Politics Extra: Hastert on Ney

Friday, September 15, 2006

Hastert on Ney

Speaker Hastert Comments on Bob Ney

(Washington D.C.) House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) released the following statement today upon learning that Congressman Bob Ney agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges:

"The illegal behavior that Congressman Bob Ney has admitted doing is unacceptable. I am glad he has recognized and accepted the consequences of his actions. My thoughts and prayers are especially with him and his family at this time."

25 Comments:

at 5:12 PM, September 15, 2006

Anonymous said...

When will they catch Jean?

http://www.wcpo.com/wcpo/localshows/iteam/1cddbbe.html

"So, that's how are relationship with Jim Raussen originated. It's no different than our relationship with some other State Reps in the area. You may know now, like a Jean Schmidt.."

Chief of Staff Brett Buerck for the Ohio Speaker of the House Rep. Larry Householder

at 5:35 PM, September 15, 2006

John in Cincinnati said...

I'm not happy to see anyone go to prison, although we don't yet know what the sentence will be.

My concern for my country is that Ney's guilty plea is just one small part of a general trend of one-party rule in this country -- an apparent sense there will be no accounability for mistakes, even criminal actions.

Any thinking American has to remember Duke Cunnningham, Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay and Tom Noe and sense there's truly a cabal -- attempting to run -- and hurting this country profoundly.

It's time for a change.

at 5:58 PM, September 15, 2006

Anonymous said...

Another wRong wingnut whacko caught with their hand in the cookie jar !

They breath "culture of corruption" !

HAD ENOUGH, VOTE DEMOCRAT 2006 !

at 6:45 PM, September 15, 2006

Anonymous said...

"Guilty like the rest of us" but I will pray for him.

at 7:17 PM, September 15, 2006

Anonymous said...

Yet another example of what petty small minded individuals infest what is called the GOP:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The cafeteria menus in the three House office buildings changed the name of "french fries" to "freedom fries," in a culinary rebuke of France stemming from anger over the country's refusal to support the U.S. position on Iraq.

Ditto for "french toast," which will be known as "freedom toast."

The name changes were spearheaded by two Republican lawmakers who held a news conference Tuesday to make the name changes official on the menus.

"This action today is a small, but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France," said Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, the chairman of the Committee on House Administration.

Ney, whose committee has authority over the House cafeterias, directed the change, after colleague Walter Jones, R-North Carolina, circulated a letter suggesting such a move. Jones said he was following the example of a local restaurant owner in his North Carolina district.

at 7:50 PM, September 15, 2006

Anonymous said...

NEWSACHE BLOG: NewsAche is the feeling you get when you read the Cincinnati Enquirer, the worst newspaper in the United States.

at 11:13 AM, September 16, 2006

Anonymous said...

Ney was the Architect of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) which brought us the electronic voting machines that can be easily manipulated:

http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/videos.html

Can use guess who lobbied Ney on behalf of Diebold? No other than the corrupt GOP lobbist Jack Abramoff (just google Ney + Diebold + Abramoff). HAVA was nothing but a way for the GOP to funnel big bucks to their partisan cronies, who in return funnel back to the GOP campaigns, as well as controlling the outcome of elections.

Guess which machines Ken Blackwell advocated? If you said Diebold bing bing bing-you're a winner.

HAND COUNTED PAPER BALLOTS, COUNTED AT THE PRECINCT LEVEL WITH FULL PUBLIC WITNESS.

at 12:38 PM, September 16, 2006

Anonymous said...

Look Ney, I've been there. Hang in there buddy and remember Mr. Stritch does not own your soul.

Dan'l & Jakob

at 2:01 PM, September 16, 2006

Anonymous said...

Someone should ask Hastert why he won't let NSA whistleblower Sibel Edmonds testify to congress and why she has a gag order placed on her. Mr Hastert is correct that illegal behavior is unacceptable and yes, there should be consequences for actions.

at 5:39 PM, September 16, 2006

Anonymous said...

If Ney was a cohort of a Syrian businessman and negotiating deals with Iran, shouldn't he be investigated for terrorist crimes as well? Didn't Bob once teach in Iran? Isn't he fluent in farsi? Quit frisking, killing and surveilling innocent Americans and go after the TRUE BAD guys!!!!!

at 5:58 PM, September 16, 2006

Anonymous said...

Don't forget about Ney cutting the no-bid Capitol Hill wireless phone deal for Israel. (homeland security???) Didn't someone break into his office and steal a gun, too? How many warning shots did investigators need with this greedy con man? Everyone who knew about, ignored, tolerated or participated in Ney's culture of corruption should be investigated or prosecuted. Throw the book at ALL OF THEM, and vote their buddies OUT OF OFFICE NOW. The reason this persists in Congress and Ohio is because state and federal investigators failed to crack down on Ney's shenanigans years ago. And they were WIDELY known or suspected! If you want our country to continue going down the toilet, keep pretending that this kind of behavior is business as usual.

at 6:22 PM, September 16, 2006

Anonymous said...

It wasn't only Diebold that got a greenlight (and mucho greenbacks) from Ney. In 2002, Hart InterCivic of Texas hired ex-Ohio House Democratic Leader Pat "Mean" Sweeney to lobby the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections to buy its electronic voting machines. Hamilton County also has Hart digital scan machines. Sweeney, the husband of former U.S. Attorney Emily Sweeney, held a LUCRATIVE job on Ney's House Administration Committee staff. The tentacles of conflicts and corruption reach EVERYWHERE.

at 10:20 AM, September 17, 2006

Anonymous said...

I think it's "Mr. Stratch."

at 10:36 AM, September 17, 2006

Anonymous said...

Abramoff-Diebold Ney Timeline

excellent post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2153139&mesg_id=2153139

at 10:48 AM, September 17, 2006

Anonymous said...

It's not just Ney, republican donors are cashing in, in virtually every arena. did you know there is 8 billion missing in Iraq?

http://www.house.gov/mcdermott/pr050316.shtml

The incompetence of this administration is mind-boggling and the lack of oversight whether it's ethics under Delay, Hastert and Boehner or the lack of oversight regarding the Iraq War has cost the lives of our military and their families and American taxpayers dearly. Clearly one party rubberstamping rule does not benefit the American taxpayer.

From:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/17/AR2006091700248.html

Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 17, 2006; A01

Adapted from "Imperial Life in the Emerald City," by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, copyright Knopf 2006

After the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003, the opportunity to participate in the U.S.-led effort to reconstruct Iraq attracted all manner of Americans -- restless professionals, Arabic-speaking academics, development specialists and war-zone adventurers. But before they could go to Baghdad, they had to get past Jim O'Beirne's office in the Pentagon.

To pass muster with O'Beirne, a political appointee who screens prospective political appointees for Defense Department posts, applicants didn't need to be experts in the Middle East or in post-conflict reconstruction. What seemed most important was loyalty to the Bush administration.

O'Beirne's staff posed blunt questions to some candidates about domestic politics: Did you vote for George W. Bush in 2000? Do you support the way the president is fighting the war on terror? Two people who sought jobs with the U.S. occupation authority said they were even asked their views on Roe v. Wade .

Many of those chosen by O'Beirne's office to work for the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq's government from April 2003 to June 2004, lacked vital skills and experience. A 24-year-old who had never worked in finance -- but had applied for a White House job -- was sent to reopen Baghdad's stock exchange. The daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children were tapped to manage Iraq's $13 billion budget, even though they didn't have a background in accounting.

The decision to send the loyal and the willing instead of the best and the brightest is now regarded by many people involved in the 3 1/2 -year effort to stabilize and rebuild Iraq as one of the Bush administration's gravest errors. Many of those selected because of their political fidelity spent their time trying to impose a conservative agenda on the postwar occupation, which sidetracked more important reconstruction efforts and squandered goodwill among the Iraqi people, according to many people who participated in the reconstruction effort.

snip

Endowed with $18 billion in U.S. reconstruction funds and a comparatively quiescent environment in the immediate aftermath of the U.S. invasion, the CPA was the U.S. government's first and best hope to resuscitate Iraq -- to establish order, promote rebuilding and assemble a viable government, all of which, experts believe, would have constricted the insurgency and mitigated the chances of civil war. Many of the basic tasks Americans struggle to accomplish today in Iraq -- training the army, vetting the police, increasing electricity generation -- could have been performed far more effectively in 2003 by the CPA.

But many CPA staff members were more interested in other things: in instituting a flat tax, in selling off government assets, in ending food rations and otherwise fashioning a new nation that looked a lot like the United States. Many of them spent their days cloistered in the Green Zone, a walled-off enclave in central Baghdad with towering palms, posh villas, well-stocked bars and resort-size swimming pools.

snip

To recruit the people he wanted, O'Beirne sought résumés from the offices of Republican congressmen, conservative think tanks and GOP activists. He discarded applications from those his staff deemed ideologically suspect, even if the applicants possessed Arabic language skills or postwar rebuilding experience.

Smith said O'Beirne once pointed to a young man's résumé and pronounced him "an ideal candidate." His chief qualification was that he had worked for the Republican Party in Florida during the presidential election recount in 2000.

O'Beirne, a former Army officer who is married to prominent conservative commentator Kate O'Beirne, did not respond to requests for comment.

snip

One former CPA employee who had an office near O'Beirne's wrote an e-mail to a friend describing the recruitment process: "I watched résumés of immensely talented individuals who had sought out CPA to help the country thrown in the trash because their adherence to 'the President's vision for Iraq' (a frequently heard phrase at CPA) was 'uncertain.' I saw senior civil servants from agencies like Treasury, Energy . . . and Commerce denied advisory positions in Baghdad that were instead handed to prominent RNC [Republican National Committee] contributors."

As more and more of O'Beirne's hires arrived in the Green Zone, the CPA's headquarters in Hussein's marble-walled former Republican Palace felt like a campaign war room. Bumper stickers and mouse pads praising President Bush were standard desk decorations. In addition to military uniforms and "Operation Iraqi Freedom" garb, "Bush-Cheney 2004" T-shirts were among the most common pieces of clothing.

"I'm not here for the Iraqis," one staffer noted to a reporter over lunch. "I'm here for George Bush."

snip

I urge everyone to read the entire article. If it doesn't make you angry and sad for both America and the people of Iraq then I guess you have no soul.

at 8:55 AM, September 18, 2006

Anonymous said...

You guys sound just like that insane Nate Noy who was attacking Jean Schmidt.

Do you guys ever stop your hating to eat lunch, or is this a 24-hour a day compulsion?

at 10:50 PM, September 18, 2006

Anonymous said...

With corrupt politicians like these no wonder spending and the deficit are at all time highs. At Congress' 'favor factory,' revolving door keeps spinning Mon Sep 18, 6:52 AM ET

Congressional aide Letitia White whirled through the revolving door one day in 2003 and came out a partner in a well-connected lobbying firm the next. Within two years, her lobbying fees had topped $3.5 million.

The secret to success for the one-time congressional receptionist?

White's last job on Capitol Hill was as a top aide to Rep. Jerry Lewis R-Calif., now chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, which disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff used to call the "favor factory." As a lobbyist, White became adept at getting her clients "earmarks" - government funds directed by lawmakers to specific projects or specific contractors.

In a Congress better known for corruption than legislating, earmarks are one of the seamiest parts of a broken process. Lobbyists channel campaign funds from their clients to lawmakers. And lawmakers earmark money to projects that benefit those clients.

The losers are companies that refuse to "pay to play" and the public, which gets stuck with the bills.

Earmarks themselves are nothing new. But they used to involve mostly pork-barrel public-works projects that lawmakers steered to their home districts. These days, they have become expensive favors for well-connected industries and companies. Earmarks topped $60 billion in this fiscal year's 11 regular spending bills, according to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, triple the total when Republicans took control of Congress in 1994.

At the beginning of this year, GOP congressional leaders vowed to curb influence-peddling, including the use of earmarks. Their zeal was fueled by the Abramoff scandal and a bribery case involving Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif. The latest chapter of the Abramoff scandal played out Friday, when Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, agreed to plead guilty to federal corruption charges. Ney accepted luxury trips and other benefits in return for helping Abramoff's clients.

While this latest criminal case underscores the need for wholesale lobbying reform, Congress has opted for minimalism.

Last week, the House took the tiniest step imaginable to deal with earmarks. One of the worst aspects of earmarking is that lawmakers often do it secretly. Under a new rule, hailed by Rep. Brian Bilbray and other sponsors as a big deal, members will have to own up to earmarks they sponsor.

Wow. It took nearly nine months for the House to make members do what they should have been doing all along. And even this rule is riddled with loopholes: It doesn't apply to 10 spending bills already passed by the House this year. Nor does it do anything to lock the revolving door that allows people like White to get rich selling access to the people they used to work for.

A spokesman for White says there is no reason to single her out from among the many Appropriations Committee staffers who become lobbyists, lobby their former committee and find financial rewards.

That is precisely the problem.

at 7:47 AM, September 19, 2006

Anonymous said...

More like worried. This war is costing 200,000,000 a day with no end in sight. Between the deficit spending and the record trade deficit which just surged in July to a record $68 billion, which swelled 5 percent from June and was the the biggest month-to-month gain in nearly a year.

Remind me what the Republicans are good at.

at 9:00 AM, September 19, 2006

Anonymous said...

Most of the daily expense goes to paying our military families, building the products to send overseas, and the protection our military servicemen sdeserve.

Why don't Liberals want to protect our troops and their families?

at 11:27 AM, September 19, 2006

Anonymous said...

Did you mean Halliburton?

at 7:49 PM, September 19, 2006

Anonymous said...

"Why don't Liberals want to protect our troops and their families?"

Funny, but it Bush and the GOP who started this immoral war (based on lies) and sent the military into battle without proper body armor. It was the GOP controlled congress that cut veterans benefits. It was the GOP controlled war authority that is responsible for the 9 BILLION $ MISSING IN IRAQ.

Had enough? Time for Change in leadership!

at 9:33 PM, September 19, 2006

Anonymous said...

Allegations of fraud by Halliburton, specifically with regard to its operations in Iraq, have persisted since before the Iraq War. The associations between Cheney and Halliburton had led many to speculate with regard to improprieties and profiteering from the war.

On 27 June 2005, former civilian employees based in or dministering operations in Iraq, testified to specific instances of waste, fraud, and other abuses and irregularities by Halliburton and its subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR).

Among the senators and representatives present at the hearing were Byron Dorgan (presiding), Henry Waxman, Frank Lautenberg, and Mark Dayton.

Among those testifying were Bunny Greenhouse, former Chief Contracting Officer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Rory Mayberry, former Food Program Manager for a Halliburton subsidiary; and Allan Waller of the Lloyd-Owen International security and operations firm.

Greenhouse, who provided the bulk of testimony, spoke for several minutes about her involvement in the evaluation and crafting of government Army contracts, and explaining how her superiors undermined and dismissed her concerns of illegal business practices. "Ultimately my main concern was the repeated insistence RIO contract be awarded to KBR without competitive bidding," Greenhouse said. She testified to have been given misinformation in answer to her complaints, saying she was "overtly misled."

Mayberry, still in Iraq, testified by video from questions prepared by the committee. He said that KBR routinely sold expired food rations to the Army.

The recorded interviewer asked, "Are you saying that Halliburton deliberately falsified the number of meals they prepared and then submitted false claims for reimbursement and that they did this to make up for past amounts auditors had disallowed?" Mayberry firmly answered "yes." He said that serving expired food rations was "an everyday occurrence, sometimes every meal." He also explained that Halliburton systematically overcharged for the number of meals as well, saying, "they were charging for 20,000 meals and they were only serving 10,000 meals." Dorgan later commented, "obviously there's no honor here, by a company that would serve outdated food to our troops in Iraq."

Halliburton and its subcontractors contend that billing discrepancies for the dining facilities stemmed from interpretive differences in their contracts, which required them to be prepared to serve a minimum number of meals per day. When they billed for these minimum numbers however, the DCAA countered that they should only be required to pay for meals served. Of the more-than-$200 million in question, $51 million was eventually retained by the U.S. Army Field Support Command.

Mayberry also claimed would-be whistleblowers were threatened "to be sent to Fallujah" and other "places under fire" if they talked to media or governmental oversight officials. In 2003 and 2004, Fallujah had been well known as dangerous for foreign troops and civilians. "I personally was sent to Fallujah for three weeks. The manager told me that I was being sent away until the auditors were gone, because I had talked to the auditors," Mayberry said.

"The threat of being sent to a camp under fire was their way of keeping us quiet. The employees who talked to auditors were sent to camps under more fire than other camps, and Anaconda." This report led Dorgan and others to voice considerable outrage.

Allan Waller testified to specific examples of how KBR officials had conspired in blocking of Lloyd-Owen fuel transports, and using other coercive means against its competitor. British based Lloyd-Owen has a direct contract with the Iraqi government to provide fuel to various parts of the country.

In his introductory remarks, Dorgan said that Senate Republicans had blocked any attempts at having a formal bi-partisan hearing, resulting in a separate committee.

Gee rubberstamping republicans not performing oversight, which come to think of it, is their duty.

at 9:37 PM, September 19, 2006

Anonymous said...

Why don't Liberals want to protect our troops and their families?

Why don't conservatives want to pay for this $200,000,000 a day quagmire? Is it because they prefer that their grandkids pay? Must be so as they are always whining about taxes.

at 9:39 PM, September 19, 2006

Anonymous said...

At odds over body armor reimbursement
Pentagon has still not acted to pay back parents a year after Congress 'demanded action.'

By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com

More than a year after the US Congress told the Defense Department to reimburse parents who had bought body armor for their sons or daughters serving in Iraq, the Pentagon " still hasn't figured out a way" to reimburse them. The Associated Press reports that soldiers and their parents are still spending "hundreds, sometimes thousands" of dollars on armor that "the military does not provide."
Senator Chris Dodd (D) of Connecticut said he will "again try to force" the Pentagon to obey the reimbursement bill that it "opposed from the outset and has so far not implemented."

[Dodd], said he will offer amendments to the defense appropriations bill working its way through Congress to take the issue out of the hands of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and give control to military unit commanders in the field.
"Mr. Rumsfeld is violating the law," Dodd said. "It's been sitting on the books for over a year. They were opposed to it. It was insulting to them. I'm sorry that's how they felt."

at 12:00 AM, September 21, 2006

Anonymous said...

I skip lunch because all that money is going to taxes, gasoline, skyrocketing health-care costs and tuition.
No hatred here, just speaking the truth.

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Friday, September 15, 2006

Hastert on Ney

25 Comments: