Posted by Tina
Much fanfare accompanies even the slightest hint of impropriety when Republicans are involved but rarely is much made of democrats who are caught in nefarious goings on.
Just for fun, and I admit to tweak Libby a bit, here are three articles that place Democrats and MONEY in the corruption spotlight
From the July National Review print edition, page six “The Week”:
“The principle author of the Dodd-Shelby housing bill is Senator Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who chairs the Senate Banking Committee. Portfolio magazine has revealed that Dodd was one of two U.S. Senators who benefitted from Countrywide Financial’s “Friends of Anhgelo” program (named for CEO Angelo Mozilo), under which Countrywide, the largest mortgage lender in the U.S., gave loans to the influential and powerful. ** …the preferential loan rates Dodd received will end up saving him $75,000.00 The troubling nature of this arrangement becomes clear when one looks at the fine print of the Dodd-Shelby housing bill, which would allow mortgage lenders to dump their most radioactive subprime loans on the government. The bill is overwhelmingly slanted to protecting lenders, such as Countrywide, that lowered their standards dramatically during the housing boom and subsequently found themselves holding a lot of bad debt….”
Is Dodd sent to his room or banned for life for this infraction? Nope hes rewarded with an even sweeter possible offer:
WASHINGTON – Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has requested information from Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd as part of its search for a possible vice presidential candidate. – AP
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While aggressive evictions are making rent-stabilized apartments increasingly scarce in New York, Representative Charles B. Rangel is enjoying four of them, including three adjacent apartments in a sprawling penthouse overlooking Upper Manhattan, courtesy of one of New Yorks premier real estate developers. Mr. Rangel, the powerful Democrat who is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, uses his fourth apartment, six floors below, as a campaign office, despite state and city regulations that require rent-stabilized apartments to be used as a primary residence. – New York Times
In a sign that he is worried about criminal charges for failing to pay taxes, Al Sharpton has hired former U.S. attorney Zachary Carter to represent him. Records indicate that Sharpton personally owes almost $1.3 million in federal and city taxes and that one of his business entities, Rev. Al Communications, owes the State of New York an additional $176,000. National Review
Where are all the fist-pounding, red-faced liberal talking heads?
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But wait…but wait…I found one more this evening:
U.S. Rep. William Jefferson and Orleans Parish Assessor Betty Jefferson are the unidentified public officials described in the April conspiracy indictment against state Sen. Derrick Shepherd, according to Shepherd’s attorneys. ** Federal prosecutors acknowledged in a preliminary hearing Thursday that they recently disclosed the identities of “Public Official A” and “Public Official B” to Shepherd’s defense team, but they would not make the information part of the public record, a decision backed by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier. ** Neither is charged in the Shepherd indictment, but they face their own criminal trials in separate cases. ** According to the April indictment, Jefferson, D-New Orleans, allegedly steered unlicensed bond broker Gwen Moyo to Shepherd as a way to pay off campaign debt. Federal investigators started probing that possible scenario after Shepherd’s about-face endorsement. ** As “Public Official B, ” Betty Jefferson, the congressman’s sister, is accused of accepting from Moyo four wire transfers worth $320,000 funneled through a company she controlled. Two payments were made in November 2006; the others were in January 2007, according to the indictment. ** In July 2007, Moyo wrote a $15,000 check to “ABC Group, ” an unidentified company with which William Jefferson is affiliated. – The Times Picayune