Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

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Louisiana and corruption

Kudos to John Fund for making public the endemic problem of corruption in Louisiana. Not a small issue now, considering the big bucks that will flow into the state over the next few years.

"Put bluntly, the local political cultures don’t engender confidence that aid won’t be diverted from the people who truly need and deserve it. While the feds can try to ride herd on the money, here’s hoping folks in the region take the opportunity to finally demand their own political housecleaning. Change is past due. Last year, Lou Riegel, the agent in charge of the FBI’s New Orleans office, described Louisiana’s public corruption as ’epidemic, endemic, and entrenched. No branch of government is exempt.’"

Discussions - 11 Comments

Speaking of corruption, a new report was just released that listed the 13 Most Corrupt Members of Congress. 11 of the 13 (85%) are Republican.

Ah yes, a left-wing interest group confirms that Republicans are all corrupt and all but a few libs are squeaky clean. This is truly earth shaking news.

I wonder why they picked thirteen?

I wonder how they measured corruption?

I wonder how they demonstrate it?

I really, really wonder if they get into troubel with their chosen methodology if the number isn’t thirteen?

I went to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington website and found the following tidbits:

In small print, CREW describes itself as "a non-profit, progressive [my emphasis] legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions."

Elsewhere, CREW characterizes itself as a "mainstream" alternative to "avowedly conservative and extremist" groups like the Rutherford Institute and Judivial Watch. At least the latter is honest enough to "avow" its conservatism, unlike CREW, which takes the typical "liberal" appraoch of calling itself mainstream and its opponents extremist.

Exectuive Director Melanie Sloan’s bio makes her agenda clear enough: she was an Assistant District Attorney appointed by the Clinton Administration, and worked on Capitol Hill for John Conyers, Charles Shumer, and Joe Biden. Not exactly a non-partisan resume.

In other words, it’s not at all surprising that CREW would go after Republicans mroe than Democrats. Consider, for example, the practices that landed Rick Santorum on the list--pretty mild stuff. Now compare what it took to put William Jefferson on the list. The two cases are hardly comparable. And no one’s going to persuade me that Santorum’s behavior is unusual for a legislator of either party. I suspect that were he not a vulnerable Republican incumbent, he wouldn’t have been included.

As far as I’m concerned, CREW is not an unbiased source for information about political corruption.

Why couldn’t Bush have quoted the FBI agent in his Great Society on the Gulf speech?

A truly transformative president, a true statesman, would have.

I think it’s a cop-out to call Louisiana corrupt. I’ve lived in Louisiana virtually all my life and wouldn’t trade it for the world. There’s a lot of honest and talented politicians in Louisiana who could out-develop Donald Trump if given the chance.

Why do we trust foreigners more that us Americans living in Louisiana??? They get billions in foreign aid with no accountability. I don’t hear anyone demanding control of foreign aid expenditures in other countries!

Remember, Louisiana is one of the 50 states in this Union and deserves better respect than I’ve seen lately in the news. Criticism seems to be a lot cheaper than the $$$ needed to rebuild New Orleans!

I wonder when John Fund(a right wing hack if there ever was one) will become concerned about the need for cleanup in Ohio’s political culture.

"And no one’s going to persuade me that Santorum’s behavior is unusual for a legislator of either party."

Ah, The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations!

wonder when John Fund(a right wing hack if there ever was one) will become concerned about the need for cleanup in Ohio’s political culture.

Just curious--I understand the "right-wing" part, but aside from the fact that you don’t agree with Fund politically, what makes him a "hack"?

Looks like there might be an addition 500 ghost-cops on the New Orleans payroll, making the chief’s exit very timely. Louisiana is one of the most corrupt places in the country (which is pretty mild by world standards, admittedly). Regardless, Americans expect a degree of self-help...what we saw during Katrina made us lose some respect for the State’s and city’s governments, particularly compared to NYC’s heroic response during 9/11. I admit, that’s not a fair comparison, but I think people are making it.

There is very little that happens in Congress that is done for altruistic desires or anything based on the merits. There should be hundreds on this list and until we have term limits that will be the case.

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