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Omaha Steve Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-15-09 08:26 PM
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The massive (but under-reported) Reagan Administration corruption

Look what I found by accident while looking for something else. :-)


http://www.liberalslikechrist.org/about/Reagan.html


Conservative Republicans are such paragons of virtue and truth that they claim that Bill Clinton's administration was "the most corrupt administration in American history" despite the fact that history contradicts everything about that statement.

1. Despite the fact that the President and first lady, and many members of the Clinton administration were charged with crimes, their accusers fell flat on their faces when they had to prove their trumped up charges in court almost every time, because there was no credible evidence or witnesses to justify the charges brought by their Republican enemies and touted by their countless friends in the mainstream media.

2. Contrast that to the great numbers of the Republican administration of Ronald Reagan who were not just charged, but were found guilty, but which most Americans don't remember because the so-called "Liberal media" rarely, if ever, make any mention of them. See the actual names & crimes below.

3. The contenders for the title of "the most corrupt administration in American history" are all Republican administrations. It may be hard to order them exactly, but the contenders for the first, second, third & fourth "most corrupt administrations in American history" are the Republican administrations of Grant, Harding, Nixon and Reagan.

Ronald Reagan's Criminal Administration:

"By the end of his term, 138 Reagan administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations. In terms of number of officials involved, the record of his administration was the worst ever."
from p. 184,Sleep-Walking Through History: America in the Reagan Years, by Haynes Johnson, (1991, Doubleday), as are the examples below:

1. James Watt, Reagan's Secretary of the Interior was indicted on 41 felony counts for using connections at the Department of Housing and Urban Development to help his private clients seek federal funds for housing projects in Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Watt conceded that he had received $500,000 from clients who were granted very favorable housing contracts after he had intervened on their behalf. In testifying before a House committee Watt said: "That's what they offered and it sounded like a lot of money to me, and we settled on it." Watt was eventually sentenced to five years in prison and 500 hours of community service.

2. Although not convicted, Edwin Meese III, resigned as Reagan's Attorney General after having been the subject of investigations by the United States Office of the Independent Counsel on two occasions (Wedtech and Iran-Contra), during the 3 short years he was in office.
3. E. Bob Wallach, close friend and law classmate of Attorney General Edwin Meese, was sentenced to six years in prison and fined $250,000 in connection with the Wedtech influence-peddling scandal.

4. Lyn Nofziger – Convicted on charges of illegal lobbying of White House in Wedtech scandal.

5. Michael Deaver received three years' probation and was fined one hundred thousand dollars after being convicted for lying to a congressional subcommittee and a federal grand jury about his lobbying activities after leaving the White House.

6. The Iran-Contra scandal. In June, 1984, at a National Security Council meeting, CIA Director Casey urged President Reagan to seek third-party aid for the Nicaraguan contras. Secretary of State Schultz warned that it would be an "impeachable offense" if the U.S. government acted as conduit for such secret funding. But that didn't stop them. That same day, Oliver North was seeking third-party aid for the contras. But Reagan, the "teflon President" avoided serious charges or impeachment.

7. Casper Weinberger was Secretary of Defense during Iran-Contra. In June 1992 he was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of concealing from congressional investigators and prosecutors thousands of pages of his handwritten notes. The personal memoirs taken during high level meetings, detailed events in 1985 and 1986 involving the Iran-Contra affair. Weinberger claimed he was being unfairly prosecuted because he would not provide information incriminating Ronald Reagan. Weinberger was scheduled to go on trial January 5, 1993, where the contents of his notes would have come to light and may have implicated other, unindicted conspirators. While Weinberger was never directly linked to the covert operations phase of the Iran-Contra affair, he is believed to have been involved in the cover-up of the ensuing scandal. According to Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh, Weinberger's notes contain evidence of a conspiracy among the highest ranking Reagan Administration officials to lie to congress and the American public. Some of the notes are believed to have evidence against then Vice-President George Bush who pardoned Weinberger to keep him from going to trial.

8. Raymond Donovan, Secretary of Labor indicted for defrauding the New York City Transit Authority of $7.4. million.
{ Republicans will point out that Donovan was acquitted. And that really matters in Donovan's case, because he was a Republican. But it didn't matter for Clinton or any of his cabinet, most all of whom were acquitted, because they were Democrats!}

9. Elliott Abrams was appointed by President Reagan in 1985 to head the State Department's Latin American Bureau. He was closely linked with ex-White House aide Lt. Col. Oliver North's covert movement to aid the Contras. Working for North, Abrams coordinated inter-agency support for the contras and helped solicit illegal funding from foreign powers as well as domestic contributors. Abrams agreed to cooperate with Iran-Contra investigators and pled guilty to two charges reduced to misdemeanors. He was sentenced in 1991 to two years probation and 100 hours of community service but was pardoned by President George Bush.

10. Robert C. McFarlane was appointed Ronald Reagan's National Security Advisor in October 1983 and become well-known as a champion of the MX missile program in his role as White House liaison to congress. In 1984, Mc Farlane initiated the review of U.S. policy towards Iran that led directly to the arms for hostages deal. He also supervised early National Security Council efforts to support the Contras. Shortly after the Iran-Contra scandal was revealed in early 1987, McFarlane took an overdose of the tranquilizer Valium in an attempt to end his life. In his own words: "What really drove me to despair was a sense of having failed the country." McFarlane pled guilty to four misdemeanors and was sentenced to two years probation and 200 hours of community service. He was also fined $20,000. He received a blanket pardon from President George Bush.

FULL list at link.

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FarLeftRage Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-15-09 08:28 PM
Response to Original message
1. K & R! Thanks, we need a reminder
of this from time to time.
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PDJane Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-15-09 08:44 PM
Response to Original message
2. The only difference between then and now
is that at least some of the Regan administration were indicted, although Regan himself should have been impeached and wasn't. Bush 48 shoud have been impeached, too. That he managed to avoid it is no surprise; that's been true of the last three generations of Bushes, including Neil and Jeb. What is surprising is that there is going to be, apparently, no real investigation of 9/11 and no indictments of lesser figures, including Yoo and Bybee and Gonzales. The justice department isn't going to be investigated,and the stay-behinds are still there.
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lpbk2713 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-15-09 08:46 PM
Response to Original message
3. If the same amount of resources were used on a RayGun witch hunt



as there were used on the Clinton(s) witch hunt there would be a
hell of a lot more RayGun erea crimes brought to the light of day.
The rethuglicans used millions of taxpayer dollars and a huge
number of man hours on a mostly unsuccessful witch hunt looking
for any dirt they could dig up on either one of the Clintons.
And Hillary wasn't even holding public office at the time.


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mopinko Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-15-09 09:09 PM
Response to Original message
4. a friend of mine had a poster back in the day- a 16 x 24 poster, 14 pt type
raygun officials and their crimes. sorta says it all.
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eppur_se_muova Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-16-09 12:20 AM
Response to Original message
5. Bookmarked! That's some good readin'.
I remember that even before RR's 2nd term was over it was being described as the most corrupt since U.S.Grant's. (Grant, however, was more incompetent than dishonest, apparently, and trusted his friends way too much.)
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Zomby Woof Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-16-09 12:38 AM
Response to Original message
6. I always recommend the Haynes Johnson book
It has a hallowed spot on my shelf. It's THE definitive book on the Reagan regime.
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Omaha Steve Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-16-09 06:37 AM
Response to Original message
7. Kick
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malaise Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-16-09 06:59 AM
Response to Original message
8. K & R
Great post
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mdmc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-16-09 07:05 AM
Response to Reply #8
9. yes
agreed
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malaise Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-16-09 10:05 AM
Response to Reply #9
10. Hey
Happy Holidays :hi:
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mdmc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-16-09 04:44 PM
Response to Reply #10
12. you as well
peace and low stress
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BeFree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-16-09 10:17 AM
Response to Original message
11. Well
Besides all that and the fact that republicans don't think government
works and set out to prove it each time they get elected:

Both Parties Are The Same
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