Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” for 2009

Washington, DC

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2009 list of Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians.” The list, in alphabetical order, includes:

1. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT): This marks two years in a row for Senator Dodd, who made the 2008 “Ten Most Corrupt” list for his corrupt relationship with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and for accepting preferential treatment and loan terms from Countrywide Financial, a scandal which still dogs him. In 2009, the scandals kept coming for the Connecticut Democrat. In 2009, Judicial Watch filed a Senate ethics complaint against Dodd for undervaluing a property he owns in Ireland on his Senate Financial Disclosure forms. Judicial Watch’s complaint forced Dodd to amend the forms. However, press reports suggest the property to this day remains undervalued. Judicial Watch also alleges in the complaint that Dodd obtained a sweetheart deal for the property in exchange for his assistance in obtaining a presidential pardon (during the Clinton administration) and other favors for a long-time friend and business associate. The false financial disclosure forms were part of the cover-up. Dodd remains the head the Senate Banking Committee.

2. Senator John Ensign (R-NV): A number of scandals popped up in 2009 involving public officials who conducted illicit affairs, and then attempted to cover them up with hush payments and favors, an obvious abuse of power. The year’s worst offender might just be Nevada Republican Senator John Ensign. Ensign admitted in June to an extramarital affair with the wife of one of his staff members, who then allegedly obtained special favors from the Nevada Republican in exchange for his silence. According to The New York Times: “The Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee are expected to conduct preliminary inquiries into whether Senator John Ensign violated federal law or ethics rules as part of an effort to conceal an affair with the wife of an aide…” The former staffer, Douglas Hampton, began to lobby Mr. Ensign’s office immediately upon leaving his congressional job, despite the fact that he was subject to a one-year lobbying ban. Ensign seems to have ignored the law and allowed Hampton lobbying access to his office as a payment for his silence about the affair. (These are potentially criminal offenses.) It looks as if Ensign misused his public office (and taxpayer resources) to cover up his sexual shenanigans.

3. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA): Judicial Watch is investigating a $12 million TARP cash injection provided to the Boston-based OneUnited Bank at the urging of Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank. As reported in the January 22, 2009, edition of the Wall Street Journal, the Treasury Department indicated it would only provide funds to healthy banks to jump-start lending. Not only was OneUnited Bank in massive financial turmoil, but it was also “under attack from its regulators for allegations of poor lending practices and executive-pay abuses, including owning a Porsche for its executives’ use.” Rep. Frank admitted he spoke to a “federal regulator,” and Treasury granted the funds. (The bank continues to flounder despite Frank’s intervention for federal dollars.) Moreover, Judicial Watch uncovered documents in 2009 that showed that members of Congress for years were aware that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were playing fast and loose with accounting issues, risk assessment issues and executive compensation issues, even as liberals led by Rep. Frank continued to block attempts to rein in the two Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs). For example, during a hearing on September 10, 2003, before the House Committee on Financial Services considering a Bush administration proposal to further regulate Fannie and Freddie, Rep. Frank stated: “I want to begin by saying that I am glad to consider the legislation, but I do not think we are facing any kind of a crisis. That is, in my view, the two Government Sponsored Enterprises we are talking about here, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not in a crisis. We have recently had an accounting problem with Freddie Mac that has led to people being dismissed, as appears to be appropriate. I do not think at this point there is a problem with a threat to the Treasury.” Frank received $42,350 in campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac between 1989 and 2008. Frank also engaged in a relationship with a Fannie Mae Executive while serving on the House Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

4. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner: In 2009, Obama Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner admitted that he failed to pay $34,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes from 2001-2004 on his lucrative salary at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an organization with 185 member countries that oversees the global financial system. (Did we mention Geithner now runs the IRS?) It wasn’t until President Obama tapped Geithner to head the Treasury Department that he paid back most of the money, although the IRS kindly waived the hefty penalties. « Read the rest of this post HERE! »

Administration to issue new Wall Street pay curbs

WASHINGTON (AP) — An up-and-coming Wall Street executive might want to hold off on buying that condo in Aspen. The Obama administration is ready to issue broad new guidelines that would rein in pay at financial institutions.

Eager to remove incentives that they say contributed to last year’s financial crisis, President Obama’s economic team plans to unfurl broad executive pay principles, possibly as early as Wednesday, that put a premium on long-term performance over short-term gain.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke want to give the Fed, which regulates banks, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees the financial markets, greater powers to guide compensation practices on Wall Street and beyond.

In anticipation of the new guidelines, Geithner scheduled a private meeting Wednesday with SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro, Federal Reserve Governor Dan Tarullo and executive pay experts to discuss compensation policies.

Full Story Here:
Administration to issue new Wall Street pay curbs

Karl Marx is dancing a jig in hell. Lenin is turning somersaults. They finally have exactly what communism and Marxism have always wanted, they have their man in the White House.

I am not a fan of ANY business executive being paid ANY type of bonus for a business that is failing, that is the most ridiculous action I have ever seen or heard of, to reward some idiot for doing a BAD job is unacceptable. But it’s the responsibility of the business, the shareholders, the public itself to regulate the actions of business, it is NOT the job of the federal government!

Paying an executive bonus to an individual that has failed may be totally unscrupulous but to the best of my knowledge, it is NOT illegal, it’s just called BAD BUSINESS. But in a FREE NATION, should business not be entitled to conduct their affairs in any manner the market will sustain, as long as those affairs are conducted legally? Isn’t that what capitalism is all about? Free trade and the ability to make money or fail in trying?

If there is going to be any federal oversight and regulation it doesn’t need to be on businesses in general, but if a business was going bankrupt and was bailed out by federal funds, taxpayer dollars, then, and only then, should the Fed have ANY say in the salary or bonus structure of that particular business.

And as I have said in the past, the bailouts, started by George W. Bush, are the most unbelievable waste of taxpayer dollars imaginable. If a business is going bankrupt because they engaged in bad business practices, let them go bankrupt. That’s what Chapter 11 reorganization is for. They can reorganize and re-emerge, hopefully see the err of their ways and once again become a viable and successful business.

The Federal government has no idea of the damage they have caused by conducting their own BAD BUSINESS. The bailout of Chrysler and GM for example. GM is going to require many more BILLIONS of our tax dollars to even hope to remain solvent. At this time GM appears to be a black hole, sucking up ALL the resources it can and giving nothing in return. And yet we, the taxpayer, are funding GM, by proxy, through our elected officials.

So, wouldn’t the logical conclusion be, we are no longer a FREE nation?

Are we now truly that socialist/Marxist demon that many of us have preached against for a very long time now? I tried to point a lot of this out well before Barack Hussein Obama came on the scene. I tried to point out that we were becoming a socialized nation even before the 1st round of BUSH bailouts occurred. I accused my state Senators, Cornyn and Hutchison, of being nothing more than socialist shills after they BOTH voted FOR the Bush bailouts.

When it comes time for history to define the Socialization of America, Barack Hussein Obama will not be looked upon as the founder of the feast. For many years American presidents and legislatures have steadily moved this nation towards Marxism and One World Government.

Obama merely gets the honor of delivering the coup de grace.

OK, lets just take a look at these 3 headlines and examine the Obamanation and try to make some sense of his actions.

US envoy predicts ‘direct diplomacy’ with Iran

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - President Barack Obama’s administration will engage in “direct diplomacy” with Iran, the newly installed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Monday.

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US envoy predicts ‘direct diplomacy’ with Iran

GM to lay off 2,000 workers, cut production

DETROIT (AP) - General Motors Corp. said Monday it will cut 2,000 jobs at plants in Michigan and Ohio, and it will halt production for several weeks at nine U.S. plants over the next six months due to slow sales.

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GM to lay off 2,000 workers, cut production

Obama targets greenhouse gases, fuel efficiency

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama took aim Monday at the lofty but long elusive goal of making the nation more energy independent, ordering reviews that could lead to tougher auto emission standards in states and higher pressure on automakers to produce more fuel-efficient cars.

Full Story Here:
Obama targets greenhouse gases, fuel efficiency

Obama is going to engage in talks with Iran? Or, more accurately, he’s going to have an ambassador talk to Iran? That seems to be his plan for the rest of the *war on terror* too, Obama wants to talk em to death. I am of the opinion that this BS isn’t going to work, the terrorists, and Iran IS a sponsor of terrorism, don’t want talk, they want DEATH, our death.

Iran is responsible for much of the weaponry that went into killing our troops during the heavy action in Iraq. I don’t suppose that matters to someone like Obama, he doesn’t have any use for our troops, other than as a tool to enforce HIS orders, when those orders come down. And they will!

The Dems, as a whole, see the solution to the recession as this, dump MORE taxpayer dollars on it. If you throw money at it, it’s all going to be OK as long as we throw money in that general direction. The 1st stimulus didn’t do it, another stimulus isn’t going to do it, and all the Wall Street bailouts and the rescue of the auto makers is going to do is allow them the belief that all they need to do is ask. Ask, and insinuate that you’re going to go out of business if the taxpayers don’t pony up again. And again. And again. Ad infinitum!

Then we get to the *greenhouse gas* thing from *The One*. Obama drank the Algore koolaid, that is a requirement for ALL Dem/Libbers I guess. Nearly ALL Conservatives believe that global warming is a hoax and the recent BS spewed by *The Goreacle* is just that, BS. The only thing I don’t understand is this, why wasn’t *The Goreacle* named as a member of the Obamanation cabinet? Dare *The One* shun *The Goreacle*? Naming Algore to his cabinet would be a logical progression if you think about it. Obama is running more than a few Clinton retreads.

He wants to *talk* to those that have either directly or indirectly brought about the deaths of over 4,200 U.S. troops. He wants to continue the bailouts of the automakers, and God only knows who else. He perpetuates the global warming myth. He orders Guantanamo closed and he nominates a disgusting tax cheat as head of Treasury, a nomination that has passed by the way. And just think, that’s all within the 1st WEEK!! Next week should be a real adventure!

MY Free Speech regarding Barack Hussein Obama

I am about to exercise my right to free speech, and quite likely piss off a few Obama supporters in the process. That is my express intent in posting this Op/Ed!

If you want to speak out FOR Obama, great, just remove me from your list friends before doing so, because I will be removing YOU from mine if you don’t. My post, my blog, my rules. Free Speech is yours, in YOUR posts, on your own site.

You want to criticize me for my intense hatred of this sham that we have had foisted off on us, by all means, please do so, on YOUR Facebook, MySpace or Blog page, but you won’t be doing so in the comments section of MINE!

Obama is already off to a terrible start. Close Gitmo? That’s all the excuse I need to impeach the guy. Eric Holder as AG?? That’s Obama’s anti-gun guy, plain and simple. Obama said HE wasn’t going to come out against guns. He doesn’t have to, he has Holder to do the dirty work and take the blame. Timmy Geithner, a well noted and self avowed TAX CHEAT? As head of Treasury?? How much more do you WANT Obama to do?? How much more reasoning do you need?

OK, how about this? Obama snubs vets, skips Heroes ball, does that one have your blood boiling yet?? It should. That ball is an honor to the men that have won the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest award for gallantry that this nation can bestow, and an award that is more often than not, won posthumously. Obama skipped out on that one. And in MY opinion it was because he hates our troops. He hates ALL that they stand for and this was a slap in the face to ALL that have ever served and should be to ALL Americans, just on principle alone. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society

Obama sucked up to his political buddies and the Hollyweird libbers that supported him but he SPIT in the face of the Veterans and HEROES of this nation. Are you starting to catch on to all the reasons WHY I hate this person yet? This incident is a PERSONAL issue for me too, not a reason to impeach him, but certainly one hell of a demonstration of what the SOB thinks of our military and it’s heroes! By his actions let this person be judged!

I have already had 2 or 3 try to tell me how I am in error with my stance on impeaching Obama. They claim he hasn’t done anything wrong yet. They say that we ALL have to work together and make this nation great. They say we have to *reach across the aisle* for the good of America. They sound like Rodney King and his lame-assed *can’t we all just get along* thing after L.A. cops stomped his stupid ass.

Compromise is one thing, appeasement is an entirely different matter. The best definition of appeasement to date: “An appeaser is one who feeds the crocodile in the hopes they will be eaten last“.

Obama wants to appease the enemies of this nation. Obama supporters want to appease US, the Conservatives of this nation. They want us to acquiesce to Obama and honor him for his assumed *greatness*. Speaking for me and mine, it’s NOT going to happen. I raised holy hell every time I thought George W. Bush did something wrong, and I sang his praises when I felt he was doing something right. To treat Obama otherwise would make me a hypocrite, and that is one label I will not wear.

Obama is already a disaster and he hasn’t been in office a week yet, and I am not bashful about pointing that out. I also will not be bashful in pointing out anything I believe he’s done correctly. So far, I am coming up empty on that one. I think those posts will be few and far between, but I will make them if the occasion arises.

If you are delusional enough to believe all the promises Obama made, if you are able to believe all of the rhetoric coming from the Democrats concerning their *saving America* tirade, then you are the one that ‘drank the kool aid’ and once the light *goes off* you’re going to be the most surprised of all when Obama and Company are shown for the REAL American haters that some of us already know them to be!