OH NO! Kossak Digs Up Major Dirt On Grayson!

[berni_mccoy]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/22/795802/-Iv...

I've dug up some dirt from Rep. Alan Grayson's past
by Seneca Doane


Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 10:42:41 PM PDT

I know that a lot of people here love them some Alan Grayson, but we cannot let that blind us to the truth, wherever it may lead us. In my case, it just took a little digging to come up with information about Rep. Grayson that I'm sure that some of you will find absolutely shocking. But if Rep. Grayson is going to come here and take up valuable real estate on the Rec List, making about 75 comments in an hour -- well, he has to expect some people here to take action.

I can tell you exactly how my investigation started -- it's when I discovered that Alan Grayson's UID was 85382. By now, with us past UID 225000, that's pretty old in DKos time. So what I did was to look into his past. And what I found ... well, it's below the jump.

Seneca Doane's diary :: ::
What I found was Alan Grayson's first-ever comment here on Daily Kos, dated April 21, 2006. (He didn't show up again until Sept. 30 of this year, then for only two comments. That was it until someone let him loose for an hour today.) You want to know what the guy had to say? I'll tell you want the guy had to say!

Thank You from Alan Grayson (6+ / 0-)
My work against the war profiteers in Iraq is the subject of SusanG's post, and all I can say is that I'm 'shocked and awed'. I look at dailykos, well, pretty much daily, and I never dreamed that I would see my name in it. What animates my work is the same thing that seems to animate this site -- Margaret Mead's words: 'A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.' Thank you all, from my heart, for the encouragement.

Well, what do you think of that! In 2006, he wrote "I look at dailykos ... pretty much daily"! A man like that will never amount to anything! (Or so I've been told. Pointedly.) This struck me hard enough to make me read what had prompted his thanks! Rather than make you click the link, I'm going to repost SusanG's story in its entirety.

Meet Alan Grayson, my new exemplar of passion, as he wages what the Wall Street Journal deems "a one-man war against contractor fraud in Iraq."

Mr. Grayson has filed dozens of lawsuits against Iraq contractors on behalf of corporate whistle-blowers. He won a huge victory last month when a federal jury in Virginia ordered a security firm called Custer Battles LLC to return $10 million in ill-gotten funds to the government. The ruling marked the first time an American firm was held responsible for financial improprieties in Iraq.

...

The False Claims Act that Mr. Grayson used in the Custer Battles case is a Civil War-era statute allowing whistle-blowers to sue contractors suspected of defrauding the government and then keep a chunk of any recovered money.

The article (which is excellent and should be read in full) details the stonewalling and setbacks the Bush administration's Justice Department has thrown in his way through technicalities that allow sealing of records. It also describes Grayson's refusal to give up as he continues quietly to work away at an issue that has caught his attention. Monetary awards perhaps will follow, and his personal pockets are deep. But in many ways, his attention to detail and his indefatigable pursuit of justice remind me of much of the work that goes on here at Daily Kos, day in and day out, with very little notice.

I think of it as quiet passion, as opposed to the quite thoroughly discussed and media attention-grabbing abilities to give voice to outrage - a talent that has its place no doubt, but that can overshadow toilers in the background, like ilona with her PTSD series, Street Kid's Medicare diaries, RubDMC's incredible and heart-breaking Iraq War Grief Daily Witness pieces. These too are works of passion - as defined as "boundless enthusiasm" - to pain-staking and time-consuming topics that span months of research. Just because they don't shout doesn't mean they're not important. And just because these writers are doing their thing in relative obscurity doesn't mean they're ineffective.

These are, in many ways, dark times; dark times call on the best in each of us to respond. We need to find our niches, the places where our interests, expertise and creativity combine to create long-lasting and sustainable passion. We need to honor those of who have found their feet in this shifting political landscape and who bring specialized information and activism back to the progressive community. Innovation, humor, artistic abilities, detailed analysis, dedicated investigation, techie expertise, snark, rants ... all of it makes us what we are and can be used to leverage change, however hopeless and infinitesimal that change can feel at times.

The danger of splintering along special interest lines is always there, of course, as we seek out our interests. Markos and Jerome have critiqued how this can work against the progressive movement as a whole, and they recount many a cautionary tale in Crashing the Gate. So I'd like to suggest that each of us, as we coalesce around our own passion, keep an eye on at least one other issue that fellow progressives are pursuing. If you're obsessed with paper-trail voting, take a few minutes a day and get up to speed on global warming. If you're tracking veterans benefits, do some homework on abortion rights as well. Cross-over pollination on issues can help us build a truly interlocking network of coordinated progressivism that will build the kind of future we want to live in.

There is no better place in the world to learn in detail about just about any political issue than Daily Kos, and perusing and honoring the work of the quiet and passionate here holds the promise of taking our informal, citizen think tank ideas out into the real world for a test drive. Read. Participate. Then activate, out in the political world, where we can make a difference.

(Oh, pre-Murdoch WSJ, as we click that top link, how we miss you.)

You should read the comments too. (I've left out some of SusanG's links because I don't think they're especially current, but you can click her diary to find them.)

It so happens that I remember reading this diary at work in my then-law firm, when I couldn't log in to comment, and it piqued my interest in whistleblower law. It took me a while, but it's now a small -- though I hope it will be a growing -- part of my own practice, though neither I nor many others will ever be in Grayson's league.

So let me join with many others in saying: Damn you, Alan Grayson! A lot of people here value their hardened cynicism about politics, and you are making it impossible to maintain. You stinking lurker, you.

Turns out Grayson is as real as they get and a true, diehard progressive! He's what I like to call the Real McCoy.

[snagglepuss]

1. A reformatted version of KOS diary for easier reading. No slight intended.

This is a great read but the long narrow column was rather difficult to read.Below is the reformatted version of the KOS Diary from the OP.



Seneca Doane's diary :: ::
What I found was Alan Grayson's first-ever comment here on Daily Kos, dated April 21, 2006. (He didn't show up again until Sept. 30 of this year, then for only two comments. That was it until someone let him loose for an hour today.) You want to know what the guy had to say? I'll tell you want the guy had to say!

Thank You from Alan Grayson (6+ / 0-)
My work against the war profiteers in Iraq is the subject of SusanG's post, and all I can say is that I'm 'shocked and awed'. I look at dailykos, well, pretty much daily, and I never dreamed that I would see my name in it. What animates my work is the same thing that seems to animate this site -- Margaret Mead's words: 'A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.' Thank you all, from my heart, for the encouragement.

Well, what do you think of that! In 2006, he wrote "I look at dailykos ... pretty much daily"! A man like that will never amount to anything! (Or so I've been told. Pointedly.) This struck me hard enough to make me read what had prompted his thanks! Rather than make you click the link, I'm going to repost SusanG's story in its entirety.


Meet Alan Grayson, my new exemplar of passion, as he wages what the Wall Street Journal deems "a one-man war against contractor fraud in Iraq."

Mr. Grayson has filed dozens of lawsuits against Iraq contractors on behalf of corporate whistle-blowers. He won a huge victory last month when a federal jury in Virginia ordered a security firm called Custer Battles LLC to return $10 million in ill-gotten funds to the government. The ruling marked the first time an American firm was held responsible for financial improprieties in Iraq.

...

The False Claims Act that Mr. Grayson used in the Custer Battles case is a Civil War-era statute allowing whistle-blowers to sue contractors suspected of defrauding the government and then keep a chunk of any recovered money.


The article (which is excellent and should be read in full) details the stonewalling and setbacks the Bush administration's Justice Department has thrown in his way through technicalities that allow sealing of records. It also describes Grayson's refusal to give up as he continues quietly to work away at an issue that has caught his attention. Monetary awards perhaps will follow, and his personal pockets are deep. But in many ways, his attention to detail and his indefatigable pursuit of justice remind me of much of the work that goes on here at Daily Kos, day in and day out, with very little notice.

I think of it as quiet passion, as opposed to the quite thoroughly discussed and media attention-grabbing abilities to give voice to outrage - a talent that has its place no doubt, but that can overshadow toilers in the background, like ilona with her PTSD series, Street Kid's Medicare diaries, RubDMC's incredible and heart-breaking Iraq War Grief Daily Witness pieces. These too are works of passion - as defined as "boundless enthusiasm" - to pain-staking and time-consuming topics that span months of research. Just because they don't shout doesn't mean they're not important. And just because these writers are doing their thing in relative obscurity doesn't mean they're ineffective.

These are, in many ways, dark times; dark times call on the best in each of us to respond. We need to find our niches, the places where our interests, expertise and creativity combine to create long-lasting and sustainable passion. We need to honor those of who have found their feet in this shifting political landscape and who bring specialized information and activism back to the progressive community. Innovation, humor, artistic abilities, detailed analysis, dedicated investigation, techie expertise, snark, rants ... all of it makes us what we are and can be used to leverage change, however hopeless and infinitesimal that change can feel at times.

The danger of splintering along special interest lines is always there, of course, as we seek out our interests. Markos and Jerome have critiqued how this can work against the progressive movement as a whole, and they recount many a cautionary tale in Crashing the Gate. So I'd like to suggest that each of us, as we coalesce around our own passion, keep an eye on at least one other issue that fellow progressives are pursuing. If you're obsessed with paper-trail voting, take a few minutes a day and get up to speed on global warming. If you're tracking veterans benefits, do some homework on abortion rights as well. Cross-over pollination on issues can help us build a truly interlocking network of coordinated progressivism that will build the kind of future we want to live in.

There is no better place in the world to learn in detail about just about any political issue than Daily Kos, and perusing and honoring the work of the quiet and passionate here holds the promise of taking our informal, citizen think tank ideas out into the real world for a test drive. Read. Participate. Then activate, out in the political world, where we can make a difference."

[DesertDiamond]

23. ALAN GRAYSON READS THE DAILY KOS???? I'm the one who's "shocked and awed"!!!

[badgerpup]

2. K & R n/t

[drm604]

3. Damn You Grayson!

[formercia]

4. K&R

I love it.

[Richard D]

5. Grayson for President. n/t

[AndyA]

7. +1. Absolutely what we need.

Someone who doesn't think the status quo is acceptable. Someone who doesn't want to play the game Congress has designed for itself. Grayson got fed up with the B.S. fast, and he's not going to tolerate it.

We need more like him.

[Mike K]

13. He Is Exactly What Is Needed.

It makes me wonder why it's taken so long for someone like him to come along. The only answer I can come up with is the others become involved in politics primarily for personal gain and for precisely that reason they assume a submissive "freshman" posture upon entering the Congress. Wishing to avoid pissing off any seniors the idea of doing exactly what a Representative should do, as Alan Grayson has done, wouldn't occur to them. So they walk slowly and carefully wanting only to learn the ropes from the old-timers, most of whom have developed expertise in the way to solicit, acquire and conceal bribes from lobbyists.

But Grayson is different. He already has money and he's not greedy. He appears to be in the Congress to make a difference and he doesn't care whose toes he steps on. He is the analogue of the clean cop in a dirty precinct. As such he is regarded as a loose cannon and he will be the subject of every dirty trick that the coven of slimy bastards in the Congress is capable of.

Let's hope he's ready for them.

[Plucketeer]

25. I concur!

Grayson/Kucinich - WHERE do I send the funds???

[catzies]

34. How about SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE.

Trying not to be disloyal to Nancy Pelosi, bur Rep. Grayson speaks for me.

[JNelson6563]

36. Ok, you all realize he'd never get elected, right?

Though it is a happy daydream, to be sure.

Julie

[A-Long-Little-Doggie]

6. K&R

but I was a little leery of clicking on this link, thinking it really did contain dirt on Rep. Grayson. Glad to read what the "dirt" really was!

[PSzymeczek]

44. No kidding!

If this is dirt, bring it on!

[ddeclue]

8. Whaaaaa??? If it was supposed to be a joke it wasn't funny just very long to read through.

I happen to know the guy personally and he's as clean nosed as they come and even I'm stunned to find out just how much of a fighter he's turned out to be for us. I can only hope he plans to run for Senate in 2012 and President in 2016. (not based on any inside info, just what I'm hoping personally.)

Doug D.
Orlando, Fl

[berni_mccoy]

9. Come on DD, it shows he's a long time Kossak who has held his progressive views for a long time

And exposes how he railed against the Iraq war.

Yes, the headline is designed to be titillating.

We all love Rep. Grayson here.

[ddeclue]

10. Yeah..well that's not really news to us here in CFL..

and please send us your thanks every day for not sending that DINO Charlie Stuart instead (well Charlie couldn't beat Ric Keller (R-McDonald's) anyways so the point's kind of moot..)

[berni_mccoy]

15. I send you thanks. It is greatly appreciated.

[Piewhacket]

11. Damn yiou Grayson! How could you so callously destroy our cynacism in politics. Damn you to hell!

[xchrom]

12. thanks mr grayson

[deadmessengers]

14. The worst thing I've heard about Alan Grayson is...

...that he founded and ran one of the crappiest ISPs on the face of the earth, IDT. I was a customer back in 95-96, and what a complete disaster that place was. I couldn't move away from IDT fast enough, which proved to be difficult given their near-total absence of customer service. Other than that slight misstep, go Alan!

[tridim]

16. IMO most dial-up ISP's back in the 90's were crappy

I worked for one, and quit because my boss was a liar and made us lie to our customers about how many dial-up lines we had.

IMO Grayson's only flaw is that he has bad fashion sense.

[Rozlee]

18. Worst things he could do: pick his nose and eat it; scratch his balls and sniff his fingers

And I'd still vote for him.

[Lorien]

38. My neighbor is the news director for a local station here in O-town

she knows Grayson and she's not a fan because he calls them on it whenever they repeat RW talking points during interviews. She calls him "unhinged", but I think Grayson is just fed up with the media's desire not to look "liberal" (and being conservative to accomplish that). One of our mutual friends interviewed Grayson before the election. Grayson's opponent was supposed to be there to debate him, but he bailed at the last minute. Our friend then played devil's advocate and asked Grayson the questions he felt the repug would have asked had he been there. After the interview Grayson blew up and said "What the fuck kind of Right Wing hit piece is this! Where's your objectivity?" He just raked the interviewer over the coals. Everyone at the station was pretty shaken up by it and they haven't asked Grayson back since. Bill Moyer's knows how to play devil's advocate during an interview, but I don't think our friend did, and Grayson let him have it for the perceived Right Wing slant to his questions.

[havocmom]

17. K&R (n/t)

[FarLeftFist]

19. This man has a loooong political career ahead of him and will be the GOP's worst nightmare

[librechik]

20. heh-that's where the grassroots are found--in the dirt

Keep diggin, Al--you are the best!

[GreenPartyVoter]

21. Total DUzy right there!

[bertman]

22. A BIG SHOUTOUT to Rep. Grayson!! If these contractors are found to be overcharging

or defrauding the government, isn't there a law that was used by President Truman to imprison war profiteers? If so, let's put it to use on these guys.

Recommend.

[seafan]

24. Let's set up a "real time chat" with Alan Grayson with his friends at DU.

Kossacks aren't the only fish in the sea, lol.


From Daily Kos in 2006

Thank You from Alan Grayson (6+ / 0-)

Recommended by:
Meteor Blades, DavidNYC, Armando, mcjoan, SusanG, DarkSyde

My work against the war profiteers in Iraq is the subject of SusanG's post, and all I can say is that I'm 'shocked and awed'. I look at dailykos, well, pretty much daily, and I never dreamed that I would see my name in it. What animates my work is the same thing that seems to animate this site -- Margaret Mead's words: 'A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.' Thank you all, from my heart, for the encouragement.

by Alan Grayson on Fri Apr 21, 2006 at 03:51:09 AM PDT

Love the reference to Margaret Mead! Her words are my inspiration as well.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

26. Hurrah for the thoughtful people of the world!

Kudos to Alan Grayson, and everyone else that works toward making this a better world in which to live.

[Swamp Rat]

27. k&r

[Deep13]

28. Seems like a smart guy.

[TheKentuckian]

29. K&R!

[valerief]

30. Great post. Thanks. nt

[PretzelWarrior]

31. GRAYSON IS A REAL DEMOCRAT! Thank you for having guts and a brain, Rep. Grayson

I can't stand those stupid ass quivering Dems we've had to deal with in the past. (Looking at YOU, Daschle!).

I hope Harry Reid is serious about the public option and doesn't turn into the normal Harry Reid that simply puts out excuse after excuse.


GET THE FUCKING PUBLIC OPTION IN THE BILL SIGNED BY OBAMA! THAT IS YOUR JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Thanks to you, Grayson.

[abelenkpe]

32. Fabulous news.

Go Grayson!

[elleng]

33. Congressman Grayson said,

What animates my work is the same thing that seems to animate this site -- Margaret Mead's words: 'A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.' Thank you all, from my heart, for the encouragement.

[JNelson6563]

35. Rock on Congressman Grayson!

[gateley]

37. Wonder if he reads DU daily, too... Yikes!

[Catamount]

39. Yeahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

K&R

[BrklynLiberal]

40. Wikipedia on Grayson...told me most of this...He is a real good guy and has been for a while.

Grayson was born in the Bronx, New York and grew up in the tenements. He graduated from Bronx High School of Science and worked his way through Harvard University, graduating in three years, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He worked as an economist for two years, but then returned to Harvard for graduate studies. Within four years, he earned a law degree with honors from Harvard Law School, a masters in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government and completed the course work and passed the general exams for a Ph.D. in government.<3><4>

After writing his master's thesis on gerontology, Grayson founded the Alliance for Aging Research, and served as an officer of the organization for more than 20 years.<1>
Legal and business career

Grayson was employed as a law clerk at the Colorado Supreme Court in 1983, and at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals from 1984 to 1985, where he worked with such judges as Abner Mikva, Robert Bork, and two judges who later joined the U.S. Supreme Court: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia. He was an associate at the Washington D.C. firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson for five years, where he specialized in contract law. In 1991 he founded the law firm Grayson, Kubli which concentrated on government contract law. He was a lecturer at the George Washington University government contracts program and a frequent speaker on the topic.<4>

Grayson also was the first President of IDT Corporation, a publicly traded billion-dollar telecommunications company.<1><5> Grayson was ranked as the 12th-wealthiest member of Congress based on financial disclosure forms with a minimum net worth of $31.12 million, according to Roll Call.<6>

In recent years, Grayson specialized in war profiteer and whistleblower cases aimed at Iraq war contractors who allegedly overbilled the U.S. government. One contractor, Custer Battles, allegedly billed the government $15 million for inspecting allegedly non-existent civilian flights at Baghdad Airport, and $10 million on a time and materials contract that had cost $3.5 million. The contractor received payment in newly printed cash direct from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.<4> Grayson was enabled to prosecute fraud through the False Claims Act and its qui tam provisions.<11>

While pursuing the whistleblower cases, Grayson worked from a home office in Orlando where he lived with his wife and five children. In 2006, a Wall Street Journal reporter described Grayson as "waging a one-man war against contractor fraud in Iraq" and as a "fierce critic of the war in Iraq" whose car was "emblazoned" with bumper stickers such as "Bush lied, people died".<11>

[rgbecker]

42. Another Harvard Summa Cum Laude...HO HUM....Boring Democrats!

[BrklynLiberal]

43. Ah yes... Intelligence is so....so....common!!!

[Vidar]

41. I really like Grayson, Kucinich needed company.

[defendandprotect]

45. Wow -- !! Grayson's even better than I thought . ..

[AllyCat]

46. So glad I donated money to his campaign. Anyone who can, please do!

[truedelphi]

47. Thank you Berni_McCoy

It looks like Grayson is as good as it gets.

[voteearlyvoteoften]

48. Captain Cojones

Tweets laid that moniker on him last night. Then shut hime down when he called Cheney Sr a vampire. But he let it slide when a repuke said to Ron Reagan Jr " Your Dad would be ashamed of you" WTF that effer is going on my enemies list. He should have to apologize for that. RR Jr should have said something like" my dad was more liberal than you think....." Keep them guessing.
Anyway digression...came on to say great Grayson quote

[Odin2005]

49. I'm really starting to like this guy.

Real, honest liberal populism. Unlike those attention-seekers Kucinich, who was Anti-Choice before he started trying to run for president, and Edwards.

[gauguin57]

50. I want a Marcy Kaptur-Alan Grayson ticket ... or the other way around, whichever they decide.

Two congresspeople ... one brand new, one who's the longest-serving woman in the House, who truly, TRULY stand up for the average American.

(For those who may not have been familiar with Kaptur, she's the passionate congresswoman featured in Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story." ... she was also in a very good segment on Bill Moyers' Journal a couple of weeks ago).

[avaistheone1]

51. kicked.

Sorry it is too late to recommend.