“At the very least they’re bending the rules of campaign finance and sometimes they violate them blatantly. Unfortunately the IRS and state election boards are stretched too thin to investigate. But if you end up under the microscope of the U.S. Attorney that all changes … Jesse Jackson Jr. is not an outlier here, but he’s the one who got caught. There are a lot of politicians who are probably saying ‘there but for the grace of God go I.’”Chicago politics... another federal prosecutor persecuting somebody... what angle do you want to take here?
February 9, 2013
"A lot of politicians use political donations as lifestyle enhancements—getting work done on their homes, taking fancy vacations, etc."
Says Andy Shaw of the Better Government Association, a Chicago-based good-government group.
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28 comments:
Have I mentioned lately that the Constitution is dead?
This is what fascism is like, American style.
The Daily Beast article is preposterously naive, or else, deliberately duplicitous.
The Jackson machine in Chicago made its fortune by extorting payoffs from corporations with a racial hustle scheme, so what's the surprise here?
And, black voters have seemed remarkably forgiving when it comes to scams to bilk the taxpayers. In fact, they seem to approve of them. See Marion Barry.
No, Jackson is not necessarily finished. The Democratic Party is too indebted to blacks to care much about the corruption. In fact, the party encourages corruption when the perps are black.
This is just another facet of the racial quota hustle. It's public policy. A feature, not a bug.
Isn't this exactly what got Jim 'Beam me up Scotty' Traficant in trouble?
[That, plus his twin mistakes of actually getting caught after having annoyed the Democrat establishment?]
What is notably absent is whether or not the Jackson's get to keep their pensions and other benefits.
What do you suppose a Chicago based good government group actually does?
I just finished "Boss Tweed - the Corrupt Pol who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York". Great read, other than it stops too soon. How the lessons provided by the godfather of patronage politics were perfected in Mayor Daley's Chicago might have made a great final chapter.
Tony: I'm an organizer now, and I get a lot of... political contributions.
Momma: Sure you do. A gun sticking in somebody's face is how.
The Daily Beast article is preposterously naive, or else, deliberately duplicitous.
The Jackson machine in Chicago made its fortune by extorting payoffs from corporations with a racial hustle scheme, so what's the surprise here?
The article is kind of funny, because the tone is respectful of the Jackson family almost to the point of being reverential, but at the same time it more or less admits that Jesse Sr is basically a corrupt old bastard.
"Says Andy Shaw of the Better Government Association, a Chicago-based good-government group."
It must be completely depressing to work for a good-government group in Chicago.
It wouldn't be too hard to shine a light on campaign funny money- require each campaign to make all of its disbursements from only one bank account and require the campaign to put all the transactions from that account on the internet.
From the article: "This practice is apparently epidemic in the corruption-plagued Land of Lincoln."
Apparently???? What insight.
CEO-MMP said...
What do you suppose a Chicago based good government group actually does?
Raise money, and spend it on themselves. (It's Chicago, Jake.)
Lets prosecute them all. Starting with Harry Reid.
but at the same time it more or less admits that Jesse Sr is basically a corrupt old bastard.
Secret routers. LOL!
Do you get the feeling the next country we should invade and bomb to smithereens is the US of A?
Shouting Thomas said...
The Daily Beast article is preposterously naive, or else, deliberately duplicitous.
M L'Inspecteur Reynaud, please pick up the white courtesy telephone.
Ah yes, routergate. So much more heinous than anything that goes on in Chicago. When is Walker's indictment coming down, garage? It's been a while since you provided an update.
D.C. is the biggest whorehouse in the world.
Manboobs Mahal said:
"Secret routers. LOL!"
So when is that indictment coming, skippy?
garage mahal said...
but at the same time it more or less admits that Jesse Sr is basically a corrupt old bastard.
Secret routers. LOL!
Not even in the same league.
Unless you've actually dealt with it, you have no idea how widespread and common it is.
You want to pass an electrical inspection?
The inspectors car needs a new set of tires.
Each and every one of them a democrat party faithful-even the republicans.
what angle do you want to take here?
Like father, like son?
Damage control through induction. The press's credibility is greatly strained when they express a selective interest in public affairs. It is greatly eroded when defending their special, often partisan, interests.
The press's credibility is greatly strained when they express a selective interest in public affairs. It is greatly eroded when defending their special, often partisan, interests.
Funny thing is how little this has affected their credibility and power, given how blatant it has become over the last couple of decades.
So, this last election, we had the ATF essentially shipping guns to Mexican cartels, and few in the public can identify that with "Fast and Furious". Similarly, we had the President going to bed, not apparently giving any orders to intervene, and the State Department not talking to either the Defense Department or the White House, while their embassy in Benghazi burned and Americans were fighting for their lives. All clearly punted down beyond the election, and the gross inactions of Obama Administration officials that night becoming known at Congressional hearings, with not thanks to the Administration's lapdog media, who were complicit in the cover up.
I think that we have entered into Hunger Games territory, where the politically connected D.C. area is booming, and much of the rest of the country is suffering in the fifth year now of the Obama recession. And, a lot of that money that is sloshing around is there to influence Congress or the Administration. Of course, the reason that there is so much money sloshing around, is that it is far easier to make money by buying political power than actually selling good products for less in the market.
This sort of corruption, where people bribe politicians to get what they want has a long history in this country, and is part of the reason why we developed a supposedly independent professional civil service. But, I think that the real quid-pro-quod corruption comes out of the inner city political machines, where pretty much all services have to be bought under the table, and politicians being bought is expected.
The Democratic party has long been the more corrupt party in this regard for a number of reasons. One, is their much tighter relationship with inner city political machines. Politicians like Obama, along with Jesse Jackson, Jr., etc. grew up with that as their political model. There is also a much higher appreciation of spending a career in "public service" as a politician, which means, to me, spending their lives skimming an elite living off of political corruption. Republican politicians seem much more willing to serve for a term or two, then go back to what they were doing before, and also Republicans seem much more willing to replace their longer serving politicians when they appear to become too much a part of the corrupt establishment.
The corruption really wasn't that bad, when all it meant was naming a post office or federal office building after a Senator or governor. But, it has become much worse, with 1/4 of GDP controlled by the federal government, and much of that up to grabs by people willing to bribe politicians to get their piece of those trillions of dollars. And, remember, it isn't just the 1/4 of GDP that is in play here. Often, instead of merely skimming some of the federal cream, the bribes are aimed at tilting the playing field strongly in the direction of those paying the bribes. So, we have Dodd-Frank providing even more of an competitive advantage to the too-big-to-fail banks that helped cause the meltdown over their smaller competitors, or the Leahy-Smith AIA that sharply reduced patent protection in order to immunize large companies from liability from ripping off products from small companies and individuals. All paid for with massive donations and other perks, and massive lobbying by the large companies benefiting from this legislation.
Andy Shaw was a "liberal" reporter for years (WLS-TV) that promoted Triple-J at every opportunity with his stilted, fawning reporting.
Target rich environment!
Target rich environment!
It's Chinatown, Jake.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/02/democrat-poll-worker-voted-multiple-times-for-obama-but-says-theres-no-voter-fraud-video/
Endemic?
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