Bribe on Medicare vote investigated ....

[annxburns]

link

http://www.msnbc.com/news/1001501.asp?0cv=CB10

The Justice Department said Thursday that it would review complaints from political watchdog groups that Republican House leaders tried to bribe Rep. Nick Smith, R-Mich., to vote for a Medicare bill.

SMITH VOTED against the bill despite what he described as threats against his son, Brad Smith, who is running for the House seat his father is vacating next year.
Nick Smith that said his own party’s leaders offered money for his son’s campaign if he voted for the bill and that they threatened to support other Republican candidates for the seat if the congressman voted against the legislation.
“Bribes and special deals were offered to convince members to vote yes,” Smith wrote in a Nov. 23 newspaper column.
Mark Glaze of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center said that if the allegations are true, House members violated a federal law against bribing public officials.

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. They're going to start prosecuting the crooks in congress?

Oh, my.

[annxburns]

2. Thanks for posting ...

.. this was my first thread, so I was kinda nervous.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. The subject matter is good,

But here's something you should do before the mods catch it.

1) Change the title so that it is exactly like the article's title

2) Cut and paste the first four paragraphs.

That's the best way to keep an article from being rejected by the mods in Late Breaking news.

[annxburns]

5. Thanks!

I will follow your advice next time. Kinda hard to be a newbie. Hope the article was interesting. Wish this stuff would get more press.

[0007]

10. It is being dicussed on Washington Journal right now....

on c-span -

[Freddie Stubbs]

12. I doubt that anything will come of this

Attempted bribary is very hard to prove. Unless they have the offer on tape, it will essentially come down to one person's word against another's. Very hard to prosecute.

[maggrwaggr]

4. great. with asscrack investigating, you know it'll die

he'll bury it like he did the plame investigation

[drfemoe]

7. since msnbc is already reporting it

maybe not .

:kick:

.. well I just saw a story on google that says he is back pedaling now and saying no money was mentioned .. but now it's gone .. so who knows.

[keopeli]

6. Welcome, Annxburns

You can go back and edit your entry for up to an hour after it was submitted. Just click on the word "edit" in the bottom right menu (beside "reply")

[truthisfreedom]

8. another link to USA today article

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-12-04-dem-inquiry-bribe_x.htm

Dems want inquiry into reports of Medicare bribe
By William M. Welch and Andrea Stone, USA TODAY


WASHINGTON — Democrats and a legal watchdog group have asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate allegations that Republicans offered a House member $100,000 in contributions for his son's election campaign if he would vote for a Medicare prescription drug benefit passed by Congress last month.



Such an offer could be interpreted as a bribe that violates federal law, Democrats and outside legal experts said. Ashcroft spokesman Mark Corallo said Thursday that the attorney general's office will review a letter requesting an investigation from Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe.



Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a non-partisan legal watchdog group, also wrote Ashcroft demanding an investigation. "The attempted bribery and extortion of a member of Congress on the House floor destroys the heart of our democracy," she wrote.

<snip>

Lewis said there was little chance the Justice Department or the House ethics committee would investigate. In the House, Democrats and Republicans have an unspoken agreement not to initiate ethics inquiries, and only a member's request can trigger a committee investigation. House Democratic leaders avoided comment on Smith's allegations Thursday.

American Enterprise Institute political analyst Norman Ornstein said that if the reports are true, the incident "cuts across a whole series of lines." He said Thompson's presence and Hastert's lobbying were highly unusual. "I've never heard of anything like this on the floor," Ornstein said. "It just stains the speakership."

Ornstein said an inducement of campaign money "is by every standard a violation of the law." But he added, "Will anything be done about it? I'm very skeptical."

[radfringe]

9. key word - Justice Department

anyone really think that asscroft is going to really look into this?

at best it will be lost in the paperwork before receiving a coat of whitewash

[cthrumatrix]

11. listening to CPSAN ...repugs blow it off...no need for truth

[Walt Starr]

13. WOW, I bet they treat this as seriously as they have the Anthrax terrorist

and the traitor in the Whire House case!

[truthisfreedom]

14. hey, and they'll catch 'em as fast as osama, sadam, and the anthrax terra-

ist combined!

we'll all be home for Christmas!

[peekaloo]

15. Heard on a radio show yesterday that a "spokesman" for Smith

said neither Hastert or DeLay were involved. *cough*

:think:

[dansolo]

16. Why isn't Klayman going after this?

Where is the Judicial Watch lawsuit for this? Oh wait, Dean's sealed records are far more important.

[peekaloo]

17. too busy going after Kennedy et al re: leaked memo on blocking

Boosh's judicial appointments!


:mad:

[pippin]

18. so which democrat who voted

along was also "bribed?!" :mad:

[Rose Siding]

19. Novak may have been the one to scoop this

His Nov 27th column says:

snip>
Smith, self term-limited, is leaving Congress. His lawyer son Brad is one of five Republicans seeking to replace him from a GOP district in Michigan's southern tier. On the House floor, Nick Smith was told business interests would give his son $100,000 in return for his father's vote. When he still declined, fellow Republican House members told him they would make sure Brad Smith never came to Congress. After Nick Smith voted no and the bill passed, Duke Cunningham of California and other Republicans taunted him that his son was dead meat.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-edt-novak27.html