Leahy Introduces Bills To Combat War Profiteering, Public Corruption

[Back]

Leahy Introduces Bills To Combat War Profiteering, Public Corruption (http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200701/010407b.html)


WASHINGTON (Thursday, January 4) – Signaling a renewed emphasis on combating corruption at home and abroad, incoming Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), introduced a package of bills Thursday targeting corrupt officials and private companies seeking to defraud American taxpayers and troops.

“Americans want the culture of corruption to end. From war profiteers and corrupt officials in Iraq, to convicted Administration officials, to influence-peddling lobbyists and, regrettably, even members of Congress, too many supposed public servants have been serving their own interests, rather than the public interest,” said Leahy.

Many Democratic Senators joined Leahy in reintroducing a bill creating criminal penalties for war profiteers and cheats who would exploit taxpayer-funded efforts in Iraq and elsewhere around the world. The War Profiteering Prevention Act of 2007 builds on earlier efforts by Leahy, who is also a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, to crack down on this type of rampant fraud and abuse. It is similar to legislation Leahy introduced in 2003, that was subsequently passed by the Senate as part of an appropriations bill but later torpedoed by the White House and the House Republican leadership, which stripped out the Leahy provision.

Also on Thursday, Leahy joined with Senator Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), on another anti-corruption measure aimed at strengthening the tools available to federal prosecutors in combating public corruption. This bill gives investigators and prosecutors the statutory tools and the resources that they need to ensure that serious and insidious public corruption is detected and punished, including extending the statute of limitations on some of the worst crimes.

“The American people staged an intervention during the November elections and made it clear that they would not stand for it any longer. They expect the Congress to take action, and these bills are a good first step toward meeting that call,” Leahy said. “We need to restore the people’s trust by acting to clean up the people’s government.”


-----------------------------------------------------------------

Full details of the bills at the link. Way to hit the ground running!

[Sean of the Thread]

Shit if they actually enforce the new laws against political corruption the DEMS will lose control of the house and senate again.

[Loagan]

Shit if they actually enforce the new laws against political corruption the DEMS will lost control of the house and senate again.


No lie here, but hey, at least its a start to clean up our political system.

[Jesuit]

Damn I hope Barbara Boxer put her Halliburton stock in a blind trust.

[Back]

Damn I hope Barbara Boxer put her Halliburton stock in a blind trust.

Lame.

[Jesuit]

Lame.

You're right, I must be slipping. She already did.


Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who is up for re-election this year, put most of her assets in a blind trust in 2001 after being criticized for owning stock in some of the energy companies she accused of manipulating the market and overcharging consumers during the California energy crisis.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/06/26/BAG7B7CDMQ1.DTL

[Sean of the Thread]

Pwnt.

[Parkbandit]

LOL.

Completely pwned.

[Back]

Surprised at the bipartisanship.

I guess you all think there is no need for a clean up across the board.

[Sean of the Thread]

I guess you're just an idiot.

[Gan]

You're right, I must be slipping. She already did.



http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgif=/c/a/2004/06/26/BAG7B7CDMQ1.DTL


:rofl:

OWNEDDDDDDD.

[Parkbandit]

Surprised at the bipartisanship.

I guess you all think there is no need for a clean up across the board.


The is a need Backlash.. but you only see the Republicans as the 'bad' guys and excuse anything a Democrat does as some right wing conspiracy. It's people like you who continue the cycle of corruption as you don't want to necessarily clean up anything, you want to expose all the Republican corruption and get them out of office by any means. Cover up any Democratic ill doing, brush it under the rug.. but let's bring the spotlights if it implicates a Republican!!

You're a complete and utter political joke.

[Back]

The is a need Backlash.. but you only see the Republicans as the 'bad' guys and excuse anything a Democrat does as some right wing conspiracy. It's people like you who continue the cycle of corruption as you don't want to necessarily clean up anything, you want to expose all the Republican corruption and get them out of office by any means. Cover up any Democratic ill doing, brush it under the rug.. but let's bring the spotlights if it implicates a Republican!!

You're a complete and utter political joke.

So you are saying that because I believe there needs to be a clean up in Congress and voted for the people who are saying they will clean up Congress actually means I am perpetuating the problem and don’t really want to clean anything up? Thats some pretty twisted logic you have going there.

About Boxer and the blind trust... if what she did is the proper thing to do, well, she did the right thing?

[Jesuit]

So everyone says Halliburton is profiting off the war, and you're saying it's ok to do as long as you have it in a blind trust?

[Back]

So everyone says Halliburton is profiting off the war, and you're saying it's ok to do as long as you have it in a blind trust?

If you actually read the link, or even just glance over it, you’ll see that it is designed to punish companies that exploit the US government (we the taxpayers) by war profiteering.

I can’t find any link between Boxer and Halliburton.

[Jesuit]

If you actually read the link, or even just glance over it, you’ll see that it is designed to punish companies that exploit the US government (we the taxpayers) by war profiteering.

I can’t find any link between Boxer and Halliburton.

Ok let me rephrase the question, oil companies are supposedly profiting from the war, and she has stock in oil companies, you're saying it's ok to profit from that as long as you have it in a blind trust?

[Back]

Ok let me rephrase the question, oil companies are supposedly profiting from the war, and she has stock in oil companies, you're saying it's ok to profit from that as long as you have it in a blind trust?

I’m not savvy as to the legal workings around the entire affair. If thats what they do and that keeps them above the board then she did the right thing.

I’ll be the first one to say if a Congressman is profiteering off the war then they need to be investigated no matter who they are.

But this is about companies that fraudulently profit from our tax dollars. I would think that this would be very bipartisan and I fail to see why you want to throw around false information to distract from the real issue.

[Parkbandit]

So you are saying that because I believe there needs to be a clean up in Congress and voted for the people who are saying they will clean up Congress actually means I am perpetuating the problem and don’t really want to clean anything up? Thats some pretty twisted logic you have going there.


No, I am saying you have no interest in cleaning up Congress.. you only have an interest in cleaning up the Republicans in Congress. You turn a blind eye or come up with excuses whenever a Democrat is put under the microscope though.

[Parkbandit]

I’ll be the first one to say if a Republican Congressman is profiteering off the war then they need to be investigated no matter who they are.
.

Fixed it for you.

[Back]

No, I am saying you have no interest in cleaning up Congress.. you only have an interest in cleaning up the Republicans in Congress. You turn a blind eye or come up with excuses whenever a Democrat is put under the microscope though.

It may seem that way because it has been high-profile republicans who have been caught in recent years. The closest I can recall there being any democrat under a microscope is when Reid was accused of some shady bookeeping about his ownership of some property and that turned out to be nothing.

There is still the issue of Jefferson and what that money was doing in his fridge. No idea what ever became of that.

Anyway... I’m glad to see the dems delivering on their promises.

[Sean of the Thread]

I thought we went over the scoreboard a few times already... and the DEMS own it by far.

[Parkbandit]

I thought we went over the scoreboard a few times already... and the DEMS own it by far.


We're talking about Backlash here.. you know the guy still fucking bitching about Gore losing in 2000?

[Back]

We're talking about Backlash here.. you know the guy still fucking bitching about Gore losing in 2000?

Yeah, don’t listen to me. War profiteering is great. We should all just hand our tax dollars over to private corporations tied to the vice president.

Listen to people who PWN me like Jesuit who couldn’t even get his facts straight.

[Jesuit]

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p262/zerate/boxer.jpg

[Back]

image

Ah, you finally dug something up. I Googled it earlier and didn’t see it. If she is that critical of Halliburton and the war, then yes, I agree with you. Blind trust or whatever, she should have at the very least sold it off if not donated it to the veterans fund.

[Gan]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Backlash, please give up while you have any respectability left.

:lol:

[Tolwynn]

Corrected this for you as well, while we're at it:


Listen to people who PWN me like Jesuit who got his facts straight where I couldn't.

[Back]

Whatever man. I took Jesuit for his word and followed his first link. There was nothing about Halliburton. I did a search on Boxer and Halliburton and did not see anything other than her criticism. If that document is true, I agree. She shouldn’t hold them if she disagrees with them so much.

[Sean of the Thread]

Stick a sock in it butterscotch.

[Gan]

There is still the issue of Jefferson and what that money was doing in his fridge. No idea what ever became of that.

Last we heard Pelosi was going to decide to either put him back on the ways and means comittee or put him on a lesser comittee. My bet is she'll restore him to the ways and means comittee.

[Back]

Found some more info.

http://instapundit.com/archives/030590.php

[Gan]

Found some more info.

http://instapundit.com/archives/030590.php

Dated May 27, 2006.

:wtf:

Why did you even bother posting the link?

[Back]

Dated May 27, 2006.

:wtf:

Why did you even bother posting the link?

Uh, nobody else has. Ironic that it was me.

[kookiegod]

Of course, this is funny.

When the GOP swept into office what was it, 16 years ago, lead by Newt Gingrich, know what the issue was?

Corruption.

Led by...

The Democrats.

The House Post Office anyone?

The Congressional Post Office Scandal (or Check kiting Scandal) is a phrase used to refer to the discovery of corruption among various Congressional Post Office employees and members of the United States House of Representatives, which was investigated from 1991 to 1995, climaxing in the conviction of House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL).

Initially an investigation by the United States Capitol Police into a single embezzlement charge against a single employee, evidence rapidly led to the inclusion of several other employees, before top Democrats in the House of Representative moved to shut down the whole line of inquiry, despite protests from Frank Karrigan, chief of the Capitol Police.

A new investigation was started by the United States Postal Service, which eventually submitted a report which was held in silence by Speaker Thomas Foley (D-WA) until media reports of embezzlement and drug laundering leaked out in 1992.[citation needed]

Following public outcry, the Democratic leaders of the House were forced to refer the matter to the House Administration Committee, which started its own investigation.

That committee broke into two parts along party lines, the Democrats issuing a report saying the matter was closed, but the Republicans issuing a dissenting report including a number of unanswered questions and problems with the investigation.

The Republican charges were largely ignored until July of 1993,[citation needed] when the Congressional Postmaster Robert Rota pleaded guilty to three criminal charges, implicating Representatives Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL) and Joe Kolter (D-PA). They were accused of heading a conspiracy to launder Post Office money through stamps and postal vouchers.

Ultimately, Rostenkowski was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison, in 1995.

President Clinton later pardoned Rostenkowski as he left office in 2001.

Sooooo....

The Dems are back in charge.

When the next GOP revolution comes, I wonder what scandals will cause it.

And if anyone thinks Nancy Pelosi is a good person, i got two words for you? Evil bitch.

Most of her 100 hours legislation is evil and bad for the country, but welcome to demland.

Lets see her pay for it....without screwing over business owners.

Ain't gonna happen.

~Paul

[Back]

I’m with you on this page. If its corruption in Congress it needs to be stamped out. They work for us, not the lobbyists, not the contributors, not the corporations... us. The people. If the Dems choke I’ll fucking lose it.

[Alfster]

Shouldn't be hard to find a tall building

[Parkbandit]

Yeah, don’t listen to me. War profiteering is great. We should all just hand our tax dollars over to private corporations tied to the vice president.

Listen to people who PWN me like Jesuit who couldn’t even get his facts straight.

Difference is, Chaney did the right thing and your girl Boxer didn't.

Now that you know the truth, I hope you will be voicing your concerns about her being in Congress... maybe even starting a grass roots effort to get her booted out.

[Back]

Difference is, Chaney did the right thing and your girl Boxer didn't.

Now that you know the truth, I hope you will be voicing your concerns about her being in Congress... maybe even starting a grass roots effort to get her booted out.

I’d be surprised if there wasn’t one already in progress.