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In a May affidavit, the FBI alleged that Jefferson accepted bribes in return for using his office to facilitate business ventures in Africa. Jefferson allegedly accepted a $100,000 bribe in June 2005 from an informant cooperating with federal agents in an investigation, according to the FBI. In an August 2005 search of Jefferson's Washington home, agents said they found $90,000 in the lawmaker's freezer.
.Such questions have surfaced again in the wake of the $600 million military contract won by EG&G Technical Services, a new division that URS purchased in 2002 from the well-connected Washington, D.C., investment firm the Carlyle Group.
Carlyle is a $14 billion buyout firm whose associates and advisers include former President George Bush, former British Prime Minister John Major and former Securities and Exchange Commissioner Arthur Levitt. As part of EG&G's sale price, Carlyle acquired a 21.74 percent stake in URS — second only to the 23.7 percent of shares controlled by Blum Capital.
But Abramoff didn't work just with Republicans. He oversaw a team of two dozen lobbyists at the law firm Greenberg Traurig that included many Democrats. Moreover, the campaign contributions that Abramoff directed from the tribes went to Democratic as well as Republican legislators.
Among the biggest beneficiaries were Capitol Hill's most powerful Democrats, including Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.) and Harry M. Reid (Nev.), the top two Senate Democrats at the time, Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.), then-leader of the House Democrats, and the two lawmakers in charge of raising funds for their Democratic colleagues in both chambers, according to a Washington Post study. Reid succeeded Daschle as Democratic leader after Daschle lost his Senate seat last November. ...
"Lobbying shops typically direct contributions to both parties because they want contacts on both sides of the aisle," said David M. Hart, a professor of public policy at George Mason University. "Lawmakers in the minority can also have a lot of clout."
...
But Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.) ran second, with $128,000 in the same period. From 1999 to 2001, Kennedy chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which solicited campaign donations for House candidates. "
On May 4, 2006, Kennedy crashed his 1997 Ford Mustang convertible into a barricade on Capitol Hill at 2:45AM. He had been operating his vehicle with the lights off in the early morning darkness. Officers at the scene said that Kennedy appeared intoxicated, smelled of alcohol[8] and was visibly staggering, but Kennedy claimed that he was merely disoriented from prescription medications Ambien and Phenergan. [9] A woman who works at the nearby Hawk & Dove bar said that he had been drinking there.[10] A second report cites the capitol police have additional "witnesses" to Kennedy's drinking at the Hawk & Dove before the crash.[11]
Kennedy also stated to officers that he was "late for a vote." However, the last vote of the night had occurred almost six hours earlier. The standard field sobriety test was not administered. Kennedy was driven home by an officer. On May 5, 2006, Kennedy admitted he has an addiction to prescription medication and announced he would be re-admitting himself to a drug rehabilitation facility at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota where he has sought treatment for prior addictions.[12] He has stated that he has no recollection of the car crash. On June 5, 2006 Kennedy was released from drug rehab. [13]
Такой, понимаешь, до сих пор защитник прав угнетённых..." Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law?
Or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty? "
~ Senator Ted Kennedy, 1973
DeLay issued a statement saying, “I have notified the Speaker that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader pursuant to rules of the House Republican Conference and the actions of the Travis County district attorney today.” House Speaker Dennis Hastert indicated that DeLay would be replaced temporarily by the No. 3 House Republican, Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri.
Jefferson has argued that the disciplinary rules of the Democratic Caucus apply only to members who are indicted or are in leadership posts, neither of which apply to him.
Name: Robert Rubin
Current job: Chairman of the executive committee of the board of directors of Citigroup
Link to Enron: Mr Rubin, the Treasury Secretary under former President Bill Clinton, is said to have called his old department on behalf of Enron as its financial problems became a crisis.
The Treasury Department says Mr Rubin contacted the Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, Peter Fisher, on 8 November – a month before Enron’s collapse.
И ведь, что интересно, т. МкАлифф сумел очень вовремя продать свои акции:The company, which needed regulatory approval for many of its deals, was a major political contributor. Global Crossing and its executives gave more money than Enron to federal candidates-- $3.5 million since 1998. 55% of the total went to Democrats, 45% to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Also, both former president George Bush and current Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe made millions from Global Crossing's stock. The former president was paid in stock for a speech. McAuliffe, a consultant to Winnick, was an early investor. Former Defense Secretary William Cohen became a Global Crossing director when he left government.
It also avoids the touchy question of McAuliffe’s reaping a reported $18 million profit on a $100,000 investment in Global Crossing.
It's not the first time congressional ethics have been under review.
There was a similar beating of chests a little over a decade ago when the Republicans took control of Congress after campaigning against perceived corruption within Democrat ranks.
It wasn't long before congress returned to its bad old ways and that's why many independent observers are sceptical about this latest outbreak of ethics.