Category: insider corruption

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insider corruption

Stevens, Justice, and Corruption

When Ted Stevens, former senator from Alaska, was convicted on seven felony counts of corruption, I stressed that what I knew about Stevens’s corruption was not what was debated in court but what happened, quite openly, in the U.S. Senate.

Do you remember my verdict? Here’s what I said: “[I]f as many as five or six — or even all seven — of the counts against him are not upheld, his name will still appear dirty in my book, dirty from all the porkbarelling. Senator Ted Stevens is a horrifying example of much that is wrong in government.”

Stevens has always been proud of his porkmeistering, his attempts to transform independent-minded Alaskans into our union’s biggest pork recipients.

Further, Stevens insisted upon his innocence of illegal corruption all through his trial. And in his appeal his lawyers made much of a whistle blower’s leaked information from the prosecution that the office did not fully disclose all the information from a chief witness. At that point, there was almost no possible recourse but to overturn the convictions.

According to Eric Holder, top banana at the Department of Justice, there will be no second prosecution.

I still have no certainty about the DOJ’s case against Stevens. But I do have certainty about my case against Stevens’s politics of pork.

One additional bit of certainty: Corruption is in plentiful supply among prosecutors, including in the U.S. Department of Justice.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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insider corruption

Here’s a Fact for You

However brutal or irresponsible Roman emperor Nero may have been, he didn’t literally fiddle while Rome burned. The violin hadn’t been invented yet.

Our modern rulers, on the other hand, know the metaphorical instrument’s arpeggios and double-stops, fiddling with taxpayer dollars as our economy sputters and smolders.

Washington Post columnist Al Kamen passed along the news of nothing unusual, just another so-called fact-finding junket undertaken by intrepid congressfolk. Says Kamen, “Spring break is upon us. That means the skies will darken for two weeks with military jets winging our lawmakers and their spouses to faraway places in search of elusive facts.”

Representatives Ed Pastor, James Clyburn, Maurice Hinchey, John Salazar, Tim Ryan, and Rodney Alexander are winging their way south, to a check list of fascinating tourist spots, plus perhaps a Brazilian state dinner or two. Facts, facts, facts — at Copacabana Beach, Corcovado mountain, the beautiful Iguazu Falls, then on to Salvador.

You could probably pick up a lot of facts about these places from Wikipedia and YouTube. But hey — nothing like being there.

Mostly Democrats in this particular gang, but using taxpayer and lobbyist dollars to fund exotic jaunts to far-flung sumptuous locales is a bipartisan tradition.

The full cost is trivial.

This year? Not even a trillion dollars.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Accountability insider corruption

Why Pay Your Taxes?

Why pay your taxes? I mean, why pay your taxes until you’ve been chosen for President Obama’s cabinet?

Most folks pay with little or no threat of having to serve on Obama’s brain trust.

I pay because my wife tells me to and she agrees to fill out the forms. Some folks pay because they like all or much of what government does. Others may hate the waste, folly, or unconstitutional criminality of the bulk of government spending, but pay taxes out of a sense of duty.

Or fear.

But what of those politicians who constantly put forth the importance — the glorious nobility — of granting government an ever-larger role? Why would they fail to pay their taxes to support that government?

The latest is the current nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. She owes $7,000 in back taxes, which now that she’s in line to be a cabinet secretary, she’s taking care of.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel hasn’t paid his tax bill. Sebelius’s predecessor, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination because of, yes, tax problems. And who can forget Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner? He paid up after he was nominated. But of course, he was “too big to fail.”

Maybe it’s how our leaders see the division of labor: We pay, they spend.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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insider corruption national politics & policies

A Suicide-Inducing Congress?

Say you are president. You thunder about how your predecessor’s bailouts let corporate execs keep big bonuses at taxpayer expense. That won’t happen on your watch!

And then it does. AIG bigwigs take $165 million.

So you are angry at yourself, for signing that stimulus bill with its specific language permitting TARP recipients to pay bonuses if bonuses were part of contracts made before February of ’09.

Maybe somebody should have read the legislation. So who has that job? Besides you . . . I mean the president himself. Why, Congress, of course!

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley said he would at least “feel better” were AIG executives to apologize and then either “resign or go commit suicide.”

Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer advocate passing a special tax to confiscate all the bonus money ex post facto.

Dodd didn’t mention that he had authored the provision specifically permitting the AIG bonuses. He has now said he’ll return the $280,000 in donations he’s received from AIG executives. Schumer was mum about his $112,000 from those same execs.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said, “We’ve got to do whatever it takes to make sure people that basically ripped off the American people weren’t able to profit from it.”

So is she talking about AIG . . . or Congress?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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insider corruption

Modern Disabilities

You expect politicians to game the system and rip off taxpayers for their own benefit. But not our police.

In Montgomery County, Maryland, 41 percent of retiring police officers now receive disability payments, and requests for disability pay have jumped an incredible 300 percent in the last year.

In nearby Fairfax County, Virginia, on the other hand, only 3 percent of retirees receive disability.

Of course, police work is often dangerous, and when officers are disabled on the job they ought to be compensated properly. Still, something is way out of whack in Montgomery County.

Former county officers receiving extra disability retirement pay have been discovered working other very physically demanding jobs — like flying commercial aircraft, or breaking up fights as a high school security guard, or serving in the army reserve.

Thomas Evans, a former county police chief, calls snagging extra disability pay “almost as easy as signing your name on the application.”

Now the feds are investigating. That’s good, but how does a system get so far out of whack?

Two factors are at work: (1) a unionized police force means constant pressure for more outlandish benefits, and (2) politicians negotiate these deals with securing the political support of the union in mind, not fulfilling their fiscal responsibility to taxpayers.

Or maybe it’s just proximity to Washington, D.C.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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insider corruption

Jailing Kids for Cash

Once again, I’m back to talking about Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Not long ago, I told you about a Wilkes-Barre woman who was awarded a judgment against the city for the official harassment she suffered after she petitioned the government. This time it’s local judges jailing young people in order to pad their own pockets with cold, hard cash.

For years, youth advocates argued that Judge Mark Ciavarella was, as they say, “way harsh.” Now, two Luzerne County judges, Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, have pled guilty to receiving $2.6 million in payoffs for forcing youthful offenders into private lock-ups.

Conahan was responsible for closing down the county-run juvenile prison and helping two private companies get lucrative contracts to house juvenile offenders. Ciavarella kept the Up the River hotel full of “clients.”

Who were they? What did they do?

Well, Hillary Transue lampooned her high school’s assistant principal on MySpace. Ciavarella sentenced her to three months.

Kurt Kruger says that he “was completely destroyed” after his conviction for being a look-out for a shoplifter. Kruger claims he was innocent. After being sent to a prison camp for four months he dropped out of high school.

There are many more such stories. How many? Well, at least $2.6 million dollars’ worth.

The best we can say for these recent stories from Wilkes-Barre is that they provide examples of an timeless truth: Political power cannot be trusted.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Accountability insider corruption

Washington On Display

Our rule-makers can’t follow their own rules. President Obama sets a new standard, forbidding lobbyists from being hired on in the White House. Then he promptly gives himself a waiver because, lo and behold, he just needs a certain lobbyist.

When politicians stand on principle, it’s usually so that principle can’t get up.

We have a Treasury secretary, one Timothy Geitner, who didn’t pay his taxes . . . well, not until he was picked to be Treasury secretary. A Washington Post headline called Geitner “too big to fail”; the U.S. Senate confirmed him.

Then there’s Roland Burris, the new U.S. Senator from Illinois. He now admits that he didn’t tell “the whole truth” when he testified before the Illinois House panel trying to impeach then-Governor Rod Blagojevich. Of course, Burris continues to deny what he is admitting.

Burris had been asked directly about being blagojeviched to raise money to get his seat in the U.S. Senate. But Burris said nothing at the time about being asked by the governor’s brother to raise funds. Burris also conveniently forgot to mention that he, in fact, had tried to raise money for the governor. Unsuccessfully.

Burris needs to go, and he’s far from alone. Think of Charles Rangel’s wrangled perks, his tax problems, his network of rent-controlled apartments.

Instead, all these masterminds will stay in power, allegedly to “fix” our economy.

But they’re the ones in need of “fixing.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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insider corruption term limits

That Bloomin’ Blatherer Bloomberg

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, once a man of the people, claimed his billions immunized him from the pitfalls of politics-as-usual. Who could bribe him, right?

But it seems power seduces even without payola.

New Yorkers passed a two-term limit on city officials. But Bloomberg wants another term, and couldn’t be bothered taking the question to voters yet again. So he convinced the city council to water down the law so both he and they could run for a third term.

So, why did Bloomberg overthrow the voters’ decision? Not because he’s seduced by power. No. Because he’s so darned indispensable. In an economic downturn, the city needs a financial wizard like him to steer things.

Except this is the same maestro who dug New York’s current financial hole. The city is looking at a $7 billion budget deficit in a couple years if nothing changes. And according to a new report by the Citizens Budget Commission, the average cost of city employees has increased 63 percent since 2000. Average pay has jumped from $52,000 a year to $69,000. Then you have benefits, which ballooned from $13,000 a year to a whopping $38,000 a year.

Bloomberg can’t say no to unions, so taxpayers suffer. He can’t say no to a power grab, so democracy suffers.

Gee whiz, who but Bloomberg could give us all this suffering?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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insider corruption

Renting Rangel

Rent control is said to reduce rents. Economists disagree. Only some rents remain low, compared to others, in cities with rent control. If the cities foreswore rent control, most rents would tend to be lower.

There are other reasons to oppose rent control. The policy increases social stratification, as sociologists put it. The people with controlled rents become an elite, and they feed off of insider connections and . . . well, corruption results.

Congressman Charles Rangel is a classic example. He’s one of New York City’s representative to the U.S. House of Representatives, and he chairs the powerful Ways and Means Committee. And yet he nabbed four rent-controlled apartments in New York, thereby gaining a huge advantage over many other New Yorkers. He then failed to report his success at the rent control game, as required.

Rangel proved quite the source for corruption stories last year. He had numerous tax difficulties, failing to report this and that. He wrangled $80,000 from his campaign treasury to his son, for doing website work. The son did scant work. After getting a cool million from an oil company for his Charles B. Rangel Center at City College, he then fought for a tax break for that company.

The list goes on.

It’s been famously said that you can’t buy politicians, only rent them. Well, guess what form of rent control I support.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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insider corruption

Bad-Time Bonuses

People often complain about executive pay. I don’t. What other people get paid isn’t my business.

But after we discovered that many of the major companies bailed out by our government went on to give their execs bonuses, I changed my tune, a bit. How did failed companies and failed businessmen deserve bailouts in the first place? After being bailed out of their mess, the failed execs earned bonuses how? For bringing home the bacon from politicians?

This problem is not limited to private enterprise at the public nipple.

Take DC Metro. This governmental organization, tasked with providing public transit in the District of Columbia and adjacent areas, is in deep financial woes, even worse than many businesses. The transit authority threatens deep cuts in service.

And yet, somehow, they just managed to hike the salaries of management, not to mention the wages of hourly workers.

This is the reaction of a concern when its rising costs are not being matched by income gains?

It seems insane. And yet, this is government, so we at least have a ready explanation. And, being a metropolitan service district rather than a city or county government, it doesn’t have many of the usual checks in place. From the people.

If you are looking for a cause to get involved in, I bet your area’s metro district would get your blood boiling. Why not look into it?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.