Posts Tagged ‘ethics’
House Dems Declare, “Budget? We don’t need no stinking budget!”
House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-S.C.) said the alternative would be the “functional equivalent” of a full-fledged budget. But because it won’t be a traditional budget resolution, it will be silent on future deficits, which are expected to average nearly $1 trillion for the next decade.Democrats have expressed concern about voting for a document showing lots of red ink in an election year.
It is true that, between 2002 and 2009, the budgets largely shaped by President George Bush will have run cumulative budget deficits of $3.35 trillion. This calculation credits the entire 2009 budget deficit and TARP costs to Bush, even though Obama will have signed most of the discretionary spending bills and overseen much of the TARP spending.But Obama does not have much high ground. The “stimulus” bill alone will create more debt (approximately $1 trillion including interest costs), than Bush’s first three years of budget deficits combined ($948 billion).
Debra Bowen hosts drive by registation, but has no voter reg cards for GOP
According to the California Republican Party, Secretary of State, Debra Bowen’s office refused to fulfull their request for 20,000 voter registration cards. The excuse given was that the delayed budget caused them to run low on printed voter registration cards.
When confronted by the media, Bowen’s office denied any such shortage. Little did the folks at the CRP saved the voicemail message for them from the Secretary’s office. and it tells a very different story.
Meanwhile, Ms. Bowen has hooked up with her fellow Democrats to host a “Driveby Voter Registration” event at the Sacramento Convention Center. I guess they the shortage only applied to certain groups.
In 2004 Maxine Waters said Fannie & Freddie weren’t broken
Republicans are the ones who have pushed to reign in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while Democrats continually fight any regulation.
I am not saying the Republicans are completely free of blame. The fact is, they were in charge in 2001 when this issue first popped up, all the way until 2005. And no legislation was ever passed providing the sort of oversight they knew was needed.
But it is clear from this video and other media reports that Democrats have been the ones preventing the reforms that could have prevented this crisis. I just think it’s sad thata the MSM is letting them get away with such hypocracy.
Taxpayers pay $1300 per month for Laura “Pimp My Ride” Richardson’s government vehicle
I wish I could say I was suprised to see Laura Richardson in the news again for her fiscal irresponsibility. But once again here she is.
Yesturday, the LA DailyBreeze.com was reporting that Richardson’s $1300 lease of a 2007 Lincoln Town Car cost more than any other representative in congress:
When she arrived in Congress last fall, Rep. Laura Richardson sought out a vehicle that would match her newfound status.
She settled on a 2007 Lincoln Town Car – the choice of many representatives who
lease their vehicles at taxpayers’ expense. But hers was distinct: at $1,300 a month, it was the most expensive car in the House of Representatives.
They go on to point out that the freshman congresswoman is a veteran when it comes to having others pay the tab for her transportation.
But her history with vehicles has been similarly fraught. When she was a councilwoman in Long Beach, she crashed her BMW, abandoned it at a body shop, failed to pay a prior repair bill, and then racked up 30,000 miles on a city-owned hybrid in one year – apparently violating a policy against personal use of city cars.
In her brief stint in the Assembly, she leased a 2002 Lincoln LS for $304 a month – all but $36 of it paid for by the state. So Richardson was already well versed in the use of government vehicles when she got to Washington.
And just like with all her other financial debacles, she is hiding from reporters, leaving her staff to defend the undefensable.
About 130 representatives leased cars last year, according to a report compiled earlier this year by Taxpayers for Common Sense. Most were in the range of $400 to $800 per month.
Richardson’s 2007 lease costs show up on a more recent congressional spending report, because she did not pay the bill until February. According to the report, her first bill was for $1,299, and covered a one-month period from mid-October to mid-November. She then paid a prorated amount of $2,035 for the 45-day period from mid-November to the end of the year.
That makes her lease $300 more expensive than the costliest car in the Taxpayers for Common Sense report. As of last winter, the newest member of Congress had far and away the most expensive car in the House of Representatives.
“A $1,300 lease is a gold-plated lease,” said Keith Ashdown, chief investigator for the watchdog group. “Because it’s federal money and not their personal money, they’re not looking for the best value.”
Rep. Diane Watson, D-Los Angeles, also leases a 2007 Lincoln Town Car, but she pays only $686 per month for it.
According to a former staff member, Richardson insisted that her Lincoln be specially customized, which may explain the high cost.
Richardson’s spokesman, William Marshall, initially stated that Richardson is paying only $940 per month for her Town Car, but gave no documentation of that. After he was presented with the expense report showing the $1,300 lease amount, he declined to answer further questions.
“No comment,” he said.
Oh…. But there’s More!!!!!!
Richardson got the car from a local Enterprise Rent-a-Car office for her use when she needed to travel around her congressional district. The cost would not have been affected by her personal credit history, because it was paid for by the federal government. The price tag also did not include insurance, which Richardson agreed to pay for on her own.
At 8:30 p.m. April 3, a staff member was driving the car on the San Diego (405) Freeway, when he got into a crash. According to a California Highway Patrol report, the staffer, Henry Rogers, reported being struck in the rear by a white sport utility vehicle. The impact caused him to spin out and hit the center median and left major damage to the left rear of the Town Car.
The CHP report gives no information about the insurance on the car, other than to say that it was a “rental.” But Richardson’s subsequent actions suggest that Rogers may not have been listed as an eligible driver on her insurance policy.
According to the former staffer, after the crash Richardson required her district employees to buy additional insurance so they could legally drive the Lincoln. The former staff member did not want to be identified out of fear of jeopardizing future employment prospects.
Another former staffer said Rogers was not forced to pay for the damage to the car, but did not know how the issue was resolved.
Rogers referred questions about the crash to Richardson’s spokesman, who did not return a call about the crash on Friday.
Richardson did not report the crash to Enterprise, but it is not clear that she was required to, given that she was self-insured.
Records also indicate that Richardson owes $83 for illegally parking the Town Car in Long Beach. The ticket was issued Jan. 23, in the amount of $40, but has since doubled because it was not paid on time.
One has to wonder, at what point will this disgraced Congresswoman offer her resignation? Knowing Laura Richardson, probably never.
But an even more interesting question is when will her fellow Democrats start asking for her to step down? Knowing Democrats, probably never!
In Case you missed it: Foreclosed Sacramento home, with upgrades, may be returned to Congresswoman Laura Richardson
Just when I thought I heard it all. The forclosure saga of Conresswoman Laura Richardson proves once again to be the gift that keeps on giving.
Today the LA Times is reporting that the bank who foreclosed on Richardson has taken the house back from the new owner, presumably to hand it back over to the congresswoman:
Real estate investor James York bought Richardson’s house in an upper middle-class neighborhood on May 7 for $388,000. He recorded the deed May 19. His crew has painted it, laid tile and landscaped the house, he said.
York said the lender, Washington Mutual, had contacted him to buy back the house and that he gave the bank a price. He said the next thing he knew, the lender filed a letter of rescission of the foreclosure sale June 2 with Sacramento County and asked him for the keys.
“They took the property back, and they didn’t even send back the money,” York said.
Although the Sacramento house was the first of Richardson’s to go into foreclosure, she has defaulted six times on houses in San Pedro and Long Beach, most recently March 28. Five defaults have come in the last 13 months, when she was lending her campaigns for Assembly and Congress a total of $177,500.
Did I forget to mention the two auto repair bills and the printing bill and…… you get the point.
Rep. Richardson leaves a trail of unpaid bill along her path to congress
More news is eminating from Longbeach related to political staffer, turned City Councilwoman, turned Assemblywoman turned Congresswoman Larua Richardson. It turns out that her mortgage paymentes were not the only bills that went unpaid during her climb to congress.
The Longbeach Telegram is reporting the following:
Car trouble takes on a new meaning when it comes to financially distressed
Congresswoman Laura Richardson.In 2005, when she was still on the Long
Beach City Council, she left one mechanic in a lurch with an unpaid bill, then
later had her badly damaged BMW towed to an auto body shop but didn’t pay for
any work and abandoned the car there, owners of the businesses said this week.The next day, Richardson began using a city-owned vehicle – putting
almost 31,000 miles on it in about a year – and continued driving the car five
days after she had left the council to serve in the state Assembly, city records
show.
I find it sad that someone who has such little regard for their personal finances would be trusted to make decisions over taxpayer dollars.
Too bad Republicans failed to put up a candidate to run against her.
Hattip to Calitol Alert.
