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CORRUPTION UPDATES 57 Late May 2007: Draft Posting: Stay Tuned for More! The CORRUPTION UPDATES posts corruption news stories from California, the Nation and the World, and gives you the straight story. |
CORRUPTION UPDATES 57
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1) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE:
State offers prison deal
Early parole discharges, transfers out of state can ease crisis, court is told.
By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 12:00 am PDTThursday, May 17, 2007
http://www.sacbee.com/capolitics/v-print/story/183029.html
The state is prepared to offer thousands more early parole discharges to nonviolent offenders and resume sending inmates out of state, lawyers for the Schwarzenegger administration said in court papers filed Wednesday.
The attorneys also argued that it would be "premature" for a federal judge to take steps next month toward slapping a population cap on California's overcrowded prisons.
It is too early for the judge to set up a three-judge panel to consider a population cap because "insufficient time has passed" to determine whether overcrowding is preventing the prison medical care czar from doing his job, the state's lawyers wrote.
Don Specter of the Prison Law Office, which won a class-action settlement with the state to fix prison medical care, said the proposals in the filing don't come close to convincing him that the state can reduce its prison population on its own. He said he is determined to press ahead for the three-judge panel that inmate rights lawyers are seeking.
The state's response was prepared by a private attorney retained by the state, Paul B. Mello, and state Deputy Attorney General Samantha Tama. Along with the transfers and early parole discharges, the papers cite the $7.9 billion prison construction and rehabilitation package signed into law by Schwarzenegger on May 3 as a keystone effort to reduce prison overcrowding over the long term.
The package will provide space for 53,000 more prison and jail beds in California, with the 40,000 to be controlled by the state corrections agency all tied to improved rehabilitation programs.
As for the transfers, the attorneys for the state said the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation plans to move as many as 5,000 more inmates to out-of-state private prisons by June 2008, starting this June. Some 360 have already been moved.
Early parole discharges, meanwhile, have been on the books for years, and the state already is granting more than 13,000 a year to nonviolent offenders who meet all their release conditions for a year. Parole in California otherwise lasts for three years.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Enough is Enough: Arnie Argues to Perpetuate California's Inhumane Prison Conditions: Sufficient Time has Passed to Prove California Irresponsible
What's going to happen with California's inhumane prison system? Nothing. Prisons are unimportant to the voters except as a place to
The Assembly and Governor were just told the California K-12 School system need 25 Billion a year to even have a chance to successfully educate the kids. Their response to this news?
Nunez: "This is a conversational opportunity...."
Arnie: "no amount of money will improve our schools without needed education reform..."
Let's look at what this means for prisons. There are three 'hot buttons" for California Politicians: Education, Crime, and Taxes. The Politicians always are "for" education, "tough" on crime, and "against" taxes.
California's political leadership just received and acknowledged the above study's conclusion that our schools are in a death spiral. Their response? The leaders of both parties openly stated they will do nothing about it.
They are openly refusing to spend the minimum amount of money required for basic educational needs. Education is arguably the leading hot button issue, something every politician is "for," and both sides have abandoned it.
Voters are not as sympathetic to prisons as they are to education. Politicians use prisons differently than schools. The politicians use prisons as places to put the criminals they are getting "tough" on, not as a place they put money.
Prisons are where politicians put their mouths, as they did when they all tripped over each other to sing the praises of the euphemistically named "three-strikes." law. Life in prison was a political football for irresponsible politicians.
Three Strikes, and a flood of other "get tough on crime" to get elected programs, have overwhelmed our prison system.
Now it's time to pay the piper for our harshness. Now it's time for the politicians to put our money where their mouths were. The tough on crime campaigns, and our rapidly expanding population, are demanding we cash the checks our political big mouths wrote.
But putting money into prisons violates the third political hot button: taxes. "No New Taxes" is Axiomatic to successful politicians since the first Bush fried for his "no new taxes" lie. Since then, taxes have become a "third rail" for Republicans and Corporate Democrats,
Our harsh criminal laws, combined with deep poverty in California have coordinated to create a prison crisis the state is refusing to face, just as it is refusing to face the crisis in the schools. California's political leadership is irresponsible, and has failed its duty to maintain effective schools or humane prisons.
California's failure to fix it's cruel prisons is tantamount to publicly announcing that we intentionally inflict cruel and unusual punishment as part of doing time.
This unconstitutional condition forfeits California's right to run its own prisons. Thank god.
Arnie's total package of proposals, AB900 combined with his proposed early release and involuntary out of state transfer program is insufficient to immediately address inhumane prison conditions.
Arnie and the Assembly will not do a thing to immediately end, or significantly relieve the current state of institutional inhumanity in California prisons.
The total package Arnie presented to the courts is insufficient to ease the situation in the prisons in the short or long term.
The legislature, the Governor, and the voters have fallen far short of acting responsibly, let alone humanely, with the power of crime and punishment. What will our political leadership do?
Nothing. Remember, we just received news that our children's schools have failed, and the politicians do nothing. Our leaders will do nothing about the prisons.
The court will seize the prisons, after Arnie bullshits them a lot, but the State won't take substantive action that actually changes prison conditions.
The court will eventually seize the prisons, bring them up to Constitutional Standards, and make California pay the bill.
Cool.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 16 , 5th article on page, "CALIFORNIA PRISONS INHUMANE"
Corruption Updates 34, 3rd article on page, “LONG TERM PRISON CRISIS RECOGNIZED?SEEING IT HAS NEVER BEEN A PROBLEM-PAYING IS...”
Corruption Updates 55 , 9th article on page, "Inmate rights lawyers are a burden, Sillen says"
Corruption Updates 56 , 8th article on the Page, "Health czar rips prison bed plan"
Search the Corruption Database under
2) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Doolittle switches blame for raid to Dems
Justice Department staffers 'doing what they want to do.'
By David Whitney - Bee Washington Bureau
Published 12:00 am PDTSaturday, May 19, 2007
http://www.sacbee.com/capolitics/v-print/story/185899.html
A week ago, Rep. John Doolittle suggested the FBI raided his Virginia home so that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would appear tough on Republicans as he faced congressional grilling over alleged partisan motives in firing eight federal prosecutors.
In a telephone press conference Friday, Doolittle said he still believes the April 13 search of his Oakton, Va., home -- and its disclosure -- were about rehabilitating the reputation of President Bush's attorney general. Yet he said it wasn't the Republicans trying to help Gonzales -- it was the Democrats.
He blamed Democratic staffers in the Justice Department for going after him in a politically driven "Republican culture of corruption" campaign.
And he said it would be wrong to conclude from his earlier statements that he thought Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Gonzales or any other Republican was behind a plot to pump up Gonzales.
"I never believed it was any of those people," he said. "I really believe that what's going on at the Justice Department is that you've got an embattled attorney general. I don't believe they are basically in control of their own department. I think that you've pretty much got a situation where the inmates are running the institution."
The "inmates," Doolittle said, are the career civil servants, "many of whom, if not most, are Democrats," and they're "pretty much doing what they want to do."
Doolittle's office has prepared a "talking points" memo detailing the congressman's position on the Justice Department's investigation into his and his wife Julie's dealings with now-imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The memo explains what happened in the search, that records of work Julie Doolittle had performed for Abramoff were left behind untouched and that the motivations for the search looked suspicious to them.
The memo contained no mention of any Democratic plot, however.
Instead, it said the "timing of the leak is highly suspicious considering that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified before Congress two days later on charges that his office was overly partisan in its firing of eight U.S. attorneys."
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Doolittle adds Insanity to Corruption:
Democrats have no Influence at Justice
Doolittle's flailing attempts to blame everyone else, first starting with Gonzales and the Justice but, and then mysterious Democratic insiders is pathetic, but only reflects the lack of dignity of this cornered rat.
Doolittle only has himself to blame for his long career of Corruption. Flailing around at shadowy plots has made Doolittle appear quite mad.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 1, 5th article on the page, "Doolittle received $14,000, helped Abramoff win contract: Abramoff-Doolittle: A Love Story"
Corruption Updates 13, 5th article on page, “Doolittle Defends Corruption and Ignorance; a New Recipe for Political Success”
Corruption Updates 18, 4th article on page, “Doolittle Sought, and Got, Abramoff Job for Wife”
Corruption Updates 30 , 3rd article on the page,"HONESTY FORCES DOOLITTLES TO POVERTY: WIFE LOSES ABRAMOFF JOB, HER 15% COMMISSION ON “CONTRIBUTIONS,” (Bribes) AND ABRAMOFF's BRIBES ALL AT ONCE"
Corruption Updates 52 , 3rd article on page, "Congressman Quits Panel After Raid"
Search the Corruption Database under
Doolittle (9 Abstracts)
Abramoff (40 Abstracts)
3) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Migden rear-ends car in Solano County
http://www.sacbee.com/capolitics/v-print/story/185908.html
Published 12:00 am PDTSaturday, May 19, 2007
State Sen. Carole Migden rear-ended another vehicle Friday morning on Highway 12 in Solano County en route to Marin, leaving one person with minor injuries, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The three-car accident occurred as the San Francisco Democrat's cell phone rang and she took her eyes off the road, her office said in a statement.
Migden was driving her new, state-issued 2007 Toyota Highlander Hybrid sport-utility vehicle when the accident occurred, hitting a Honda sedan that was slowing for a red light at the intersection of Highway 12 and Beck Avenue. The Honda, which suffered moderate damage, according to the CHP, then hit a van that was stopped at the light.
Migden's office said the senator was given a "routine Breathalyzer test," which she passed, and allowed to drive home.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
How did Migden Vote on the Cell Phone Law?
After a bit of research, I still cannot find the cell phone law, or how Migden voted on it. But the cell phone excuse does not ring true
Although Migden was given a Breathalyzer test, she was involved in an accident involving an injury.She appeared intoxicated despite the clean Breathalyzer, and should have been tested for drug use.
Why was she not tested for drugs?
Also See:
Corruption Updates 60 , 5th article on page, "Migden returns to Senate, faces questions on crash"
Corruption Updates 67, 9th article on page, "CHP: Migden Reckless"
Search the Corruption Database under
Migden
4) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Mayor drops school fight
Villaraigosa abandons the court battle over L.A. Unified control but says he realized the key goal: to spark dialogue.
By Howard Blume
Times Staff Writer
May 19, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lausd19may19,0,2142112,full.story?coll=la-home-local
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has abandoned efforts to gain direct legal authority over the Los Angeles Unified School District, converting a political and legal quagmire into what he calls a victory for all.
At a Friday morning news conference, Villaraigosa said he won't appeal a court ruling nullifying a law that would have given him substantial authority over the nation's second-largest school system.
The announcement came three days after two candidates the mayor backed won election to the Board of Education, giving him a 4-3 majority of close allies. His decision effectively ends a yearlong struggle over control of the district.
For the most part, Villaraigosa lost that battle: He won't get the outright authority he once sought, like that enjoyed by the mayors of Boston, New York, Chicago and other cities. And his negotiated power-sharing plan has now died in litigation. But his plan to elect a new school board majority has mostly succeeded — and that, for now, is enough, Villaraigosa apparently decided.
Some tough questions were sidestepped as well, such as Villaraigosa's position on the future role of charter schools or whether he would push this board for an authoritative role at a group of schools, as the rejected law had set out.
"I'm not going to sweat those details this morning," he said.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Villaragosa Declares Politicization of LA Schools a Victory:
Bush wants Villaragosa to declare Iraq a victory, too
Now that Villey (rhymes with Willie) has "Won," the LA School Board Race, we get to continue to watch LA Schools spin in the toilet like turds going down the drain.
Villey cannot stop the decline in LA Schools, but he can take the credit for "victory" now, and run for Governor as an education "reformer."
But Villey is in a race with disaster: Villey has to win the Governorship before the whole school district falls even further apart, and he takes the well-deserved blame.
HUGE SPECIAL INTEREST BATTLE OF THE BUCKS OVER LA SCHOOLS:
SCHOOL RACES IN LA COMPLETELY POLITICIZED
(Feb 24, 2007 comments on big bucks raised for LA School Board Races.)
Why has Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made the LA School District the focus of an out of control political-economic arms race?
Because he wants to be Governor, and is willing to sacrifice Los Angeles schools to achieve his goal. Villaraigosa is using the LA School to whip his troops into line, and give his campaign an issue for the next governor's election.
So Villaraigosa has poisoned the School Board races with big money special interests. A large group of these special interests have business with the schools, want to make money in the Charter School business, or are trying to buy influence from who they hope will be the future governor of California.
Villaraigosa is already selling himself to the special interests while selling LA Schools down the river. We have a lot to look forward to, if Villaraigosa becomes the next governor.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 35 , 3rd article on page, "HUGE SPECIAL INTEREST BATTLE OF THE BUCKS OVER LA SCHOOLS:SCHOOL RACES IN LA COMPLETELY POLITICIZED
Search the Corruption Database under
5) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Senators Want CIA to Release 9/11 Report
By KATHERINE SHRADERAssociated Press Writer
1:26 PM PDT, May 17, 2007
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators is pushing legislation that would force the CIA to release an inspector general's report on the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The CIA has spent more than 20 months weighing requests under the Freedom of Information Act for its internal investigation of the attacks but has yet to release any portion of it.
The agency is the only federal office involved in counterterrorism operations that has not made at least a version of its internal 9/11 investigation public.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and two other intelligence committee leaders -- chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and senior Republican Kit Bond of Missouri -- are pushing legislation that would require the agency to declassify the executive summary of the review within one month and submit a report to Congress explaining why any material was withheld.
The provision has been approved by the Senate twice, but never made into law.
In an interview, Wyden said he is also considering whether to link the report's release to his acceptance of President Bush's nominations for national security positions.
"It's amazing the efforts the administration is going to stonewall this," Wyden said. "The American people have a right to know what the Central Intelligence Agency was doing in those critical months before 9/11.... I am going to bulldog this until the public gets it."
Completed in June 2005, the inspector general's report examined the personal responsibility of individuals at the CIA before and after the attacks.
(Wyden said)...that protecting individuals from embarrassment is not a legitimate reason for protecting the report's contents from public review. He also said the decision to classify the report has nothing to do with national security, but rather political security.
Many of the individuals highlighted in the inspector general's report are likely to have retired. But some are believed still to be in senior government positions, making the report's findings even more sensitive at the CIA and perhaps elsewhere within the intelligence community.
The AP has reported that the two-year review of what went wrong before the suicide hijackings harshly criticized a number of the agency's most senior officials.
That includes Tenet, former clandestine service chief Jim Pavitt and former counterterrorism center head Cofer Black, according to individuals familiar with the report, who spoke in 2005 on condition they not be identified.
...Black is vice chairman of Blackwater USA, an international security firm whose clients include the CIA and other U.S. agencies.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Incompetence at CIA remains Hidden from View
6) THE ARTICLE PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Chronology of Immigration Laws
By The Associated Press
3:20 PM PDT, May 17, 2007
Brief chronology of U.S. immigration laws:
_1882 Chinese Exclusion Act: Barred the entry of any Chinese for 10 years, made permanent in 1904 until it was rescinded in 1943.
_1921 Quota Act: Established first immigration quotas.
_1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, also known as the McCarran-Walter Act: Enacted by Congress overriding a veto by President Truman. Established the basic body of immigration law used today. Reaffirmed a quota system for new immigrants based on their national origins; established preferences for immigrants based on education, skills and relatives already living in U.S.
_1965 Hart-Celler Act: Replaced immigration system based on national origins and in place since 1920s with system designed to unite families. The change shifted the origin of most immigrants from Europe to Asia and Latin America. Limited available visas.
_1980 Refugee Act: Established U.S. policy on admission of refugees and defined refugees according to U.N norms.
_1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act: Provided amnesty and temporary status to all illegal aliens who had lived in the United States continuously since before Jan. 1, 1982; extended a separate, more lenient amnesty to farmworkers; imposed sanctions on employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens; increased inspection and enforcement at U.S. borders.
_1990 Immigration Act: Established limits on immigration but also increased available visas; continued reunification of families as a goal of immigration policy; increased the number of immigrants admitted for employment; gave higher preference to professionals and highly skilled immigrants; provided for admission to U.S. of immigrants from "underrepresented" countries.
_1996 Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Act: Mainly an enforcement measure. Doubled the size of the Border Patrol to 10,000 agents over five years; required construction of 14 miles of fencing at key points on the U.S.-Mexico border; toughened penalties for smuggling and document fraud; tightened sanctions on employers of illegal immigrants; denied government benefits to non-citizens; toughened refugee and asylum provisions; gave immigration officials authority for expedited removal to immediately deport a foreigner at a port of entry; denied public benefits to non-citizens.
_2000 Legal Immigration Family Equity Act: Allowed illegal immigrants married to a U.S. citizen and in the country before Dec. 21, 2000, to apply for legal permanent residency after paying a $1,000 fine.
_2006 Secure Fence Act -- Requires construction of at least 700 miles of fencing along U.S. Mexico border.
___
Sources: Center for Immigration Studies; Citizenship and Immigration Services; Associated Press Archives.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
AP Fails to Mention End of Immigration Between 1924 and 1965
The Liars at AP present a chronology that omits the almost complete ban on immigration between 1924 and the repeal of the Anti-Asian laws.
By 1924 America was sick and tired of the endless train of poverty-stricken fuel for the industrial robber barons empire of exploitation and greed, and virtually banned immigration.
The "land of Immigrants" only developed decent living and working conditions, and a rudimentary social infrastructure for its citizens after banning the cancer of Immigration for 50 years.
Now, after 30 years of unlimited illegal immigration, the robber barons have reestablished themselves in the guise of brutally greedy CEOs, enabled by exploiting illegal foreigners to steal the responsible costs of decent living and working conditions from working Americans.
The Corporations have destroyed our social infrastructure, our schools, hospitals, and prisons. Our middle class has been impoverished.
Like their grandfathers, the robber barons, the Corporations and their CEOs have pocketed vast profits, impoverishing our own working class. But the Corporations are not completely selfish. They use their ill-gotten gains to liberally bribe our politicians, and government.
We need another 1924, to end the fuel supply of our greed.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 36, 7th article on page, "CORPORATE-DEMOCRAT IMMIGRATION POLICY SUCCESSFUL:Poverty"
Corruption Updates 36, 8th article on page, "HONEST STATISTICAL ANALYSIS ONLY SHOWS MONETARY COST OF IMMIGRATION"
Search the Corruption Database under
Crimigrants
Economics
7) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
House Panel Rejects Lobbying Proposal
By CHARLES BABINGTON
Associated Press Writer
3:43 PM PDT, May 17, 2007
WASHINGTON — A Senate bid to make former lawmakers wait two years before becoming lobbyists was rejected Thursday by the House Judiciary Committee, reflecting concern that the Democratic leaders' public ethics campaign has gone too far.
In a voice vote that drew no objections from either party, committee members embraced existing language that requires retired members to wait only one year before contacting former colleagues on behalf of paying clients.
A bill the Senate overwhelming passed in January would bar any type of lobbying activity, not just contacting lawmakers, for two years.
House and Senate Democratic leaders vowed to crack down on lobbying and fundraising abuses when they took control of Congress in January. Some lawmakers, however, feel the advocates have gone overboard, hampering legitimate efforts to raise campaign money and to seek good jobs after leaving Congress.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., called for rejecting the two-year waiting period, saying it would hurt efforts "to attract and retain topflight staff" who might eventually want to become well-paid lobbyists.
The decision disappointed some public advocacy groups. They were pleased, however, by the committee's endorsement of a separate bill to make lobbyists disclose their role in a campaign fundraising practice called bundling. It involves soliciting and collecting donations from numerous people and delivering them to a candidate in one bundle.
Under current law, individual check-writers must report their donations, but lobbyist-bundlers often go undetected. The Senate version also would require disclosure of bundling.
The House committee also rejected a Senate-passed measure to prohibit lobbyists from throwing large parties to honor one or more lawmakers as part of the presidential nominating conventions.
Like the Senate, the House panel also turned thumbs down on the idea of requiring the public disclosure of large fees paid to lobbyists who promote supposedly grassroots efforts to influence Congress. Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., said the change is needed to shed light on "special-interest money disguised as grassroots lobbying."
An array of groups from the political left, right and center had lined up against Meehan's measure.
The House bill on lobbying ethics is HR 2316. The bill addressing bundled donations is HR 2317.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Thieves Game Continues Under Democrats: Revolving Door and Endless Bribes Maintain Corporate Grip on Throat of Democracy
This Democratic Congress is more concerned with profits, and prospects of lobbyists than our democracy, or their true constituents, the voters.
John Conyers poor excuse for continuing the epidemic of "insider" bribery and influence peddling in Congress is that Closing the Revolving Door between Congress and Special Interests would,
"hurt efforts "to attract and retain topflight staff" who might eventually want to become well-paid lobbyists."
That is exactly the point of the ban: To Prevent Staff and Politicians from exchanging their political offices and influence for highly paid lobbyists jobs. Conyers is either really confused, or really corrupt. The point is to neuter lobbyists, not empower and justify them.
Has Conyers spent so long in Congress and become so corrupt that he can no longer recognize Bribery and Corruption as BAD THINGS? It appears that his time in Congress has damaged his moral compass.
Conyers is protecting the "revolving door" as an employee benefit of working for Congress.
The "bundling" restrictions are better than nothing, but typical of the half-assed "reforms" oozing out of this Congress, the fixes are superficial rather than substantive.
Bundling has no place in our elections, period. Bundling, like earmarking, must be ended, not just reported.
All contributions to all politicians must come only from individual voters in the election. Any contributions other than from individuals qualified to vote in the election is bribery.
The oblivious goal of both parties is to maintain their webs of bribery and earmarking, while appearing as honest, if ineffective, reformers.
The Democrat Congress' "reform" efforts are for show, making only superficial, fake reforms while shielding their main sources of Bribery money from limitation or oversight, and keeping the revolving door between Congress and the Corporations well greased.
The Democrats are not fooling anybody but the Corporate Media, and themselves.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 14, 5th article on page, “Earmarks Continue”
Corruption Updates 19, 1st article on page, “Top Recipients of Lobbyists Bribes are Leadership of Both Parties”
Corruption Update 20, 6th article on page, "Business Groups Woo Dems"
Corruption Updates 21, 2nd article on page, 10-30-06: “SHADOW PARTIES (527S) INFUSE MILLIONS IN BRIBE MONEY INTO ELECTION SPECIAL INTERESTS SKIRT CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS TO MAINTAIN THEIR ILLIGIMATE AUTHORITY THROUGH POLITICAL BRIBERY”
Corruption Updates 21, 8fh article on page, 11-1-06: “DEMS BIG CHANCE TO REAP THE REWARDS OF CORRUPTION POLITICAL VICTORY OPENS DOORS OF LOBBYING FIRMS TO DEMO INSIDERS: IT'S THE DEMS TURN TO ROB THE PUBLIC BLIND, AND BETRAY OUR DEMOCRACY”
Corruption Update 26, 1st article on page, “Time to Party, just bring the Checkbook,” “LOBBYISTS SEE NO CHANGE UNDER DEMS CORRUPTION PRESENTED AS FORCE OF NATURE, DEM CORRUPTION NATURAL”
Corruption Updates 28, 1st article on page, 1-2-07: “LOBBYISTS HIRING-BRIBING DEMS SHIFTING FUNDS AND PERSONELL TO DEMS ASSURES NO REAL CHANGE"
Corruption Update 28, 6th article on page, "SENATE DEMS PRETEND EARMARK REFORM:DEMS TARGET THE PAYOFFS, BUT NOT THE BRIBERY"
Corruption Updates 30, 2nd article on page, "REID TRIES TO KILL REAL EARMARK REFORMS:RENEGADE SENATORS EXPOSE DEMS FAKE EARMARK REFORM BY GIVING IT REAL TEETH, DEMS FIGHT TO PRESERVE EARMARK CORRUPTION
Corruption Updates 44 , 5th article on page, "Lobbying Is Lucrative: Fake Reforms of Democrats:No Change in Who Runs Washington"
Read Articles describing how the Democrats represent Corporations
Search the Corruption Database under
Reform
Fake Reform
8) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Natomas land deal raises new questions
School officials ask if tract was overvalued by appraisal.
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/186113.html
By Terri Hardy - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDTSaturday, May 19, 2007
It was billed as a terrific deal: The Natomas Unified School District was buying 41 acres of farmland at $325,000 an acre. It was a record price for the unincorporated area, but officials dubbed the sale a bargain nonetheless, given they were getting the land at half the appraised value.
...recent revelations about the sale:
• The appraised value of $24.7 million relied on hypothetical assumptions that inflated the property's worth by millions.
• A district employee apparently failed to tell school board members that the law firm they hired to advise them on the deal had disclosed a potential conflict of interest -- it also does work for the developer who sold them the land.
The property at issue is a swath of farmland in unincorporated North Natomas that borders the city of Sacramento. On the unincorporated side, the land is ineligible for development and typically sells for a fraction of what it's worth inside city boundaries.
Brokers familiar with Natomas said other farmland in the area has been selling for $50,000 to $100,000 an acre.
In December, the Natomas school board voted unanimously to pay about $13.4 million, or $325,000 an acre, for the property. Under the deal, the district agreed that it was getting the land at a bargain price and that the seller -- a partnership of developer Angelo K. Tsakopoulos and Woodside Homes -- would be allowed to claim a tax write-off for the difference between the purchase price and fair market value.
The Bee asked to see the appraisals for the purchase in November, weeks before the board was scheduled to vote. District staff, board members and Martin Steiner, the private attorney who handled the land transaction for Natomas Unified, rejected The Bee's public records act request and blocked public release of the documents until the land deal was completed in March.
The sales documents ultimately released to The Bee include two appraisals: one prepared in May 2006, before the board voted to buy the land; the other in February of this year, two months after the board's vote. Both were prepared by the local firm Ferguson & Associates and signed by Christopher Ferguson, principal of the company.
The first appraisal -- the one board members saw before their vote -- does not clarify, as required by state law, that the appraised value is hypothetical. It incorrectly describes the $24.7 million as "market value," meaning the value of the property as is. The second -- produced after the board vote -- corrects the error and describes the $24.7 million as a "hypothetical market value."
Because of the assumptions about annexation and rezoning, the appraisal reflects the kind of top-dollar value the district would pay for land in a ready-to-build neighborhood in the city; instead, it bought an empty farm field that lacks basic services such as water, sewers and roads.
The appraisal indicates Ferguson talked to city representatives about the hurdles involved in developing the land. He said in a recent interview, however, he had not actually done so.
...Mayor Heather Fargo and Councilman Ray Tretheway, who represents the area -- expressed grave concerns about the assumption the land would be annexed quickly and ultimately developed.
The property is not included in the city's "sphere of influence," areas it anticipates it will annex in the future, said Carol Shearly, the city's planning director. Environmentalists oppose the annexation because of the land's proximity to habitat for the giant garter snake and Swainson's hawk.
"I think the district underestimated the controversy of developing in that part of Natomas," Fargo said.
Ferguson, the appraiser, said the people most closely involved with the land transaction -- attorney Steiner and Frank Harding, at the time assistant superintendent in charge of facilities for Natomas Unified -- were aware from the beginning that the $24.7 million was a hypothetical value.
Ferguson said it was those two men, along with Mark Skredon, the broker for the Tsakopoulos/Woodside partnership, who made the decision to use the hypothetical property sales comparisons. He said there was general agreement among the parties that, because of the land's proximity to Sacramento, the assumptions were warranted.
Interviewed by phone last month, he said he wasn't sure if the school board knew the $24.7 million was a hypothetical value. "I couldn't say," Steiner said.
In another apparent communication lapse, board members and Superintendent Farrar said they were never told Steiner's law firm regularly does work for Tsakopoulos' AKT Development Corp.
Farrar said he since has learned that Harding signed a waiver acknowledging that Steiner disclosed the potential conflict.
Harding, who since has taken a job as facilities chief for the Elk Grove Unified School District, did not return phone calls from The Bee to discuss the issue.
Dave Jarrette, a prominent local appraiser who specializes in commercial real estate, said the use of hypothetical conditions would have increased the appraised value by millions.
"It would result in a dramatically higher price, even a tripling of the value," Jarrette said. "Those conditions change the whole character of an appraisal."
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Developer Who Financed Angelides Getting Repaid in Sacramento?
Developer-Political Mafia Flexes political muscle in Natomas Schools
Also See:
Corruption Updates 11, 9th article on page, "Angelides Inspires Growing Concern" Tsakopoulos spends 8 million to buy Angelides: How much did he spend in Natomas?
Search the Corruption Database under
State, California, Elections
Tsakopoulos
9) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
GOP candidates divided on detainees' treatment
Fissures among McCain, Giuliani and Romney on terrorist interrogation tactics introduce a new twist to the Republican contest.
By Peter Wallsten
Times Staff Writer
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-debate17may17,1,6480140.story?coll=la-headlines-politics
1:12 PM PDT, May 17, 2007
WASHINGTON — A major divide has emerged among the leading Republican candidates for president over a central question of the 2008 campaign: Whether to follow the Bush administration's lead in pushing for aggressive treatment of detainees in fighting terrorism.
Tuesday's GOP debate in South Carolina showcased those differences. Sen. John McCain of Arizona called for limits on interrogation techniques, whereas former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and onetime Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney aligned themselves more closely with President Bush's approach.
Giuliani said interrogators should use "any method they can think of" and did not reject a moderator's suggestion that his answer encompassed the controversial practice of "water-boarding," which experts say simulates drowning. Romney proposed doubling the size of the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where terrorism suspects are held.
"It's tough for these candidates, because you don't want to be rhetorically in favor of torture, which will turn a lot of people away in this country, Democrats and Republicans," said Robert Ellsworth, a deputy Defense secretary under President Ford and a foreign policy advisor to 1996 GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole. "But you've got to be rhetorically in favor of wanting to do everything possible to thwart the coming disaster."
Tuesday's comments by McCain, a former Navy pilot who was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for 5 1/2 years, underscored long-running differences between him and Bush on tactics for interrogating terrorism suspects.
"The use of torture — we could never gain as much as we would gain from that torture as we lose in world opinion," he said. "We do not torture people. When I was in Vietnam, one of the things that sustained us as we went — underwent torture ourselves — is the knowledge that if we had our positions reversed and we were the captors, we would not impose that kind of treatment on them.
"It's not about the terrorists; it's about us," McCain added. "It's about what kind of country we are."
Giuliani and Romney said they opposed torture. But Giuliani appeared to support the use of water-boarding, and Romney said he supported "enhanced interrogation techniques." Both offered tough-sounding answers that drew enthusiastic applause from the Republican audience.
"Enhanced interrogation techniques" refers to methods first adopted in 2002 that critics say amount to forms of torture that fall outside the Geneva Convention on treatment of prisoners of war.
Giuliani in his campaign has emphasized embracing Bush's aggressive anti-terrorism tactics and has attacked civil liberties advocates as promoting a pre-Sept. 11 mind-set.
He elaborated on his debate remarks during a Wednesday conference call with bloggers. Giuliani said he would leave the distinction between enhanced interrogation techniques and torture to "the people who do it," according to a report on the National Review Online. He described water-boarding simply as "aggressive," the report said.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
TORTURE, ITS CALLED TORTURE, NOT "DETAINEE TREATMENT"
Republicans Betray American Values for Political Points
McCain is wrong: we allowed, participated in, and supervised the South Vietnamese Army, which tortured and murdered without restraint. While we watched and guided the Chaos.
But Romney and Giuliani are more wrong: Their positions represent the views of Fascist America, not Democratic Americans.
This all evil emanates from our country's assertion that The Geneva Conventions are "Quaint," and we can do anything we want to anybody.
Cheney "took the gloves (of decency) off," and now we can't get them back on again.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 16, 1st article on page, “BUSH TRAINING CONGRESS TO OBEDIENCE: PROBLEM TEACHING THEM TO ROLL OVER WHEN THEY ARE ASLEEP
Corruption Updates 23, 4th article on page, “Bush Claims to Unlimited Power Contested”
Corruption Updates 25, 7th article on page, “Italy Indites 25 CIA Operatives”
Corruption Updates 31, 2nd and 3rd articles on page, “Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Indefensible,” and “A Bush appointee's crude gambit on detainees' legal rights”
Corruption Updates 31 , 7th article on page, "DETANIEE” TORTURE, HEARSAY, AND NO HABIUS CORPUS:THE CRIMINALS ARE RUNNING THE COURTS
Corruption Updates 34, 4th article on page, “BUSH KIDNAPPING ON TRIAL IN GERMANY: WHY IS GERMANY HOLDING US TO THE RULE OF LAW?”
Search the Corruption Database under
Torture
Illegal Detentions
Illegal Trials
10) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Cheney talks tough on Iran from U.S. carrier
David E. Sanger, New York Times
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/05/12/MNG5BPPPPT1.DTL
Vice President Dick Cheney used the deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier just
150 miles off Iran's coast as the backdrop Friday to warn that the United
States was prepared to use its naval power to keep Tehran from disrupting
oil routes or "gaining nuclear weapons and dominating this region."
Senior officials said Cheney's speech was not circulated broadly in the
government before it was delivered. A senior U.S. diplomat added, "He
still kind of runs by his own rules."
Oil seemed to be on Cheney's mind Friday when he told 3,500 to 4,000
members of the John C. Stennis crew that Iran would not be permitted to
choke off oil shipments.
"With two carrier strike groups in the Gulf, we're sending clear messages
to friends and adversaries alike," he said. "We'll keep the sea lanes
open. We'll stand with our friends in opposing extremism and strategic
threats. We'll disrupt attacks on our own forces. We'll continue bringing
relief to those who suffer, and delivering justice to the enemies of
freedom. And we'll stand with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear
weapons and dominating this region."
He told the cheering crew, "This world can be messy and dangerous, but it's a world made better by American power and American values."
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Cheney is Dr.Strangelove
Cheney has it backwards: we bring suffering to innocents, and deliver injustice to those who seek their freedom.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 58, 4th article on page, “Cheney's choices"
Search the Corruption Database under
Cheney (11 Abstracts)
Previous Corruption Updates: Page 56
Next Corruption Updates: Page 58
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