Is American Politics Ethically & Morally Corrupt? The Dennis Hastert & Republican Taxpayer/Bribes Scandals Could be a Death Knell for Republicans:

Corrupt Republicans: Dennis Hastert & Ted Stevens

Is American Politics Ethically & Morally Corrupt? The Dennis Hastert & Other Republican Taxpayer/Bribes Scandals Could be the Final Death Knell for Republicans in Congress for Some Time:
By Marc Chamot

Under president George Bush, the Republican party of Newt Gingrich’s 1994 Contract With America, has become more of a contract for fleecing taxpayers and rampant corruption. Dennis Hastert’s open corruption is a powder keg waiting to explode for Republicans in this election for the House and Senate.

Senator Ted Stevens Alaska fiasco, and corruption charges is just miniscule, the real scratch on the surface emanating out of President George Bush’s seven years as president.

It’s without a doubt that Republicans buffoons will lose more of their Senate and House seats after these coming elections and deservingly so.

Then why is the presidential race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain so close?

Americans aren’t total idiots. We are not about to let Democrats have total control of both, the House and Senate, and have a far left racist loon in Barack Obama running our country amuck. Barack Obama still hasn’t earned the support of majority of white Americans. Actually his racist derogatory comments, and his associations with racist and anti-white groups have virtually divided the presidential race among racial lines.

What Americans are realizing now is that we’ve got a real ass for a president, and an ethically and morally corrupt Republican party. They are more willing to give Democrats more power on these seats. But on this presidential race, voting for Barack Obama is a risk that America cannot afford.

Had Hillary Clinton been the Democratic nominee, she’d be far ahead than Obama Vs John McCain right now. I truly believe that what totally destroyed the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, was the Chinese Norman Hsu fundraising scandals. These scandals overcame Hillary Clinton before she could hit the starting gate for the presidential race.

Norman Hsu set off such a firestorm that left the Clintons reeling, and they could never get out of this shame. It left Hillary Clinton run for the Democratic nomination on the defensive from the get-go. The Norman Hsu scandals brought back memories of Bill Clinton and Al Gore’s ill advised 1996 China trip fundraising, and pretty much angered Americans, mainly Democrats and Republicans alike.

Alaska senator Ted Stevens indicted in corruption scandal
Tuesday, July 29, 2008

United States Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska has been indicted by federal grand jury on seven criminal counts for making false statements in his Senate financial disclosure forms. The longest-serving Republican in the Senate, Stevens is the highest-profile politician ensnared in the corruption scandal surrounding VECO Corporation and its executives' attempts to influence politics. http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Alaska_senator_Ted_Stevens_indicted_in_corruption_scandal

Sibel Edmonds Case: Dennis Hastert to receive payoffs for 'services rendered'

by lukery
Mon Jun 02, 2008 at 04:59:07 AM PDT
So, former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds is again proved right. For more than a year Sibel has been predictingthat Dennis Hastert will join a lobbying firm involved with Turkey, and now we learnthat Hastert is joining Dickstein Shapiro.

In the "Representative Engagements" section of Dickstein's website, we learn that they represented "the government of Turkey in connection with the development and financing by private sponsors of the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline and TransCaspian gas pipeline spanning from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean."

Dennis Hastert, who is listed in Sibel's "Rogues Gallery," was caught on FBI wiretaps accepting bribes from Turkish criminal elements associated with the Turkish government, as documented in Vanity Fairin 2005 and elsewhere.

lukery's diary :: ::

The following clip from Kill The Messenger, a documentary about Sibel's case, discusses some of Hastert's involvement as mentioned in Vanity Fair.

In researching the Vanity Fair article, journalist David Rose interviewed various congressional staffers and counter-intelligence officials who are familiar with the case. He reported that there were three separate types of bribes paid to Hastert:

"(T)ens of thousands of dollars to be paid to Hastert’s campaign funds in small checks."
"(T)ens of thousands of dollars in surreptitious payments in exchange for political favors and information."

"(A)t least $500,000"

Hastert was lucky that there was literally zero follow-up in the mainstream media to these most serious charges. Hastert did not sue Vanity Fair for libel, instead, Hastert got his spokesman to send Vanity Fair a bizarre Letter to the Editor in response, 6 months later. BradBlog has the letter here, along with Sibel's effective debunking of Hastert's response.

The only action taken in response to the startling revelations in Vanity Fair was by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) which filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) asking them to investigate the "(T)ens of thousands of dollars to be paid to Hastert’s campaign funds in small checks." According to the Vanity Fair article, these bribes were funneled into Hastert's campaign in amounts less than $200, which would mean that the contributions were below the threshold for reporting. The Federal Election Commission droppedthe investigation in early 2006 without answering the specific charge.

The bribes identified in Vanity Fair are probably just the tip of the iceberg, merely down-payments on what was promised to him when he left office, and could 'earn' a multi-million dollar salary as a lobbyist.

Sibel describedhow the process works, using another member of her "Rogues Gallery," former State Dept official Marc Grossman as an example:

"For example, look at Mr. Marc Grossman. He used to be the U.S. ambassador in Turkey and used his position within the State Department to secure future higher-level positions while in office—and I would like to emphasize this—while in office and with several agencies knowing about it. Some people in these agencies wanted to investigate these cases but they were prevented from going forward.

..And just take a look at where Mr. Grossman is today. Within a few months after he gave his resignation, he obtained a position with a semi-legitimate Turkish company that is supplying him with a very attractive monetary reward, (and) he obtained (another) position with a lobbying firm that represents (Turkey)."
And Sibel has made the same case elsewhere:

"Please do not make the grave and naive mistake of assuming that Grossman found and obtained his highly lucrative and questionable positions after his resignation in January 2005."

It appears that these arrangements aren't the typical 'Revolving Door' retirement packages, but rather specific quid pro quo deals. People like Hastert and Grossman and the others quite literally sell out their government while in office on the specific promise that they will be rewarded when they leave.

Hastert won't actually be a 'Lobbyist' according to Dickstein Shapiro, he'll be "providing strategy advice to the firm and its clients" - spending half his time in Chicago and half his time in DC.

Most likely, some of that 'strategy advice' will include advice on how to corrupt some of the sitting congressmen: The people who bribed Hastert and the others need to ensure the continuity of their operations, regardless of who is sitting in Congress. Sibel says that the foreign entities who are successful in this business simply need to follow a basic recipe:

"Get yourself a few ‘Dime a Dozen Generals,’ bid high in the ‘former statesmen lobby auction’, and put in your pocket one or two ‘ex-congressmen turned lobbyists’ who know the ropes when it comes to pocketing a few dozen who still serve."

Dickstein Shapiro, Hastert's new employers, were deeply involved with Turkey and the Central Asian region during the time that Hastert was caught taking these bribes - 1996 to 2001. For example, It was Dickstein Shapiro, in conjunction with the Baker Botts law firm, who put together the 'contract of the century' - the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (or BTC) pipeline which was to carry oil from Azerbaijan to the West, via Georgia and Turkey.

Some of Dickstein Shapiro's other claims to fame include:
1) Defending "former Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams in connection with the Iran-Contra investigations."
2) "(S)uccessfully defended and represented prominent clients in a number of other high-profile cases such as...BCCI Bank"
3) Employing convicted felon Lewis Scooter Libby (and his wife), who was a partner at the firm from 1986 to 1989.

If there's any justice in the world, Dickstein Shapiro will soon be adding Dennis Hastert to their 'Ex-employees who are now convicted felons' Hall of Fame. http://www.libertycoalition.net/sibel-edmonds-case-dennis-hastert-receive-payoffs-services-rendered

Land Deal Gives Hastert 300% Profit
June 16, 2006 11:00 AM
Rhonda Schwartz Reports:

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) realized an estimated $2 million dollar profit last year on an Illinois land deal that included acreage near a future interstate highway Hastert pushed to build.

The land was sold just five months after Hastert inserted a $207 million appropriation bill for the Prairie Parkway highway during a closed-door Congressional budget conference.
The deal, representing a 300 per cent return on investment, was reported in Hastert's financial disclosure form filed this week, although the role of a secret trust set up by Hastert to sell the land was not disclosed.

A spokesman for Hastert, Ron Bonjean, confirmed the details, which were first reported by Bill Allison of the Sunlight Foundation, an on-line political watchdog group. The Speaker's spokesman said land in the Plano, Illinois area is "booming," and the future highway had no impact on the price.

Hastert and partners sold the land to developers who plan a large residential sub-division about five miles from the new highway.

Local citizens fighting the highway project were outraged to learn of the Hastert deal. "I think he clearly has his own personal interest and not the public's by buying and selling land to developers for personal profit, when it has a negative long-range effect on the community," said Jan Strasma, head of community group Citizens Against the Sprawlway.

Hastert's spokesman said that Hastert had been a proponent of the highway for 20 years, and there was nothing improper in the deal.

According to Hastert's disclosure form and county property records, a 69-acre parcel was put into a trust, Little Rock Trust #225, on May 2, 2005.

Two months later, in July 2005, Hastert pushed the highway appropriation bill through a conference committee.

On Aug. 6, 2005 President Bush appeared with Hastert at a ceremony in Illinois to celebrate the new highway's funding.

On Dec. 7, 2005 the trust sold the parcel of land to the developers.

The spokesman said, for tax reasons, Hastert used part of his $2 million profit to buy a 275-acre farm in Wisconsin that Hastert intends to use as a future retirement home. http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/06/land_deal_gives.html