File this under the category of "for what it’s worth": At my daughter’s kindergarten (where I am a teaching aide) the kids participated in the Weekly Reader version of the election today. Bush won by a margin of two to one. But this is not the best part . . . most of those voting for Kerry were boys. It was interesting because they came into the classroom with the very vocal intention of voting for Bush. So why did they switch to Kerry? When questioned about their reasons, these boys indicated that they were going to vote for Bush until they discovered that all the girls were voting for him. Then they figured they’d better switch! Gotta love ’em for that!
Julie I am not switching no matter how many girls you drag onto NLT!
Hey, is anybody following the race in the 14th District? How is it possible that Steve LaTourette’s divorce has become a campaign issue, but nobody is talking about the fact that Capri Cafaro was president of the company that bribed James Trafficant? Or that she is in trouble with the FEC right now for giving her campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal loans?
Because the Cafaros have connections, if you know what I mean.
That is exactly my point. This is something that the voters should at least know about. I cannot believe that Cafaro has run an entire campaign without a single local media outlet questioning her past. She was the president of a company that obtained favorable treatment in exchange for bribes (and this is not in dispute - she testified against co-conspirators, and her father pled guilty), but she has the gall to talk about "sweetheart deals for Halliburton" in her campaign literature? How can the media and/or her opponent let her get away with this? This is much more important than LaTourette’s divorce.
With that much money in the Cafaro family, do you think it’s out of the question that there would have been some exchanged with those who determine media coverage? Also, I’ve repeatedly heard that the Cafaros have connections with the good ol’ boys in Youngstown -- what’s left of the organized crime rings.
Maybe I’m too cynical... but i’ve seen enough Mahoning Valley politics to know that bribery and extortion aren’t out of the question.
Actually, the local papers in the Lake, Geauga, Ashtabula papers (even the CPD) have been talking about Capri’s past. It is being overshadowed not by LaTourette’s divorce, but by his current relationship with a lobbyist -- his former chief of staff who is now lobbying the transportation committee (but, supposedly, not LaTourette who is a member). Nonetheless, there have been some pretty good digs in the direction of "If you can’t buy a Congressman (Trafficant) is the family trying to buy a Congressional District" and "If Capri did nothing wrong, why did she request immunity."
Given the makeup of NE Ohio, I think that this is a pretty interesting area for any political junkie to keep a close eye on.
Sonya, thank you for the reassuring words, but I think you overstate it quite a bit. I read the Star Beacon and the Plain Dealer all the time, and I have seen little in the Plain Dealer - and nothing in the Star Beacon - about any of Cafaro’s past. Most articles are fluff pieces that exaggerate her experience as an unpaid intern on the hill, and then simply skip from age 19 to 24. We are less than three weeks from election day, and almost no one I know is aware of this. She is spreading conspiracy theories about Halliburton, but she was the President of a company that bribed Congressmen! That goes beyond the pale.
Check out the News Herald, the Chagrin Valley Times, or Sun Newspapers. For a Fluff piece, try this week’s Cleveland Scene.
Capri is working hard to distance herself from her father and his misdeeds. At the same time, she has irked a number of not unimportant people. Think back to the primary, where she irked organized labor (who Cong. LaT has historically had a very good relationship). All of her shtick with "a new power in town" turned off a lot of people.
I do not know the political indexing of the entire 14th district, but I’m pretty confidant that it swings to the moderate conservative end of the spectrum. Geauga and Lake Counties are dominated by Republicans. Even in Ashtabula and Northern Trumbull, the democrats that tend to be elected are old-school democrats and have supported LaTourette strongly in the past.
It will be expensive for him and his campaign to combat her wealth, but I think LaTourette will win.
Somebody at the Ashtabula County Star Beacon finally noticed Capri Cafaro’s past:
https://www.starbeacon.com/index.asp?MC=NEWS&NID=1&AID=6361
I think the people writing these blogs about Capri Cafaro must have not been reading every major paper since she started running in January. Her issue about her past has come up in the papers since the first day she ran. It has been talked about in every article that mentioned Cafaro.
I am more concerned with the fact that my Congressman is receving illegal gifts from his affair with the lobbyist that works on the bills he sponsors to get money for her clients. I dont know who I am voting for in this race yet. But I am choosing between someone with a possible shady past and someone with a definite shady present. At this point, seeing where our economy, seeing who endorsed each candidate,I lean Cafaro.
Kyle, with all due respect, I think you have it backwards. Is LaTourette a nice guy? Well, no. Has anyone shown anything to indicate that he has done anything unethical or illegal? No.
Capri Cafaro, on the other hand, has much more than a "possible shady past." Her co-conspirators testified in federal court that she was involved in bribing both Congressman Traficant and Senator Robert Torricelli. People specifically mentioned envelopes containing $12,000 in cash. Capri was granted immunity in exchange for her testimony against her own father. I don’t know how familiar you are with the justice system, but you can rest assured that immunity is not given to a witness unless they have done something they need to be immunized from, and unless they have testimony that is useful to the prosecution. Witnesses who were themselves unaware of illegal activities, or were not involved in them, do not generally have anything useful to testify about. No, in order to be a good witness, one that can help seal a conviction against a Congressman and your own father, you must know a whole lot of things about a whole lot of illegal activity.
I agree with your concerns about LaTourette. I think the voters deserve better candidates than both of these people. The proper solution, however, is to run a better candidate against LaTourette in the primary, or if you prefer a Democratic candidate, to run someone who has not previously bribed public officials. Replacing a sleaze with a probable felon who is unwilling to discuss her past hardly seems like a move up.
You all sound like you were paid to say these thing! Morons.
"Concerned" is the moron. No statement, no brains, no future.
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