More ethics charges

[SuperScout]

Morality or ethics is not determined by some little poll that some little pollster cobbles together, but is a function of one's basic moral compass. Your response is so typical of the bedwetters, where their every paradigm is driven by what the polls say. And just to assuage your little mid obviously beset with paranioa, read, or have someone read to you, the following article:WASHINGTON -- Over nine days in May, FBI agents in the Washington area searched the offices of a lawmaker and the No. 3 CIA official in a flurry of activity that highlights a newly aggressive pursuit of public corruption cases by federal prosecutors and investigators.

The high-profile searches occurred in independent bribery investigations that implicate members of Congress, Republican and Democrat.

The raid on Democratic Rep. William Jefferson's office over the weekend apparently was the first time FBI agents had ventured onto Capitol Hill armed with a search warrant.

Agents were accompanied by CIA minders when they scoured the Langley, Va., office of Kyle "Dusty" Foggo on May 12. Foggo has stepped down as the intelligence agency's executive director, amid allegations that link him to a bribery investigation that already has sent former Republican Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham to prison.

While the locations of the searches were unusual, James W. "Chip" Burrus Jr., head of the FBI's criminal division, said his agents aren't looking to make a splash. "We go where the evidence leads us," Burruss said, while acknowledging that corruption investigators "have had a run of good luck lately."

It is hard to know whether there is more or less public corruption afoot in the country now than in the past. "It's always hard to measure the part of the iceberg that's under the water," said St. John's University law professor John Barrett, a former prosecutor.

But it is clear that investigators are spending more time looking for corruption. More than 1,000 officials, military personnel and police officers have been convicted over two years, with a 25 percent increase from 2004 to 2005, the FBI said.

There are more than 2,200 open investigations on the federal, state and local level, and more than 600 agents work corruption cases, about a third of all agents dedicated to white-collar crime, Burrus said. That number has increased, he said, despite the bureau's realignment since the Sept. 11 attacks to focus on counterterrorism investigations.

The bureau's stepped-up effort has come partly as a result of the inactivity of congressional ethics committees, even in the face of serious bribery allegations. The FBI also has been relatively shielded from political considerations that have slowed pursuit of corruption in past administrations, said ethics watchdogs across the political spectrum.

"I think the Clinton administration would have been too scared to go after Tom DeLay, even though they should have, because they had a Republican-controlled Congress," said Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor and executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "It seems clear that Justice is taking a more aggressive approach."

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, which has tussled over ethics with the Bush and Clinton administrations, called the increase in public corruption cases notable. "It looks to me like appointees are less concerned about the political ramifications of their investigations," Fitton said.

Federal authorities have at least three full-blown investigations under way dealing with congressional corruption. Disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff and three former Republican congressional aides-turned-lobbyists have pleaded guilty in one probe that reaches into several congressional offices, mostly Republicans.

Cunningham pleaded guilty to accepting bribes last year, and the FBI says Jefferson has been caught on tape taking $100,000 in cash, most of which was later found in a freezer in his Washington-area home. He has declared himself innocent of any wrongdoing.

In addition, two senior members of the House appropriations committee, Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., the chairman, and Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., the sixth-ranking Democrat, are under investigation in connection with allegations that they directed public money to favored parties.

FBI Director Robert Mueller, a former federal prosecutor, laid out the case for the FBI's corruption focus in a recent speech in San Diego. "Rooting out corruption is exceptionally difficult, but it is a mission for which the FBI is singularly situated," Mueller said. "We have the skills to conduct necessary undercover operations and the ability to perform electronic surveillance. But more than that, we have insulation from political pressure."

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales also has made corruption cases a priority within the Justice Department, saying he would allow his prosecutors to pursue criminal violations wherever they lead.

The active pursuit of these cases also is valuable because it provides elected and other officials an important element of deterrence, Barrett said. "We need incentives, beginning at the very basic level of fear, to keep them on the right side of these laws," he said.

[SuperScout]

The Congressional Black Caucus is in open revolt over House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's attempt to discipline Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., after he was caught red handed with $90,000 in alleged bribe money. And at least one CBC staffer is warning that any move against Jefferson could jeopardize Democrat chances to retake the House this fall. [Oooh, does dis mean dat dere's a revolt brewin' on de plantation?]

According to Roll Call, Pelosi checked with key members of the CBC before she told Jefferson on Tuesday that he should resign his post on the House Ways and Means Committee "in the interest of upholding the high ethical standard of the House Democratic Caucus."

Rather than complying, Jefferson defied the top Democrat - and instead accused her of discrimination, arguing that other ethically challenged Democrats faced no such discipline. [Oh my Gawd, you means there's more than ONE Democrat ethically challenged Democrat? How can this be?? I thought they were the epitome of purity and sanctity?]

Things got uglier on Wednesday when some of the same CBC members who had OK'd the Pelosi putsch changed their minds.

"A members-only CBC lunch meeting produced an emotional consensus that Pelosi had overreached since Jefferson has not been charged with any crimes," said Roll Call.

"One after another, CBC members rallied behind their colleague, arguing that he was being singled out." [Yowsir, it looks like de Wicked Witch of the West gonna whup up on 'nutha plantation member.]

"I would say that the people who spoke were very vehement in their opposition," CBC member James Clyburn told the paper.

Jefferson's defenders cited Rep. Alan Mollohan, who was forced to step aside as the ranking member of the ethics committee but permitted to keep his coveted seat on the Appropriations Committee.

"There's no precedent for doing this to someone who has not been indicted," complained CBC member Al Wynn.

By late Wednesday, top CBC members, including Charlie Rangel, John Conyers and John Lewis, had informed Pelosi that the entire Black Caucus would publicly oppose any attempt to discipline Jefferson - a move that could severely undermine African American support in this year's mid term election.

"I think she's taking us down to the point where on Nov. 8 she'll still be the Minority Leader," an aide to a CBC member told Roll Call, in a none too thinly veiled threat.

[SuperScout]

Using whatever muscle she could find, Nancy convinced the Democrat caucus to oust Little Willie Jefferson from his position on the House Ways and Means Committee. Although Little Wille has not been indicted, yet, he was given the ol' heave-ho by his fellow Dims. Now comes the funny part: I don't think he should have been kicked off the committee, just yet. Did they kick off that other Democrat off the Appropriations Committee because he was suspected of various crimes? No. Was Tom DeLay kicked off any committee assignment because he was indicted? Nor should they. We rail and complain how Congress people don't abide by the same laws that us common folk do, but then they turn around and create an arbitrary rule to oust one of their own. Apparently, the tried and true principle of "...innocent until proven guilty"... is lost on the Beltway crowd.

Da Dims prancing out in lily-white robes in an attempt to be perceived as pure as new driven snow by ousting Little Willie isn't playing in Peoria, and will be remembered in Harlem, New Orleans, and other political concentrations of Black votes. It was very poor vaudeville, at best!