ANOTHER Republican steps down amidst a scandal, lol!!!

Le Jacquelope

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Hey right wing dumbfucks, what's up with your leaders dropping like flies? :confused:


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060116...wuASgmMwfIE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

Rep. Ney to Temporarily Cede Panel Chair

By DAVID HAMMER, Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago

Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record), an Ohio Republican implicated in a lobbying corruption investigation, said Sunday he will step aside temporarily as chairman of the House Administration Committee.

"Unfortunately it has become clear to me in recent days that the false allegations made against me have become a distraction to the important work of the House Republican Conference and the important work that remains ahead for the House Administration Committee," Ney said in a written statement.

That was a reference to a scramble by Republicans in the House and Senate to come up with a new set of rules governing lobbying and travel as a way to inoculate themselves politically from the scandal unfolding around the guilty plea of lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Democrats are offering their own plan this week.

Ney is at the center of the Justice Department's ongoing corruption probe and has been identified as the congressman referenced by Abramoff in his guilty plea earlier this month.

Ney's decision comes as three House Republicans are waging a spirited campaign to replace Rep. Tom Delay (news, bio, voting record) of Texas as majority leader. Delay was forced by party rules to step aside after he was indicted by a state grand jury in Texas for alleged violation of campaign finance laws.

Delay also is a longtime friend of Abramoff and some of Delay's former aides have been charged in the Abramoff investigation.

The Administration Committee that Ney headed controls disclosures of lobbying practices and would be a key part of efforts to reform the system.

A GOP leadership aide said Friday that House Speaker Dennis Hastert was pressuring Ney to step aside because he believes it would be inappropriate for him to head the committee with jurisdiction over the Republican reform agenda.

Ney's statement Sunday said he had notified Hastert earlier in the day of his decision.

"I want to assure my colleagues and my constituents that I have done absolutely nothing wrong, and I am convinced that I will be vindicated completely at the end of this difficult process," Ney said.

Ney will maintain his chairmanship of a housing subcommittee, said his spokesman, Brian Walsh.

The GOP leadership aide who spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of private talks between Ney and Hastert, said the speaker himself could not have fired Ney. Unless Ney agreed to step aside it would be at least three weeks until the GOP caucus could consider removing him, the aide said.

Court papers released as part of Abramoff's plea to charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and income tax evasion detailed lavish gifts and contributions that Abramoff says he gave an unnamed House member, identified elsewhere as Ney.

Among other accusations, Abramoff said the congressman took favors including a 2002 golf trip to Scotland, free dinners and events and campaign donations in exchange for his support of Abramoff's American Indian tribe clients in Texas and the lobbyist's purchase of a fleet of Florida casino boats.

Other accusations include that Ney supported legislation to help a California Indian tribe with taxes and a post office and, as chairman of the Administration Committee, approved a lucrative deal for an Abramoff client to improve cell phone reception in House buildings.

Ney's decision comes as House and Senate Republicans scramble to devise a plan that would go well beyond current rules governing travel, gifts and lobbying by former members of Congress and their aides, as part of an effort to curtail the influence of lobbyists on lawmakers.

Ney has already instructed the House Clerk to devise a more open computerized system for members to report privately paid travel, but it was not clear what will become of that initiative.

Ney was elected to Congress from a rural district in 1994. He won a sixth term in 2004 with 66 percent of the vote, was unopposed in 2002 and hasn't drawn less than 60 percent in any election since 1996.
 
another oldie but goodie

http://www.boston.com/news/local/ne...campaign_official_indicted_for_phone_jamming/

Former Bush campaign official indicted for phone-jamming

By Katharine Webster, Associated Press Writer | December 14, 2004

CONCORD, N.H. -- The former New England chairman of President Bush's re-election campaign pleaded innocent in federal court to charges he helped jam Democrats' get-out-the-vote phone lines on Election Day 2002.

James Tobin, 44, of Bangor, Maine, faces two criminal counts each of conspiring to make harassing telephone calls and aiding and abetting telephone harassment. The operation also involved a ride-to-the-polls phone line set up by the nonpartisan Manchester firefighters' union.

Tobin, who was northeast political director of the Republican Senatorial Committee at the time, was indicted Dec. 1 after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. He faces up to five years in federal prison if convicted.

Tobin is free on personal recognizance and prosecutors agreed he did not pose a flight risk or a danger to the public.

But U.S. Magistrate Judge James Muirhead on Monday ordered him to surrender his passport and any weapons and said he should report to pre-trial services, just like any other criminal defendant.

Muirhead threatened to jail Tobin if he gets so much as a speeding ticket before his trial begins Feb. 1.

"He's no different than a street hooker in Manchester," Muirhead said. "If he's guilty, then I find his crime as offensive as any other crime."

Disrupting the electoral process is an "outrage against the constitution," Muirhead said.

Tobin stepped down as Bush's regional campaign chairman on Oct. 15, when state Democrats said in a separate civil lawsuit they believed he took part in the phone-jamming scheme.

Tobin and his lawyers, Brian Tucker of Concord and Dennis Black of Washington, declined to comment Monday.

Tobin denied any involvement when he was first named, but said he was resigning for the sake of Bush's re-election campaign. When he was indicted two weeks ago, he said he would fight to clear his name.

Kathy Sullivan, chairwoman of the state Democratic Party, said after Tobin's arraignment she was glad the judge was taking the charges seriously.

"The court understands that this crime was outrageous and an attempt to undercut our electoral process," she said.

She also criticized Tom Rath, the Republican National Committeeman from New Hampshire, for allowing a member of his law firm -- Tucker -- to represent Tobin. Rath did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Jayne Millerick, head of the Republican State Committee, said in a statement the "committee is outraged by what occurred on Election Day in 2002. We will continue to fully participate in the ongoing and appropriate criminal investigation."

Two other Republicans have pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy in the phone-jamming operation: Chuck McGee, former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican party; and Allen Raymond, a former colleague of Tobin's who operated GOP Marketplace, a telemarketing service in Alexandria, Va. They are scheduled to be sentenced in February and March.

In past court proceedings, prosecutors have said McGee planned the phone-jamming operation and discussed it with a "high-ranking official in the New Hampshire State Republican Committee." So far, that official has not been named or charged.

Tobin is accused of putting McGee in touch with Raymond after McGee complained he could not find a telemarketer able or willing to carry out his plan. McGee then wrote a $15,600 check, using state Republican party funds, to GOP Marketplace, according to court records.

GOP Marketplace in turn paid an Idaho telemarketing company $2,500 to place hundreds of computerized hang-up calls to five phone lines used by state Democrats and one used by the Manchester firefighters' union, the indictment says. More than 800 hang-up calls tied up the phones for nearly an hour and a half, before the unnamed official ordered McGee to stop the jamming.

One of the races affected was the U.S. Senate contest between Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and Republican U.S. Rep. John E. Sununu. It was considered very tight, but Sununu ended up winning by about 20,000 votes.

Tobin founded a communications and political consulting company in Bangor before getting into GOP politics. He previously served as national political director for publisher Steve Forbes' presidential campaign.
© Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
 
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