Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts
July 17, 2009
Governor Sanford *should* resign
Generally speaking, I wouldn't say infidelity necessitates an elected official's resignation (unless they support DOMA or something like that), but the AP reports that the governor spent nearly $40,000 on air travel for five flights to Brazil, sitting in first/business class while he aides sat in coach. And that is grounds for resignation.
May 04, 2009
A Jane Harman Update.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Your Government Not at Work - Jane Harman Scandal | ||||
| ||||
Last week The Daily show aired a hilarious summary (see the above video) of a scandal involving Rep. Jane Harman (D.- California) in the segment "Your Government Not at Work." The simplified version goes like this: Harman, a supporter of the recent semi-legal wiretapping, was caught by that very same wire-tapping program as she told Israeli lobbyists that she would pressure the Justice Department to lessen the espionage charges faced by a number of Israelis if the lobbyists would in turn pressure Nancy Pelosi to appoint Harman to better committees.
Though Harman denies that she actually lobbied for this result, it looks as if Harman's end of the bargain has been completed: charges have been dropped against the Israelis who may or may not have been acting a bit too liberally with state secrets. While it's clear that Harman does not have the pull to achieve this result (somehow I doubt any Representative could kill a Justice Department investigation single-handed), it is nonetheless a very entertaining addition to "Your Government Not at Work."
March 19, 2009
Arrogant, Incompetent, and Greedy? I thought Obama was only one of those things ...
(and I mean that in the best way ...)
Just picture someone saying "It's the principle of the thing!" and you've probably got in mind someone who is at least 80 years old, and one way or another could be described by the word "crusty."
Well that's just what's going on with AIG. $165M is a lot of money, but the undeserved portion of that (due to arrogance, incompetence, or greed) is a far smaller number. Generously calling it half, I'll say this $80M is not that much to get worried about, and it's certainly not anything worth upending the structure of our legal system for.
That said, "someone" secretly removed a provision from the stimulus bill that would deal with this issue of AIG bonuses. And no matter which side of the argument you are on, you can bet that when there's a sixth of a billion dollars on the table, Principle can't afford a ticket to the show.
So who might have been a little more than friends with the folks at AIG? Let's check out the top ten list from OpenSecrets.org and see who's been getting the most contributions from AIG in the past 20 years:
An interesting list, to be sure, but still not the way I like it. Let's find out how much AIG has been shelling out to these guys on an annual basis:
Now look, I'm not out-and-out accusing Barack Obama of being corrupt on this one, though I wouldn't be surprised either. But if you're mad about AIG, it's hard not to take a look at this list and think things through.
And honestly, if you really want to know who I think is behind this "secret revision" in the stimulus bill, my money's on Chris Dodd. That's one corrupt (looking!) dude right there. (Side note) And increasingly, the rumor is that his Senate seat might be in jeopardy, something unheard of for a 34-year, extremely powerful Democratic Congressman from a very blue state.
Just picture someone saying "It's the principle of the thing!" and you've probably got in mind someone who is at least 80 years old, and one way or another could be described by the word "crusty."
Well that's just what's going on with AIG. $165M is a lot of money, but the undeserved portion of that (due to arrogance, incompetence, or greed) is a far smaller number. Generously calling it half, I'll say this $80M is not that much to get worried about, and it's certainly not anything worth upending the structure of our legal system for.
That said, "someone" secretly removed a provision from the stimulus bill that would deal with this issue of AIG bonuses. And no matter which side of the argument you are on, you can bet that when there's a sixth of a billion dollars on the table, Principle can't afford a ticket to the show.
So who might have been a little more than friends with the folks at AIG? Let's check out the top ten list from OpenSecrets.org and see who's been getting the most contributions from AIG in the past 20 years:
| Dodd, Chris (D) | $281,038 | ||
| | Bush, George W (R) | $200,560 | |
| Schumer, Charles (D) | $111,875 | ||
| Obama, Barack (D) | $110,332 | ||
| McCain, John (R) | $99,249 | ||
| Baucus, Max (D) | $90,000 | ||
| Kerry, John (D) | $85,000 | ||
| Johnson, Nancy L (R) | $75,400 | ||
| Sununu, John E (R) | $69,049 | ||
| Clinton, Hillary (D) | $61,515 |
An interesting list, to be sure, but still not the way I like it. Let's find out how much AIG has been shelling out to these guys on an annual basis:
| Federal Candidate | Total | Yrs | Annual | |
| Obama, Barack (D) | $110,332 | 4 | $27,583 | |
| Bush, George W (R) | $200,560 | 8 | $25,070 | |
| Dodd, Chris (D) | $281,038 | 20 | $14,052 | |
| Clinton, Hillary (D) | $61,515 | 8 | $7,689 | |
| Sununu, John E (R) | $69,049 | 12 | $5,754 | |
| Schumer, Charles (D) | $111,875 | 20 | $5,594 | |
| McCain, John (R) | $99,249 | 20 | $4,962 | |
| Baucus, Max (D) | $90,000 | 20 | $4,500 | |
| Kerry, John (D) | $85,000 | 20 | $4,250 | |
| Johnson, Nancy (R) | $75,400 | 18 | $4,189 |
Now look, I'm not out-and-out accusing Barack Obama of being corrupt on this one, though I wouldn't be surprised either. But if you're mad about AIG, it's hard not to take a look at this list and think things through.
And honestly, if you really want to know who I think is behind this "secret revision" in the stimulus bill, my money's on Chris Dodd. That's one corrupt (looking!) dude right there. (Side note) And increasingly, the rumor is that his Senate seat might be in jeopardy, something unheard of for a 34-year, extremely powerful Democratic Congressman from a very blue state.
January 15, 2009
Go Away Charlie Rangel
We already knew that he sucks (tax evasion as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee is tough to explain) and now he's reintroducing legislation to reintroduce the draft. It'll never pass, but he still sucks.
January 05, 2009
Well, that didn't take long
As much as I hate to borrow from idiot Republican mouthpieces, we've got Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd, Charlie Rangel, Rod Blagojevich, Eliot Spitzer, Bill Jefferson, Eric Holder ... throw in less offensive but still hateable figures like Rahm Emanuel, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden (annointing his son), Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and possibly Caroline Kennedy, and even I've got to ask if the Democrats will use their power any more nobly than the Republicans did. Because they haven't even taken office yet, and it ain't lookin' good.
(Let me just add, since I'm begging the question above and I've been knocking it around in my head for a while: the role of Chris Dodd's political contributions from Fannie and Freddie in this economic crisis has been horribly overlooked. And I think it's Barney Frank who's playing the same role in the House, but I'm not as sure about that.)
(Let me just add, since I'm begging the question above and I've been knocking it around in my head for a while: the role of Chris Dodd's political contributions from Fannie and Freddie in this economic crisis has been horribly overlooked. And I think it's Barney Frank who's playing the same role in the House, but I'm not as sure about that.)
December 10, 2008
Blagojevich Update: Jesse Jackson, Jr.
As you've probably heard by now, Jackson is allegedly implicated in the tapes as being willing to pay for the Senate seat in question. If so, a potentially enormous political career has ended before it even begun.
Corruption in Government: What to Do?
Why did this all happen? In my opinion, the answer is simple.
As governor of a state like Illinois, I'm sure you frequently meet with some of the most powerful people in the country. And some of the richest. And you probably help a lot of those rich people become richer (not necessarily in corrupt ways). Yet the governor of Illinois makes a salary of $150,000, more or less. And what was he trying to get? In real terms, not very much: a position with a salary of $300,000 (and other stuff, sure, but really not that much - not a $120M no-bid contract anyway).
In one of my econ classes we studied Singapore or Hong Kong or somewhere like that, wherein government employees were given huge salary increases. The result? There was more competition for government jobs so better individuals ended up getting the positions. Also, since salaries were already high, the temptation for corruption was less because (1) it took more money to even be worth it and (2) the fear of losing one's job made it even less likely the person would want to engage in corrupt activites.
So my counter-intuitive solution is to pay these guys more. Because if one of the most powerful people in the state is only making $150,000, what else should we expect to happen?
Also, by the way, Blagojevich is under no legal pressure to resign his seat, and could even appoint a senate replacement today, should he desire.
As governor of a state like Illinois, I'm sure you frequently meet with some of the most powerful people in the country. And some of the richest. And you probably help a lot of those rich people become richer (not necessarily in corrupt ways). Yet the governor of Illinois makes a salary of $150,000, more or less. And what was he trying to get? In real terms, not very much: a position with a salary of $300,000 (and other stuff, sure, but really not that much - not a $120M no-bid contract anyway).
In one of my econ classes we studied Singapore or Hong Kong or somewhere like that, wherein government employees were given huge salary increases. The result? There was more competition for government jobs so better individuals ended up getting the positions. Also, since salaries were already high, the temptation for corruption was less because (1) it took more money to even be worth it and (2) the fear of losing one's job made it even less likely the person would want to engage in corrupt activites.
So my counter-intuitive solution is to pay these guys more. Because if one of the most powerful people in the state is only making $150,000, what else should we expect to happen?
Also, by the way, Blagojevich is under no legal pressure to resign his seat, and could even appoint a senate replacement today, should he desire.
Better version of our gameshow...
Well, I think this may be the death knell of Bush, Kennedy, or Other, our fantastic quiz show. Who (Allegedly) Said It? asks contestants to who said each phrase, Rod Blagojevich or Tony Soprano. Well done, Beast.
December 09, 2008
Corruption, Part II
Rod Blagojevich, governor of Illinoise, has been arrested this morning for getting financially friendly with potential Obama Senate replacements.
Democrat Pat Quinn is temporarily in charge of the gubernatorial responsibilities.
Democrat Pat Quinn is temporarily in charge of the gubernatorial responsibilities.
Liberal Media? Perhaps so ...
It makes sense right? The media should totally follow the story of a guy if he's in Congress, making laws on behalf of his constituents, and ends up clearly guilty of accepting bribes, yet nonetheless manages to stay extremely close in his reelection bid, only to finally be declared the loser of the razor-thin election roughly a month after the fact? It's totally fair that the media follows that story, right?
Well, the media has not been doing it's job in following around Bill "Cold Hard Cash" Jefferson. Jefferson, or BCHCJ as I call him for short (not really), was finally defeated in his re-election bid in Louisiana's 2nd district. To speak to the relevance of his defeat, the Democrat was defeated in this heavily black district by none other than Vietnamese Republican (don't laugh) Anh "Joseph" Cao.
I know the bribery aspects of his story are older, but I have no idea why this guy got almost no coverage when Ted Stevens was all over the news. I guess Senators have roughly 4.35 times as much power as Representatives (though Stevens got more than 4.35 times as much coverage) and I suppose the whole 60-seat thing really drove the narrative on the Senate election this year. Either way, even very involved people I know don't know about BCHCJ, so I think the story was underreported. Either way, he lost, so hurrah to that!
Well, the media has not been doing it's job in following around Bill "Cold Hard Cash" Jefferson. Jefferson, or BCHCJ as I call him for short (not really), was finally defeated in his re-election bid in Louisiana's 2nd district. To speak to the relevance of his defeat, the Democrat was defeated in this heavily black district by none other than Vietnamese Republican (don't laugh) Anh "Joseph" Cao.
I know the bribery aspects of his story are older, but I have no idea why this guy got almost no coverage when Ted Stevens was all over the news. I guess Senators have roughly 4.35 times as much power as Representatives (though Stevens got more than 4.35 times as much coverage) and I suppose the whole 60-seat thing really drove the narrative on the Senate election this year. Either way, even very involved people I know don't know about BCHCJ, so I think the story was underreported. Either way, he lost, so hurrah to that!
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