Tag: ethics (page 3)

ALG President Bill Wilson today sent a letter to the House Ethics Committee today questioning Michigan CD6 Fred Upton's use of taxpayer paid franked mail to tout his political rating by the NRA to his constituents.  The letter suggests Upton could well afford to campaign on his own dime without the use of taxpayer dollars:

"To be clear, if Mr. Upton had chosen to write about specific legislation mentioning key organizations who supported or opposed it as part of his rationale to his constituents as to why he voted a certain way, that would be inside the lines. However, putting out what can only be called a "campaign" piece using taxpayer funds is repugnant.

I am confident that between the political campaign war chest that a powerful committee chairman can easily amass, and his own personal wealth, Mr. Upton could afford to pay for his own political direct mail without need of taxpayer assistance. Given this confidence, this mailing is all the more offensive, as it reveals Mr. Upton's sense of entitlement to the perks and benefits of office that are so repugnant to Americans across the political spectrum."

Once bitten by the entitlement bug, its hard to shake I suppose.  Stamps for Christmas cards, or pictures of hunting folk carrying guns to posture for support.  All paid for with the sweat from taxpayer brows.  Upton for his part, has defended his actions already, claiming the money he DIDN'T spend shows he is a fiscal hawk."

"Again this year, I will be returning money to the treasury that I could spend," Upton said."

via WXYZ

Seriously, Governor-Elect Snyder appears that he is not listening to what election night November 2010 said to him.  Snyder won by default.  Snyder was also fortunate enough to slip through a mud slinging Open Primary that even included to the bitter end, a pathetically obstinate 10% candidate that also lost an election to Debbie Stabenow.  Thanks again, Bouchard.

The numerous news articles on Governor-Elect Snyders' obsession with former Gov. Milliken causes unease enough.

Snyder often expresses admiration for 88-year-old William Milliken, another moderate Republican and the state's longest-serving governor.

Last fall as Lefty Diane Hathaway traveled the state campaigning against then-incumbent Cliff Taylor for a seat on the Michigan Supreme Court she frequently employed one particularly pithy line of attack.  

Taylor, she argued again and again, was a "walking conflict of interest" because the man's wife used to serve as Governor John Engler's chief legal counsel and he had the gall to rule on laws enacted during the Engler administration.

That was her argument.

Got the "logic?"  

His spouse was a lawyer for the Engler administration thus, according to Hathaway, Taylor should have recused himself and declined to cast a vote on any issue tangentially connected to former Engler policy.

Diane Hathway's husband is an auto insurance lawyer.  By her own logic... her own passionately delivered campaign season arguments, Hathaway has a clear conflict of interest in any case dealing with the insurance industry... perhaps more of a conflict of interest, even, than her one-time opponent since her husband, unlike Taylor's wife, stands to potentially make a lot of money depending on her handling of certain cases affecting the insurance industry.

The Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association made that argument themselves earlier this year when they argued Hathaway should recuse herself from a case dealing with one particularly massive claim.  So this judge... this paragon of virtue... she practiced what she'd preached, right?

Yeah, not so much.  According to the Detroit News:

Hathaway denied having any conflict of interest, saying the association's stance "strains reasoned logic."

The association's stance is HER stance.  A direct duplicate.  They could have sent her one of her own press releases.  

And the three Republicans on the Court noticed.  Justices Maura Corrigan, Robert Young and Stephen Markman are reminding their newest colleague that hypocrisy is an unpleasant thing.  The News continues:

"Justice Hathaway's refusal to live up to her own expressed standard of conduct is worthy of note in its own right: The people of this state deserve to know whether candidates promise one thing when running for office but deliver another when elected," wrote Young, who is up for re-election in 2010.

Hathaway wrote she would not respond to her colleagues' "inappropriate and unnecessary" comments. "This court should discontinue devoting the state's limited resources to unproductive colloquy," she said.

Interesting to note that the state may well have significantly fewer of those limited resources if she continues casting votes that could fatten her husband's pockets at the expense of the rest of our wallets but that's neither here nor there.  

Still, there's a part of me that wants to give Hathaway some credit... sure, the woman is dishonest to the bone, and sure, it turns out voters can trust her about as far as they can log toss Mark Brewer, but she may have set a new land speed record for major campaign policy u-turns.  So she's got that going for her.

Hmm.  Not quite as pithy.  Nevermind.  Besides, you get the point.

I mean, we could discuss General Motors escape from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Ivory Tower even manages to poke a little fun at the Obama administration, which is a little bit jarring on first blush, but nice for a switch.

We could discuss the Associated Press's revelation of additional shady business from elected Democrats in the Motor City.  Shady unless you consider using emergency funds to purchase a $1,600 floral arrangement good stewardship.

Then there's the Detroit News taking the Granholm-Cherry administration out to the woodshed for lying about Michigan's graduation rates.  

(And oh so much more... please read on...)

The Ivory Tower reports this morning that Sam Riddle, a Detroit Democrat and well known political consultant is coming clean about additional dirty deeds, some directly involving Congressman John Conyers (D-Detroit):

Riddle said Conyers even helped draft a letter sent by her husband, Congressman John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., to help a man with whom she had financial ties...

In that deal, Riddle said, Monica Conyers arranged for Riddle to get a $20,000 contract with Greektown entrepreneur Dimitrios (Jim) Papas in about 2007. Riddle said Papas hired him for crisis consulting and political advising -- but he was never asked to do any work. She then demanded $10,000 of that money as a "finder's fee," Riddle said.

At some point after Papas paid him, Riddle said, John Conyers sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in support of a controversial hazardous waste injection well in Romulus that one of Papas' companies was seeking to operate.

Papas, you'll remember, is the same "gentleman" who paid Senator Debbie Stabenow's (D-Michigan) husband Tom Athens to work illegally as a lobbyist backing the same toxic waste dumping project.  The sort of dumping project that Stabenow had explicitly campaigned against, before realizing it represented an opportunity for her family to make serious illegal bank.

Not a bad collection Papas had there.  A United States Senator, a United States Congressman and the top dog on the Detroit City Council, all either directly on the payroll or accepting cash through one paper-thin degree of separation.  

Meanwhile, Senator Stabenow and Congressman Conyers refuse to answer questions about the lifestyle they've enjoyed thanks to Papas generous "giving" or the Congressional favors that cash has purchased.

But while Stabenow has managed to skate thus far on the dirty dealings that happened under her roof, Conyers may not be quite as lucky.  The Ivory Tower reminds readers:

Ethics rules prohibit House members from contacting federal agencies on matters in which they have a personal financial interest. It is unclear whether John Conyers knew of any financial connection between his wife and Papas.

Point A... arguing that a 21 term Congressman could somehow not know about the "professional relationship" between his wife and the specific company for which he went to bat is inane.  The man would almost literally have to be senile.  Point B... if you're going to make that argument then we've got a whole separate set of issues to deal with.

Either way, ethics rules are ethics rules and John Conyers clearly violated them.  

Another Detroit Democrat embroiled in a federal ethics probe?  That's JUST what the Motor City needed.  Maybe Monica isn't the only Conyers who should be considering resignation this morning.