payne was asked to resign after being surreptitiously videotaped by a British newspaper apparently offering to arrange meetings with senior administration officials in return for a six-figure fee, including a quarter-million-dollar donation to the library.
“The department asked him to step down” from his post on the Secure Borders and Open Doors Subcommittee of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, Keehner said, declining to comment on the reasons.
The news comes as questions began to emerge about whether Payne properly disclosed his work on behalf of a number of foreign entities as required by federal law.
Interesting.
pharniel
hah. amazing what the UK tabloid press is doing, because, y’know, our system is doing such a bang up fucking job.
El Cid
Payne needed to spend more time with his family?
cleek
he was forced out by the liberal media which is trying to pull off a partisan hit job during an election. we should close down the traitors’ operations until this election is over, just to show them that this kind of treason will not be tolerated.
John S.
So, who is making these “allegations”? The video tape of him actually doing those things?
Interesting take.
4tehlulz
OT: How do I appeased Iran?
harlana pepper
pharniel, you beat me to it but I’m sure that’s what is on everybody’s mind.
Speaking of real news, does anybody know where Karl Rove is? I’m serious. Hate to sound like a broken record, but if we don’t know, then shouldn’t that be news and maybe, like, some journalists might want to look into that?
Never mind, I’ll just check with the Brits.
Punchy
This is devestating news for Democrats.
RSA
Bush: I will restore honor and integrity to the
White HouseBush Presidential Library.asl
The biggest scandal is that someone would pay more than a couple of hundred bucks to see Bush at this point of his term.
PaulW
Here’s the biggest scandal: how can there be a Bush library when Dubya has stamped everything classified?
Answer: It’s not going to be a library. It’s going to be a PR office where they’ll try to bribe and harass historians into giving this whole disastrous administration glowing reviews…
The Other Steve
It’s quite simple really.
The problem is the political culture! It’s the corruption of the system, and the problems with the family law system in this country!
It’s got absolutely nothing to do with being convicted of domestic assault for beating up his wife.
Now to be fair, he claimed his wife had been abusing him and he’d just had enough. I have a bit of empathy for that position.
But come on, let’s take some responsibility for our actions. The reason he’s not running for reelection is because of the publiclity of this thing, and the fact that the Republicans kicked him out of the party caucus over it. It’s not because of corruption or money, or the law or anything like that.
les
More like boringly typical.
NYT
When the story appeared in the British press one of the allegations was that he had an Uzbeki removed from the terrorist watchlist.
That part of the story seems to have disappeared in the U.S. verion, at least in the Washington Post , where Ruth Marcus helpfully reminds us Bush was just following Clinton’s precedent
Notorious P.A.T.
A library for a president who can barely read. Just what we need.
Breezeblock
I read a few days ago that Rove was in the Crimea. Not clear if he is vacationing, consulting or on the lam.
Calouste
That “liberal” British newspaper is the Murdoch owned Sunday Times.
Just as some flak for John McCain has come from the “liberal”
ToryTelegraph (current headline btw is “Foreign criminals may be roaming Britain”)