"Dump Doolittle" Blog's Interesting Take on Senator Conrad Burn's Being Cleared
Posted by: Jeff Flint | 01/02/2008 7:51 PM
The Dump Doolittle Blog has a new post and interesting take on the announcement by former Senator Conrad Burns that he has been cleared by the feds looking into his relationship with lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
According to the DD blog:
According to the DD blog:
Unlike John Doolittle, former Senator Conrad Burns didn't block the Justice Dept.'s search of his records in their investigation of his ties to Jack Abramoff and now he reports the investigation has concluded without charges.If true, as it appears to be from the "Montana News Station" article that the DD Blog linked to, then I hope this proves to be a guidepost for Congressman Doolittle:
Burns maintained that Abramoff never influenced his votes, and he says he opened up all of his office records dating back 10 years for review.Not to pick too much on Aaron (by the way, note the name of report from the TV Station, Aaron Flint, kinda scary), but this hearkens back to my comments that appeared in the Sacramento Bee on September 2, 2007:
To avoid defeat, Cole, Flint and others said Doolittle desperately needs complete exoneration in the Abramoff investigation.That is still the case. Doolittle's delay of the investigation, which we now know if being caused by him, only further hurts him politically. If he wants to have any chance in getting re-elected, and if he is truly innocent, and Jon Fleischman and myself have publicly hoped, he should open his records, expedite the investigation, and get himself cleared before the election.
"He needs to be able to say I am completely vindicated, not that 'I am not indicted yet,' " Flint said.
Women's right to vote didn't exist until they fought for it. Blacks rights for equality didn't happen until...
You speak the truth Jeff.
But, again, I just have to wonder if the political calculation was done and it would be far more damaging to open the records than to try to hide them. Trying to keep the records secret, claiming "separation of powers", giving the appearance he arrogantly thinks he is above the law is going to lead ultimately to defeat. So what are in those records??? It certainly makes interesting water cooler talk.
And by the way, this behavior along with the continuance of the Republican spending habits... the Republicans are going to get whacked again.
Aaron Flint!?
That is definately God's sense of humor.
Jeff- there is one very huge point regarding Conrad Burns and JD Hayworth - they both lost their offices in 2006 due in no small part to Abramoff.
If the investigations are politically motivated as I and Doolittle maintain - then it stands to reason why they would let Hayworth and Burns go, the DOJ got their men so to speak.
Doolittle is in a nice, tight spot... given the conversations I have had with Julie about the fishing expedition and the accusations the DOJ has been throwing out. Who knows what the DOJ would do with the records of a still sitting Congressman as Versus a Senator and a Congressman that just lost their seats.
Ken Campbell - what are you going to do to help us win? You have the whining and bitching part down pat - you don't like Doolittle or Gaines, so what are you going to do to help the team in 2008?
I have never understood the supposed political motivations of the investigations against Doolittle, Burns, Hayworth, Ney, etc.
Please explain exactly why either the politically-appointed (by a Republican President) senior officials of the Department of Justice, or even the career prosecutors at the DOJ, decided to politically target Republican Congressman and Senators?
When you have a directly elected prosecutor, like county District Attorneys and state Attorneys General, I see where the motivation comes from.
Even with appointed US Attorneys, who sometimes have aspirations to run for office, high profile political corruption prosecutions can help.
But please show me the motivation for, and the justification for, you and Doolittle claiming these are politically-motivated prosecutions.
Who knows what the DOJ would do with Doolittle's records? Maybe they would declare the investigation closed?!
Jeff...
Of course you cannot understand the political motivations of the investigations... you don't see the black helicopters and the G-men behind the trees either. You probably don't even believe in Area 51.