Another House Republican under FBI investigation for corruption

[classy]

Those are some pretty serious allegations.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: shadow9d9
Just want to say that of the total corruption, Republicans make up 75% of it, with democrats making up 25%... so the whole "they are both corrupt: argument doesn't hold.

I have no sympathy for Pennsylvanians since they have elected this guy for 6 terms.

They deserve him and the corruption just as the Country does.

 

[Aegeon]

The FBI has now raided the homes of Curt Weldon's daughter and a close friend! So much for claims the liberal media simply manufactured this story.

MEDIA, Pa. - The FBI raided the homes of Rep. Curt Weldon's daughter and a close friend Monday as it investigates whether the congressman improperly helped the pair win lobbying and consulting contracts.

Agents searched four locations in the Philadelphia area and two in Jacksonville, Fla., said Debbie Weierman, an FBI spokeswoman in Washington. The congressman's home and his offices were not among the locations searched, she said...

Weierman confirmed that the six raids included Karen Weldon's home in Philadelphia; the Springfield home of Charles Sexton, her business partner and the congressman's close friend; and the office of their company, Solutions North America, in Media.

http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/breaking_news/15773310.htm

 

[ayabe]

I really want one of these consulting jobs for 100K a year, where you essentially get paid for doing thing.

Where do I sign up?

 

[alien42]

the definition of 'republican' needs to be updated to include the word corrupt

 

[Wheezer]

Originally posted by: alien42
the definition of 'republican' needs to be updated to include the word corrupt

so do the words Democrat and Independent.

The one common thing that all 3 parites have is that there is more than enough corruption to go around. Politicians by thier very nature are corrrupt, it is almost part of the job requirement.

It does not matter what side of the fence you are on, no one is immune.

Politicians cannot be trusted by the very fact they are politicians, they will all at some point in thier career piss down your back and tell you it's raining. The ONLY reason that Republicans are in the news so much is because they are the ones in power...should the Dems ever get control it will be thier turn in the hot seat.

 

[Aegeon]

More info on the raids which were somewhat more comprehensive than initially reported.

FBI agents investigating U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (R., Pa.) conducted six raids this morning - including at the homes of his daughter and a longtime friend.

In all, agents executed four search warrants in the Philadelphia area and two in Jacksonville, Fla., officials said.

In Center City, agents searched the law office of John Gallagher, a Weldon friend who has conducted extensive business in Russia and former Soviet Republics.

In Media, agents searched the offices of the public relations firm formed by Weldon's longtime friend Charles P. Sexton Jr., and the congressman's daughter, Karen...

FBI agents in Jacksonville, Fla., raided the office of one of the Russian energy firms, Itera, and a private residence whose connection to the investigation was not disclosed.

The Philadelphia raids began early this morning. Shortly before noon, FBI agents left Karen Weldon's three-story brick house on Queen Street in Philadelphia carrying armfuls of boxes.

A government car pulled into the alley to the back door of the house and loaded boxes into it. Three agents standing in an alley - members of the FBI's public corruption squad - declined to identify themselves...

In Delaware County, FBI agents had blocked off Kelli Lane leading to Sexton's Springfield home, and were removing at least one box and a bag of material from his home late this morning. Sexton is a longtime ally of Weldon's and has been a power in Delaware County GOP politics for more than three decades.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/15772927.htm

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: Wheezer

Originally posted by: alien42
the definition of 'republican' needs to be updated to include the word corrupt

so do the words Democrat and Independent.

The one common thing that all 3 parites have is that there is more than enough corruption to go around. Politicians by thier very nature are corrrupt, it is almost part of the job requirement.

It does not matter what side of the fence you are on, no one is immune.

Politicians cannot be trusted by the very fact they are politicians, they will all at some point in thier career piss down your back and tell you it's raining. The ONLY reason that Republicans are in the news so much is because they are the ones in power...should the Dems ever get control it will be thier turn in the hot seat.

This is a post filled with a lot of assertions, and zero evidence. It's a model for how some people form opinions out of thin air and then post them.

Of course, no party is immune from some corruption. To say they're all similarly corrupt requires some reseasrch to see if it's accurate.

First, you have to define over what time frame. The parties have change a lot in different periods. A radical right has taken over the republican party today.

Then, define your terms, check the facts.

One measure: how much does the party in power shift government spending into districts for its members compared to the other party? I don't have the figures in front of me, but I have checked them, and the republicans shifted the spending to give themselves a far larger advantage than democrats had even after decades of controlling Congress.

Beyond donations, what have the different parties done for the donors? The republicans do far more, giving big donors a say in how the government is staffed, and the corporations are literally writing the laws now. The Bush administration has set a record by far in appointing former lobbyists to regulatory positions over their industries.

Get some facts, and then post.

 

[judasmachine]

hehe october surprise....

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: Craig234
First, you have to define over what time frame. The parties have change a lot in different periods. A radical right has taken over the republican party today.

The radical left has taken over the Democrats. I disagree that the radical right has taken over the Republican Party. The most "far right" make the average Democrat look very extreme indeed today.

What sickens me is those who say "There is no difference between the parties" ... these people are obviously apathetic, ignorant, or both.

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: Craig234
First, you have to define over what time frame. The parties have change a lot in different periods. A radical right has taken over the republican party today.

The radical left has taken over the Democrats. I disagree that the radical right has taken over the Republican Party. The most "far right" make the average Democrat look very extreme indeed today.

I'm not sure what Republican party YOU'RE talking about, but I remember when the Republican party was the party of small government and civil liberties. Instead, that's been thrown away in favor of religion, "family values" and "national security" being the ONLY issues the party is thinking about. While those issues may not be "far right" themselves, the lengths the Republicans go to in order to push those issues above everything else IS rather extremist. In the debate over civil liberties that's cropped up lately, the message of the Republican party (and an actual statement from Senator Pat Roberts) is "what good are civil liberties if you're dead?" I'm not saying that's an unreasonable point of view (although I happen to think so), I'm saying that that is not even close to traditional conservative, and no where near moderate...it's about as far right as you can get, and the vast majority of you jokers are right behind Roberts. If you're happy with your views, that's great, but don't pretend you're not radical conservatives.

What sickens me is those who say "There is no difference between the parties" ... these people are obviously apathetic, ignorant, or both.

Agreed, there is SUBSTANTIAL difference between the parties. They are similar in the fact that both have problems, but depending on the issues you care about, the choice could not be more clear.

 

[Craig234]

Pabster gets it wrong again.

The radical left has taken over the Democrats. I disagree that the radical right has taken over the Republican Party. The most "far right" make the average Democrat look very extreme indeed today.

Many people are most comfortable being in 'the middle', whatever their views, and so they tend to put themselves there and define those different as the radicals.

Pabster is no exception. He lacks any facts for his position, as usual.

There used to be a pretty big *socialist* party in the US. During the republican heydey of the 1950's, the top income tax rates were 90% and corporations paid most of them.

Since 1962, under the right's favorite democratic president who was presumably more conservative, the share of federal taxes paid by corporations has declined by two thirds.

Pabster simply doesn't want to deal with the real history placing him in the far right, and he rewrites the facts.

What sickens me is those who say "There is no difference between the parties" ... these people are obviously apathetic, ignorant, or both.

I agree there are large differences; and I also see the point that those people are making, and many are neither apathetic nor ignorant.

If you, like many of our founding fathers, are concerned about the issues of excessive corporate power, for example, do you find an ally in the republicans or the democrats?

No, when you want larger change, they look alike. Which of the two parties is pushing to end the legals status of corporations as 'people'? Neither.

To these views, the democrats and republicans are not that different.

But I suspect most of these people would see a big difference between the Bush administration and democrats.

 

[Aegeon]

I did like this portion of the press conference after Weldon tried to assert this was all a plot by the Democrats and the investigation was purely politically motivated.

Asked Monday morning why a Justice Department under a Republican administration would play a role in a Democratic scheme to undermine his campaign, Weldon said: "The bureaucracy, it?s not Democrat or Republican."

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?news...2&BRD=1671&PAG=461&dept_id=17782&rfi=6

Somehow I don't think that excuse is going to fly, especially when US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (appointed by Bush of course) could have ordered the investigation halted at any time if there was no evidence or circumstances that could provide a valid reason to investigate.

 

[LunarRay]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Ps. All of which makes the "who are you working for" insults thrown at me that much more hilarious.

Unlike " Who were you before you came back as ProfJohn"

Oh that is right, you soooooo outed me in that other thread... let me dig into my file of every statement you have ever made and post another one for ya....

Give it up already.

BTW: Didn't you once call me Zendari? And yet wasn't Zendari an active member at the same time as me? Why would someone create a second account and use it after being a member for many years? Just in case they got banned? I don't even know what happened to zendari, someone fill me in please.

Oh.. heck it don't matter who or what you were before you became Professional John... or what ever the Prof is short for, if it is.. or even if you just meandered on in and stayed due to the overwhelming need to defend the indefensible... to carry the unlit torch of enlightenment and give the Donkey side a good laugh or argument.

I liked to read Zendari... sorta an opaque version of Dari himself..

I like reading what you post. It is informative mostly.. may not always be on point unless you are the OP.. but, something to read and be a bit edified by. So... from one on neither side of the political spectrum I find your retorts have substance even if they are a bit biased and ain't they all...

 

[Aegeon]

Some more info about how long the investigation has been going on from the Washington Post.

The investigation focuses on actions the Pennsylvania congressman took that may have aided clients of the business created by his daughter, Karen Weldon, and longtime Pennsylvania political ally Charles Sexton, according to three of the sources...

A grand jury, impaneled in Washington in May, has obtained evidence gathered over at least four months through wiretaps of Washington area cellphone numbers and has scrutinized whether Weldon received anything of value, according to the sources. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the investigation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co...rticle/2006/10/16/AR2006101600545.html

This clearly wasn't a situation where this investigation started because of something some liberal group leaked to the FBI in the last few weeks, this has been an investigation that has been ongoing for awhile.

Another point worth noting is unless Bush asserted his claimed right to wiretap suspected terrorist suspects in this case without judicial review, the FBI needed to go to a judge and receive warrents to perform those wiretaps. Probable cause has to be demonstrated in order to receive such a warrent.

 

[Aegeon]

Here's another article that goes into some detail about the Serbian connection as well as a couple of additional apparent cases of related corruption Curt Weldon appears to be involved with.

Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade were surprised three years ago to be invited to a luncheon in honor of visiting Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), hosted by Bogoljub Karic, a wealthy Serbian businessman who had been barred from visiting or trading with the United States because of his close ties to former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic.

Weldon "was visiting solely because of Karic," whom he was trying to get off the U.S. blacklist, a former senior embassy official familiar with the visit concluded. "It seemed odd" at the time, because Karic had no obvious tie to Weldon's district outside Philadelphia, and Weldon should have known the embassy was shunning contacts with him, the official said.

What the embassy apparently did not know is that the Karic family that year signed a contract with Weldon's daughter, Karen, and a business partner that called for monthly payments of $20,000 for "management, government and public relations," according to a copy of the March 2003 contract. In all, the family paid Karen Weldon's firm $133,858 that year for efforts she undertook to set up a foundation for it...

Weldon's chief of staff went to Belgrade in November 2003, initially listing the Karic family as his financial sponsor in a filing the next month with the Senate clerk. Two months later, after reporters for the Los Angeles Times questioned him about the trip, he amended the filing to state that he had reimbursed the company for his travel expenses.

Some watchdog organizations previously noted Weldon's support for companies that had little to do with his constituents in Delaware County and that paid fees to the firm operated by his daughter and Sexton, or to a close friend of Weldon's, lobbyist Cecilia Grimes.

"There seems to be a pattern of Congressman Weldon's activities overlapping with his private and personal interests," said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, which monitored the efforts of Weldon and other lawmakers on behalf of companies that had contracts with their associates. "You can explain away one or two cases, but here you really have to question what's going on here and is it really in the interest of the U.S. taxpayers."

Weldon gave testimonials on behalf of a company, Advanced Ceramics Research, in two separate hearings of the House Armed Services subcommittee on tactical air and land forces, which he chairs. Weldon had invited the Arizona company's CEO to testify in 2004 and 2005 about what he characterized as its "very interesting work in developing state of the art composites that have increased performance while significantly reducing component cost."

The congressman lauded the company's work, noting its ability to produce "modern composites that lead to lighter weight, lower cost and tougher systems."

Advanced Ceramics Research paid Grimes $60,000 as its registered lobbyist in 2003 and 2004. An affiliate of Advanced Ceramics paid her an additional $40,000 during that time, according to her lobbying registration documents.

Efforts to reach Grimes at two phone numbers listed for her on lobbying registration forms were unsuccessful.

Weldon also supported an Italian defense contractor, Oto Melara, in a formal letter and testimony to the Armed Services Committee that recommended the Navy consider using the company's guns on its ships. Oto Melara has paid Grimes's firm $60,000 since she registered to lobby for it in June 2005, according to her lobbying reports.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co...rticle/2006/10/17/AR2006101701560.html

There seems to be a rather long list of his daughter and close friends getting highly lucrative lobbying contracts and Weldon suddenly going out of his way to help these companies and give them what they wanted.