Republican Culture of Corruption: 2007 So Far
[Cross-posted at my DKos diary.]
Does it seem like there's a new Republican scandal in the news every single week? Well, that may be because there is:
January 23, 2007: Republican radio personality Scott Eller Cortelyou of Denver arrested on suspicion of using the Internet to lure a child into a sexual relationship
January 29, 2007: Republican former Jefferson County, Colorado, Treasurer Mark Paschall indicted on two felony charges "in connection with an allegation that Paschall solicited a kickback from a bonus he awarded one of his employees"
January 31, 2007: Republican Congressman Gary Miller is named by Republicans as ranking member of oversight subcommittee of House Financial Services Committee despite the FBI's investigation into his land deals
February 14, 2007: Major Republican fundraiser Brent Wilkes and former CIA executive director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo are indicted by a grandy jury for corrupting CIA contracts
February 16, 2007: Major Republican donor Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, aka Michael Mixon, is indicted in federal court on charges of providing material support to terrorists
March 5, 2007: Ethics complaint filed against Republican Senator Pete Domenici for his role in the Attorney Purge scandal
March 6, 2007: I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney found guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury
March 8, 2007: Republican former U.S. Congressman and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich admits to extramarital affair
March 23, 2007: Former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles, an oil and gas lobbyist who became an architect of George W. Bush's energy policies, pleads guilty to obstructing justice by lying to a Senate committee
March 27, 2007: Criminal charges filed against Republican Pennsylvania State Senator Robert Regola in connection with the death of a teenage neighbor who was shot with the senator's gun; he is accused of three counts of perjury, allowing possession of a firearm by a minor, recklessly endangering another person and false swearing
March 27, 2007: Ronald Reagan's budget director, David Stockman, "indicted on charges of defrauding investors and banks of $1.6 billion while chairman of Collins & Aikman Corp., an auto parts maker that collapsed days after he quit"
March 28, 2007: Robert Vellanoweth, a Republican activist and appointee of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is arrested on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter and felony driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, after a crash that killed three adults and one child
April 18, 2007: The FBI raids the home of Republican Congressman John Doolittle, investigating his ties to Jack Abramoff
April 19, 2007: The FBI raids a business tied to the family of Republican Congressman Rick Renzi, as part of an investigation into his business dealings
April 23, 2007: The FBI questions Republican Congressman Tom Feeney about his dealings with Jack Abramoff
April 23, 2007: Federal auditors find repeat violations of federal election law from the 2004 Senate campaign of Republican Senator Mel Martinez
April 26, 2007: David Huckabee, son of Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, is arrested at an Arkansas airport after a federal X-ray technician detected a loaded gun in his carry-on luggage
May 4, 2007: Bruce Weyhrauch and Pete Kott, former Alaska state Republican legislators, were arrested and accused of soliciting and accepting bribes from the corrupt VECO Corporation
May 4, 2007: Republican state Assemblyman Michael Cole is censured and stripped of his leadership position after the married father of two spent the night at a 21-year-old intern's apartment
May 11, 2007: A field coordinator for Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry is indicted for voter fraud in North Carolina
May 12, 2007: NBC News breaks the story that the FBI is investigating Republican Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons for suspicion of accepting bribes in exchange for securing government contracts
May 15, 2007: Connecticut Republican Party Chairman Chris Healy is arrested for drunk driving (he pled no contest on June 1, but didn't publicly disclose the event until June 11)
May 18, 2007: Republican former South Dakota State Representative Ted Klaudt is charged with eight counts of second-degree rape, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of sexual contact with a child younger than 16, two counts of witness tampering and one count of stalking against two foster children in his care
May 21, 2007: Republican state Senate candidate Mark Tate is indicted on nine counts of perjury and two counts of election fraud by a grand jury
June 11, 2007: Republican Senator Larry Craig is arrested for lewd conduct in the men's bathroom of an airport
June 19, 2007: South Carolina Republican state Treasurer and South Carolina Chairman of Giuliani for President Thomas Ravenel is indicted by a grand jury on cocaine distribution charges
July 2, 2007: President George W. Bush commutes the sentence of former Cheney Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby following Libby's conviction on obstruction of justice and perjury
July 3, 2007: A grand jury report declares that the sale of public land to Republican Congressman Ken Calvert and his business partners violated the law
July 11, 2007: Republican state Representative and Florida co-Chairman of McCain for President Bob Allen is arrested for soliciting a male undercover police officer, offering to pay $20 to perform oral sex
July 16, 2007: Republican Senator David Vitter holds press conference acknowledging being on the D.C. Madam's list and past involvement with prostitutes
July 16, 2007: Story breaks that Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski was involved in a sweetheart real estate deal
July 19: Republican former state legislator Coy Privette is charged with six counts of aiding and abetting prostitution
July 24, 2007: Michael Flory, former head of the Michigan Federation of Young Republicans, pleads guilty to sexual abuse
July 26, 2007: Media report that Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski will sell back land purchased in a sweetheart deal, following close scrutiny of the shady transaction
July 29, 2007: Glenn Murphy Jr., recently-elected Chairman of the Young Republican National Federation, is accused of sexually assaulting a sleeping man
July 30, 2007: The FBI and IRS raid the home of Republican Senator Ted Stevens following investigations into Stevens' dealings with the corrupt VECO Corporation
August 2, 2007: Bush administration senior adviser Karl Rove disregards a Congressional subpoena and refuses to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee
August 6, 2007: Investigation called for after House Republican Leader John Boehner leaked classified information regarding a secret court ruling over warrantless wiretapping
August 8, 2007: Republican Senator Larry Craig pleads guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct following his June 11 arrest
August 9, 2007: Major Republican donor Alan Fabian is charged with 23 counts of bankruptcy fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and perjury
August 15, 2007: Republican state House candidate Angelo Cappelli is arrested for perjury and grand theft
August 22, 2007: Republican political consultant Roger Stone resigns his role with the New York state Senate Republicans after reports surfaced that he made a "threatening, obscenity-laced" phone call to the 83-year-old father of Governor Eliot Spitzer
August 27, 2007: Story breaks that Republican Senator Larry Craig was arrested and pled guilty - he had not publicly disclosed the events to that point
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.
Does it seem like there's a new Republican scandal in the news every single week? Well, that may be because there is:
January 23, 2007: Republican radio personality Scott Eller Cortelyou of Denver arrested on suspicion of using the Internet to lure a child into a sexual relationship
January 29, 2007: Republican former Jefferson County, Colorado, Treasurer Mark Paschall indicted on two felony charges "in connection with an allegation that Paschall solicited a kickback from a bonus he awarded one of his employees"
January 31, 2007: Republican Congressman Gary Miller is named by Republicans as ranking member of oversight subcommittee of House Financial Services Committee despite the FBI's investigation into his land deals
February 14, 2007: Major Republican fundraiser Brent Wilkes and former CIA executive director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo are indicted by a grandy jury for corrupting CIA contracts
February 16, 2007: Major Republican donor Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, aka Michael Mixon, is indicted in federal court on charges of providing material support to terrorists
March 5, 2007: Ethics complaint filed against Republican Senator Pete Domenici for his role in the Attorney Purge scandal
March 6, 2007: I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney found guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury
March 8, 2007: Republican former U.S. Congressman and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich admits to extramarital affair
March 23, 2007: Former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles, an oil and gas lobbyist who became an architect of George W. Bush's energy policies, pleads guilty to obstructing justice by lying to a Senate committee
March 27, 2007: Criminal charges filed against Republican Pennsylvania State Senator Robert Regola in connection with the death of a teenage neighbor who was shot with the senator's gun; he is accused of three counts of perjury, allowing possession of a firearm by a minor, recklessly endangering another person and false swearing
March 27, 2007: Ronald Reagan's budget director, David Stockman, "indicted on charges of defrauding investors and banks of $1.6 billion while chairman of Collins & Aikman Corp., an auto parts maker that collapsed days after he quit"
March 28, 2007: Robert Vellanoweth, a Republican activist and appointee of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is arrested on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter and felony driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, after a crash that killed three adults and one child
April 18, 2007: The FBI raids the home of Republican Congressman John Doolittle, investigating his ties to Jack Abramoff
April 19, 2007: The FBI raids a business tied to the family of Republican Congressman Rick Renzi, as part of an investigation into his business dealings
April 23, 2007: The FBI questions Republican Congressman Tom Feeney about his dealings with Jack Abramoff
April 23, 2007: Federal auditors find repeat violations of federal election law from the 2004 Senate campaign of Republican Senator Mel Martinez
April 26, 2007: David Huckabee, son of Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, is arrested at an Arkansas airport after a federal X-ray technician detected a loaded gun in his carry-on luggage
May 4, 2007: Bruce Weyhrauch and Pete Kott, former Alaska state Republican legislators, were arrested and accused of soliciting and accepting bribes from the corrupt VECO Corporation
May 4, 2007: Republican state Assemblyman Michael Cole is censured and stripped of his leadership position after the married father of two spent the night at a 21-year-old intern's apartment
May 11, 2007: A field coordinator for Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry is indicted for voter fraud in North Carolina
May 12, 2007: NBC News breaks the story that the FBI is investigating Republican Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons for suspicion of accepting bribes in exchange for securing government contracts
May 15, 2007: Connecticut Republican Party Chairman Chris Healy is arrested for drunk driving (he pled no contest on June 1, but didn't publicly disclose the event until June 11)
May 18, 2007: Republican former South Dakota State Representative Ted Klaudt is charged with eight counts of second-degree rape, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of sexual contact with a child younger than 16, two counts of witness tampering and one count of stalking against two foster children in his care
May 21, 2007: Republican state Senate candidate Mark Tate is indicted on nine counts of perjury and two counts of election fraud by a grand jury
June 11, 2007: Republican Senator Larry Craig is arrested for lewd conduct in the men's bathroom of an airport
June 19, 2007: South Carolina Republican state Treasurer and South Carolina Chairman of Giuliani for President Thomas Ravenel is indicted by a grand jury on cocaine distribution charges
July 2, 2007: President George W. Bush commutes the sentence of former Cheney Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby following Libby's conviction on obstruction of justice and perjury
July 3, 2007: A grand jury report declares that the sale of public land to Republican Congressman Ken Calvert and his business partners violated the law
July 11, 2007: Republican state Representative and Florida co-Chairman of McCain for President Bob Allen is arrested for soliciting a male undercover police officer, offering to pay $20 to perform oral sex
July 16, 2007: Republican Senator David Vitter holds press conference acknowledging being on the D.C. Madam's list and past involvement with prostitutes
July 16, 2007: Story breaks that Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski was involved in a sweetheart real estate deal
July 19: Republican former state legislator Coy Privette is charged with six counts of aiding and abetting prostitution
July 24, 2007: Michael Flory, former head of the Michigan Federation of Young Republicans, pleads guilty to sexual abuse
July 26, 2007: Media report that Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski will sell back land purchased in a sweetheart deal, following close scrutiny of the shady transaction
July 29, 2007: Glenn Murphy Jr., recently-elected Chairman of the Young Republican National Federation, is accused of sexually assaulting a sleeping man
July 30, 2007: The FBI and IRS raid the home of Republican Senator Ted Stevens following investigations into Stevens' dealings with the corrupt VECO Corporation
August 2, 2007: Bush administration senior adviser Karl Rove disregards a Congressional subpoena and refuses to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee
August 6, 2007: Investigation called for after House Republican Leader John Boehner leaked classified information regarding a secret court ruling over warrantless wiretapping
August 8, 2007: Republican Senator Larry Craig pleads guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct following his June 11 arrest
August 9, 2007: Major Republican donor Alan Fabian is charged with 23 counts of bankruptcy fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and perjury
August 15, 2007: Republican state House candidate Angelo Cappelli is arrested for perjury and grand theft
August 22, 2007: Republican political consultant Roger Stone resigns his role with the New York state Senate Republicans after reports surfaced that he made a "threatening, obscenity-laced" phone call to the 83-year-old father of Governor Eliot Spitzer
August 27, 2007: Story breaks that Republican Senator Larry Craig was arrested and pled guilty - he had not publicly disclosed the events to that point
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.
posted by Senate2008Guru | 2:37 PM
28 Comments:
Absolutely a culture of corruption... good work, Guru.
Quibble. Five or so of these many, many entries lack the state where the Repub held office. Can you edit to add them, in case we want to follow up now or in the future? Thanks for this good work.
you missed Romney's top campaign aide who is under investigation in MA and NH for impersonating police officers, threatening drivers, stopping reporters....and is now suspended from the campaign staff.
the Boston Globe can fill you in
Yes, but - don't forget William Jefferson and that cash in his freezer. You see? Both parties are equally guilty!
I would have been mor eimpressed had you included the Democrat's foibles. By making it appear that only the Republicans are crroked, you reduce the quality of your work by appear shrill and partisan. The fact is that they are largely different pieces of meat in the same pot of stew and until we get any private money out of the election process, we will see this stuff repeatedly. I will say however, that there appears to be a great many Republicans getting hit with the pederest/sexual peccadillo brush than Democrats. I wonder sometimes if there isnt a psychological connect between loudly proclaiming the rules by which others should live their lives, and being sexually active on the quiet side? Kind of like the priests that the Catholics have to deal with?
I would have been more impressed had you included the Democrat's foibles. By making it appear that only the Republicans are crooked, you reduce the quality of your work by appearing shrill and partisan. The fact is that they are largely different pieces of meat in the same pot of stew and until we get any private money out of the election process, we will see this stuff repeatedly. I will say however, that there appears to be a great many more Republicans getting hit with the pederest/sexual peccadillo brush than Democrats. I wonder sometimes if there isnt a psychological link between loudly proclaiming the rules by which others should live their lives, and being sexually active on the quiet side? Kind of like the priests that the Catholics have to deal with?
This is a great post. No need to show the *few* democrats who have had problems... we all know some politicians in every party will be crooked, but that is *not* the point: the point is the Republican party is so far and away the *most* corrupt and hypocritical bunch of crooks and liars our nation has seen.
Sound partisan? Well, I guess by definition it is. But that doesn't change the simple empirical fact: its all true.
Keep up the good work! I'll be posting a link to this page so more people can see.
Yes... you really should try to be more fair and balanced®...
Actually, since W has been in power, I have had a hard time reconciling the depth of the corruption with the lack of outrage, or even coverage.
OK--I can accept this because it is proven fact--I am NO Bush fan. But lets be fair about this to ALL parties, Democrats, Libertarians, Independents, etc. No party is without corruption either now or in the past. This includes from State Representatives per state up to past and present Presidents. A long standing and well known Democrat got away with drowning a young woman years ago--and NOTHING much is mentioned about that. So, someone please research all parties and post them here as well. Be fair and not prejudiced just against Republicans. They are ALL CORRUPT if you dig DEEP ENOUGH!
Can you take the list further back or point me to a site that goes back before last year's corruption?
I would like to pass it along to some of my rightwing Christian friends.
For the GOP apologists to even suggest the parties goofs are the same doesn't understand the very nature of GOP vs. Democrat. GOP politicians are constantly telling us how we do not measure up to the family values they espouse and then make laws to force us to submit to their values. The Democrats just don't care, for the most part, about your "family values", they leave that up to you.
The GOP then gets in trouble because they would love to behave like Democrats but would then be called hypocrites. Oh, I think that's what there already called.!!
Fantastic. May I repost if I link back to you?
You might want to add all these as well.
http://www.armchairsubversive.org/
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What we need is a list like this for the ENTIRE Cheney (Bush is just a STOOGE) Administration.
Please do a YEARLY scandal listing!!!
Thanks.
http://www.hickoryrecord.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=HDR%2FMGArticle%2FHDR_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173352327760&path=!news!localnews
Former McHenry worker makes plea agreement
BY ANDREW MACKIE
RECORD STAFF WRITER
Friday, August 10, 2007
HICKORY -- A former campaign worker of U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor election fraud Thursday.
Michael Aaron Lay, 26, must serve 100 hours of community service and pay a $440 fine. He will be on probation for six months. If he meets those criteria, the charges will be dismissed.
The plea agreement entered in Gaston County Superior Court addressed felony charges that alleged Lay voted illegally in Gaston County in the 2004 primary and primary runoff elections. Lay pleaded instead to “two attempts to do voter fraud,” said Thom Goolsby, Lay’s attorney.
Lay was not available for comment Thursday, but Goolsby was pleased with the case’s quick resolution. Lay was charged in May and indicted by a grand jury last month.
Goolsby said Lay, who graduated from the University of Tennessee’s law school this year, can now sit for the North Carolina State Bar exam in February.
During his 2004 run for Congress, McHenry’s home became his campaign headquarters and a base for several supporters, including Lay.
Lay and two other campaign aides had moved to Cherryville for the campaign, according to McHenry’s office.
In May, McHenry called the charges against Lay a “baseless attack.”
“For Aaron’s sake, I am glad this matter has been resolved,” McHenry said in a statement released Thursday. “Aaron is a fine young man with a bright future ahead of him.”
The resolution was not satisfactory to Donnie Young, a supporter of one of McHenry’s opponents in 2004, Catawba County Sheriff David Huffman.
Young filed a complaint with the North Carolina Board of Elections in 2004 regarding Lay’s situation. He’s since raised the issue in political circles.
Young said Lay’s punishment was less harsh than he expected, but added it wasn’t his position to question the judicial system.
“I’m just an average citizen who filed a complaint,” he said. “I live with whatever the consequences are.”
Young said he has sufficient information to ask state elections officials for an investigation into two more McHenry associates in Catawba County. He said that issue also involves illegal voter registration.
Young declined to name the individuals or provide additional details of his intentions.
“There is definitely more to it,” he said.
amackie@hickoryrecord.com | 322-4510 x5407 or 304-6914
The itern incident happened in New York.
Dear Guru:
Just discovered you. Great page. Great work. The time is now for all progressive voices to join together to take back our country from corporate amerika.
we can do it,
lawwizard in alhambra
One more for the list: Rep. Doug Lamborn (R) Co. feels that if a constituent writes a letter to the editor that offends him, it is OK to call and threaten them on their voice mail. (Denver Post 9/2/07)
To all my Republican friends, we are not pointing out that only your party has problems. The hypocrisy is, when a party puts themselves on a pedestal as the "MORAL" party, they should make sure their house is in order. Especially when those who do not keep the highest of morals are the loudest to speak out about morals. We are all human, the Democratic party admits it and the Republican party does not, THAT is the difference.
I would like to see a list of the Democrats as well. Just to show that the numbers really are up there for the Republican corruption. If you are not willing or cannot do it, how did you compile this list? I would be interested in doing so.
Don't forget the SC Republican Treasurer who was arrested under cocaine charges. He was also Rudy G's state campaign organizer
how about the ex bugman from Texas,tom delay.
This list should be considered as preliminary to its readers. More informed readers could follow up on that person's particular political position (if plausible) on whatever scandalous activity they were exposed to being involved in and develop a stronger case of hypocrisy on the individual.
But note, I still like the list. It's very nifty.
Actually, at one every 5.7 days, it's more than one per week.
Mary Jo Kopechne, Chuck Robb, Gary Hart, Harry Reid, John Murtha and Nancy Pelosi, Charles Walker, Barney Frank, Frederick Richmond, James C. Green, Jesse Jackson, Gary Condit, Melvin Jay Reynolds, Gerry Eastman Studds. Do these names mean anything to you? If not, maybe it's because you are looking at a very partisaned list of those involved in scandals. No party is perfect, and the news does a great job of being partisaned as well, and helping to make it seem very much like Republicans are the only dirty politicians. It is a dirty business, and as a Republican I am as disgusted with these people as you are and I don't in any way defend or condone their actions, but don't for a minute pretend like Democrats, or anyone else for that matter are any better.
It's not even a list of disgraced politicians; Noraven threw in the names of Pelosi, Reid, and a few others in the hopes that we'd either not notice or think they were hopelessly mired in scandal as well.
Republicans are pretty much all liars. Their party is enveloped in constant scandal, with new horrors emerging by the minute, and all they can think to do is frantically create equivalancies that, at present, just don't exist.
Noraven, accept your disgrace and try to make your party something better. The false outrage is just pathetic.
Jcrosson, it's a matter of QUANTITY.
There are certainly corrupt Democrats. But it's quite impossible to come up with a new scandal for *every week of the year*, the way the author just did for the Republicans. (And he left out *dozens*.)
Clearly the Republicans are, in fact, far more corrupt. That was rather the point of the list. I suppose it might have helped to include *both* documented scandals among Democrats this year (I believe that there were exactly two), just to demonstrate the sheer scale of the difference.
Mark, I came up with numerous lists of demo scandals in a quick net search so there's plenty out there. There are three things working against Republicans. 1) the standards of behaviour for liberals is very low and therefore easy to meet. 2) Media bias. To expect the NY/LATimes to dwell on liberal corruption or hypocrisy, is laughable (Reid, Pelosi, any Kennedy, Feinstein) so we don't get much help there. 3) Conservatives themselves don't support other conservatives that get into moral or ethical problems. A liberal can pretty much expect the party to rally around.
Just a few points to those on a voyage on DeNile.
There is a good reason that there is no similar list of Liberals. There are three facts that guarantee that the GOP list will always be worse and longer.
1- Empathy for others means not exploiting or abusing them. GOP have no such empathy.
2- Child abuse and neglect create both the low empathy, and compartmentalization that is a hallmark of Right Wing Authoritarian Pathology, and is also the favored method of GOP child rearing.
3- Also tied in is the extreme sexual suppression that expresses in bizzare kinks, often deliberately sleazy, and sadistic to others.
A deeper explanation and links are at The Generation of Monsters To see a larger if still partial list Look here
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