Topic: Corruption (Read 8841 times)

Thad · « **on:** February 22, 2008, 11:01:45 AM »

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Republican Rep. Richard Renzi of Arizona was indicted on 35 criminal counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and official extortion stemming from land deals in his state, Justice Department officials said on Friday.

THIRTY-FIVE. He's not going to wriggle out from under THAT.

Quick recap: I live in Tempe and have always been registered to vote here, but I went to college in Renzi's district, and my mom and stepdad live there too. So as far I'm concerned this is a local victory.

...Funny story: last weekend I went to a strong beer fest and ran into an old roomie I hadn't seen in years. He worked on Renzi's campaign in '02. And yet, despite being completely hammered, I still maintained the tact not to open by asking if he'd taken that off his resume yet.

Anyway. To review: Mecham, Symington, Arpaio, McCain, Renzi. What the fuck is wrong with my state?

Arc · « **Reply #1 on:** February 22, 2008, 11:48:13 AM »

An impressive rogues gallery, although Arpaio strikes me as more batshit than corrupt, unless I've overlooked a detail (of which there are many in his case).

Aught six was a downright justice bonanza up here, with Noe, Rep. Ney, and (6% approval rating) Governor Taft all pleading guilty, plus Secretary of State Blackwell getting thrown out on his ass.

Now we've a Governor & Attorney General who actually aim to balance the budget, and a Secretary of State that emphasizes early voting and paper ballots. Having a new Senator that didn't drool over Harriet Miers (like the last one) is pretty swell too.

Cthulhu-chan · « **Reply #2 on:** February 22, 2008, 06:30:56 PM »

Quote from: Arc on February 22, 2008, 11:48:13 AM

although Arpaio strikes me as more batshit than corrupt

Oh no, he's definitely corrupt, he's just a batshit gloryhound on top of that.

Arc · « **Reply #3 on:** February 23, 2008, 03:34:16 AM »

One condition of Taft's conviction was his letter of apology was to be sent out to every household, statewide, within the week.

Never sent, and was instead printed in USA Today. I had the frame picked out and everything.

TA · « **Reply #4 on:** February 23, 2008, 10:51:51 AM »

Why does it seem like it's so universally the Republican party that's tied up in these things? I mean, according to their bios, everyone in this thread was total GOP. Maybe I haven't been keeping up with this as well as I might, but it seems like the grotesque majority of corruption scandals occur in the Republican party. Am I just missing all the bought-and-sold Democrats, or is it really that one-sided?

Arc · « **Reply #5 on:** February 24, 2008, 04:53:40 AM »

Norman Hsu ran from authorities, William Jefferson redefined 'Cold Hard Cash', Patrick Kennedy is a wet brain, and Alcee Hastings is an all-around motherfucker. They just don't happen to be apart of our two states.

Reid, Pelosi, and Murtha have all performed dubious acts to enhance their districts, which was at least admirably corrupt. Their misdeeds have been pushed aside by larger (Republican) scandals:

Mark Foley juked & jived both his party leadership and the ethics committee.
Larry Craig epicly fail'd to play the trump card.
Randy Cunningham never knew of a rule he didn't break.
Scooter Libby never knew of a lie he didn't tell.
Jack Abramoff is the gift that keeps on giving.
Huckabee sued his own state's ethics committee twice.
Giuliani surrounded himself with lawbreakers to keep his own hands clean.
Tom Delay is A-Number-1, the Big Man, that's who!

I would've made Delay's face the topic icon if not for the fact that he's as fugly as Mirage-era Rat King.

Obama's ties to Tony Rezko and the earlier stock selloff story thankfully appear be red herrings as more information has been released.

S D S · « **Reply #6 on:** March 10, 2008, 10:20:13 PM »

August Pollak must be reading my mind, talking about Elliot Spitzer:

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Eliot, you are a fucking idiot. You stupid, stupid, fucking stupid, shitheaded, stupid, stupid, stupid, fucking stupid, fucking idiot. Fucking shit-for-brains goddamn stupid asshole. You fucking stupid, stupid, stupid twat. You fucking moron.

Is there a chance we could sit down for a moment and have a brief chat about how fucking stupid you are? Because I'm not sure you've really grasped how fucking stupid you are. You, sir, are really fucking stupid.

Jesus tap-dancing Christ, are you stupid. Are you really that stupid? Oh my holy titfucking Jesus, you are actually that goddamn stupid. You absolute dick. You complete and total stupid bastard. I mean, good god. Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid. You are so fucking stupid.

Listen to me. No, look at- I said fucking look at me. Look. At. Me. You. Stupid. Cocknugget. What the fuck were you thinking? Do you have any idea how fucking stupid you are? I just- fuck you, stop looking at me. Goddamn it. You fucking idiot. Holy shit, you are stupid. You are so fucking stupid. You stupid asshole.

Fuck you.

Burrito Al Pastor · « **Reply #7 on:** March 10, 2008, 11:21:51 PM »

I'm really missing something here. A politician hired a prostitute, right? Gasp, shock. Where's the controversy? Is it shocking that he got caught, or something?

Disposable Ninja · « **Reply #8 on:** March 10, 2008, 11:31:49 PM »

The hypocrisy, actually. The guy was something of a crusader against prostitution rings. That's how he made a name for himself, really.

Thad · « **Reply #9 on:** March 10, 2008, 11:46:17 PM »

Burrito, I'm not really sure what you're asking. When a politician commits a crime, it's a politician committing a crime, whether or not you find it surprising that politicians commit crimes. If we were going to dismiss every story about a politician committing a crime with "Well duh, of course politicians commit crimes," then we wouldn't really have a thread here.

Getting caught fucking hookers is not generally a good way for a politician to stay in office. I'm not sure how to break it down any more than that.

A² · « **Reply #10 on:** March 11, 2008, 03:18:11 AM »

...I just got out of Arizona. Mesa/Phoenix area. Did I miss an opportunity to drop in on Thad?

Thad · « **Reply #11 on:** March 11, 2008, 12:21:30 PM »

Yeah, I'm in Tempe, which is in fact right between Mesa and Phoenix. Ah well, maybe next time.

Ted Belmont · « **Reply #12 on:** March 11, 2008, 08:03:45 PM »

What would make this even better is if it's discovered that Spitzer was using government funds to pay for his hookers.

Thad · « **Reply #13 on:** July 29, 2008, 01:44:49 PM »

Stevens indicted.

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Prosecutors said the 84-year-old Stevens, required to file financial disclosure forms with the Senate on gifts greater than $10,000, had accepted innumerable gifts valued at $250,000 from the oil services company VECO and its CEO from 1999 to 2006 without reporting them.

It bears remembering that, a couple of years back when the oil moguls spoke before the Senate, Stevens refused to make them speak under oath. They then proceeded to deny involvement with Cheney's secret energy task force; documents released weeks later showed they were lying.

I mentioned something about this a year ago when we were discussing gas prices. Guild described my suggestion of collusion between the government and the oil companies as "CONSPIRACY THEORY bullshit".

I really am astounded by how he never gets tired of being wrong.

Guild · « **Reply #14 on:** July 29, 2008, 02:33:55 PM »

*wink*

Brentai · « **Reply #15 on:** July 29, 2008, 02:36:29 PM »

See you be as happy is just reason for it am happy.

Guild · « **Reply #16 on:** July 29, 2008, 02:38:33 PM »

Thad · « **Reply #17 on:** July 29, 2008, 04:14:20 PM »

I can't imagine this being the end of the "Let's drill in ANWR!" debate, but it should be enough to kill it for another year. While the Immovable 25% will back it no matter what, I think the majority of Americans are capable of understanding the logic that maybe a guy who had big oil build an addition on his house is not as concerned about gas prices as he claims.

It's also reasonable to expect this means the end of Stevens's 40-year career.

Alaska putting a Democrat in the Senate...now that's weird.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #18 on:** July 29, 2008, 04:30:42 PM »

I'd like to think we're putting an end to all the off-shore and ANWR drilling stuff, but I keep seeing bumper stickers advocating that we need to drill for oil in America NOW. I'm pretty sure a PR firm has been moved to start a grassroots campaign for this bullshit, and unless people start hammering home the fact that drilling off of Florida or in Alaska will have no effect on gas prices for 10 years.

Guild · « **Reply #19 on:** July 29, 2008, 04:34:17 PM »

What's wrong with drilling all the oil out of the earth?

News:

Author Topic: Corruption (Read 8841 times)