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  • Friday, August 31, 2007

    UPDATED: Republican Corruption in Florida: Hanging Chads and Tom Feeney (FL-24)

    This is an updated version of my previous post. There have been more revelations regarding Tom Feeney and voting fraud. Remember the stolen election 2000? Remember the hanging chads? Evidence has come out that THOSE HANGING CHADS WERE DELIBERATE. Poor quality paper and misalignment of the punch cards were deliberately used to create a questionable election to help the marketing of the Sequoia touchscreen machines. And Tom Feeney may have had a hand in the scandal.

    As my previous post discussed, Tom Feeney (FL-24) has a corrupt past anyway, linked to the Abramoff scandal.

    Feeney is a sitting Congressman, but let's start out by realizing that Tom Feeney has already been fined by the House ethics committee for his Abramoff connections. He has already been found to be corrupt by the House Ethics Committee, yet is still a "respected" member of the Republican Party and has not resigned from Congress.

    But there is probably more coming...it seems that the FBI is investigating Tom Feeney further for those Abramoff connections. Gee, and the Republicans wanted us to think the Abramoff scandal had blown over. This is run of the mill fraud for Republicans. But Feeney may have had a hand in the stolen 2000 election.

    Yes, I say ACTIVE PARTICIPATION in voter fraud. Tom Feeney has been accused of recruiting computer programmers to write software that could alter vote totals on touch-screen voting machines in Florida. From the Seminole Chronicle:

    Republican Congressman Tom Feeney of Oviedo asked a computer programmer in September 2000, prior to that year's contested presidential vote in Florida, to write software that could alter vote totals on touch-screen voting machines, the programmer said.

    Former computer programmer Clint Curtis made the claim Monday in sworn testimony to Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee investigating allegations of voter fraud in the 2004 presidential election involving touch-screen voting in Ohio.

    In his testimony, Curtis said that Feeney, then a member of the Florida House of Representative, met with Curtis and other employees of Yang Enterprises, an Oviedo software company, and asked if the company could create a program that would allow a user to alter the vote totals while using the touch-screen machine. The program had to be written so that even the human-readable computer code would not show its illicit capabilities, Curtis recalled.

    Curtis said he wrote a prototype program for Feeney, and that he believed the program might not only be usable on touch-screen voting machines, which some counties - predominantly in South Florida - now use, but also on optical-scan machines, which most of the state's counties used in the 2004 elections.

    Feeney could not be reached for comment.


    If true, THIS is one of the most disgusting attacks on American democracy I can think of, whether you are Republican or Democrat. Tom Feeney is accused of trying to subvert American democracy, plain and simple.

    And Curtis' accusations got a boost recently. Many criticized Curtis for claiming that people were trying to subvert the touchscreen machines BEFORE the 2000 election when supposedly no one was thinking touch screen. Well, some actual investigativg journalism by Dan Rather has revealed that people WERE thinking touch screen before the 2000 election and, in fact, the problems that arose in 2000 in Florida may have been part of the push for touch screen machines. This was broken, as far as I know, by the Brad Blog:

    The recent Dan Rather report (complete video here) on the gaming of the paper punchcard ballots by Sequoia Voting Systems in Florida, just prior to the 2000 election, plugs up at least one important "hole" in the Clint Curtis story. We first broke Curtis's story back in late 2004 and have been reporting on it ever since.

    You'll recall that Curtis alleged --- in sworn affidavit [PDF], live video-taped testimony before a U.S. House Judiciary delegation, and via polygraph test --- that he was asked by Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) to create a touch-screen vote-rigging prototype program, just months prior to the 2000 election when they both worked at the same Florida software firm.

    One of the main criticisms of Curtis's striking allegations was that "nobody was even thinking about touch-screen voting systems in Florida prior to the 2000 Presidential Election debacle."

    Dan Rather's remarkable investigative report, however, would seem to indicate otherwise: seven Sequoia company whistleblowers reveal on camera that, despite their objections, they were forced to use poor quality paper for the punchcards to be used in Florida in 2000. They also revealed that they had been instructed to deliberately misalign the chads for ballots going to Palm Beach County, FL, only.

    As well, another recent revelation puts the lie to Feeney's claim, made years ago, that he no longer had anything to do with the owners of the Oviedo, Florida, firm where he was the general counsel and registered lobbyist in 2000 (even as he served as Speaker of the FL House at the same time). Curtis was employed as a computer programmer for the company, which had multi-million dollar contracts with both the state and NASA, where Feeney's wife has worked for several years.

    New information reveals that the owners of the company remain personal friends with Feeney, and continue to funnel money to him even while they hope for further contracts from the U.S. House Subcommittee on Space & Aeronautics, in which Feeney has recently been promoted to ranking member.


    Go to the Brad Blog for MUCH more on the issue. Hanging chads...intentional? Use of low quality paper and intentional misaligning? In California I used punchcard voting for years...and never had a problem. I always wondered why it was such a problem in Florida. Sounds like it is because certain companies wanted to see states high priced touch screen machines and certain Republicans wanted to subvert the vote using such machines.

    Tom Feeney may have been part of the stolen 2000 election...

    Now I want to turn to Feeney's voting record. Feeney's probable corruption is damning enough. But his voting record damns him at least as much. Simply put, Tom Feeney votes AGAINST Americans: (voting record from Project Vote Smart)

    Feeney opposes a woman's right to choose, and essentially supports forcing a woman to carry a rapist's child to term...even at the risk of her own life. Feeney receives 0/100 ratings from Planned Parenthood every single year.

    Feeney gets a 0/100 rating from National Farmers Union. He sure isn't pro-farmer!

    Feeney is anti-freedom: Gets 0/100 from ACLU, Arab American Institute, National Council of La Raza, Human Rights Campaign and low ratings from NAACP. Feeney does not believe in Civil Rights.

    Feeney hurts our children: gets 0/100 from Children's Defense Fund.

    Feeney hurts working class Americans: Gets below 10/100 from almost every Union out there, including SEIU, AFL-CIO, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Worker, American Postal Workers Union, United Auto Workers, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers...shit, if I were Feeney I'd worry about meeting any of these folk in a dark alley. Solid, working class Americans hate Feeney.

    Feeney hurts America's Senior Citizens: He consistently gets below 10/100 ratings from Alliance for Retired Americans.

    Feeney hutrs American soldiers and Veterans: Gets an abyssmal D+ grade from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in 2006, and gets a 0/100 rating from Disabled American Veterans in 2004 and 2005 (he did better in 2006 with a 66/100 rating).

    THIS is the Republican who represents FL-24. The DCCC has more information on Tom Feeney and his anti-America, corrupt stands. Here are some examples:

    * Rep. Feeney voted against cracking down on the oil and gas industries price gouging.
    * Big oil and gas industries have given Rep. Feeney $15,200. Any surprise?

    * Rep. Feeney voted to strip overtime protection from millions of workers.
    * Rep. Feeney voted to allow federal loans to American companies that have escaped paying U.S. taxes by moving offshore.

    * Rep. Feeney voted to continue awarding contracts to Halliburton even if the Pentagon's own audit processes found that more than $100 million of their contractor's costs in Iraq were unreasonable.
    * Rep. Feeney opposed expanding access to the military's TRICARE health insurance program to thousands of Reservist and National Guard members, even though 20 percent of all Reservists do not have health insurance, and 40 percent of Reservists aged 19 to 35 lack health coverage.
    * Rep. Feeney voted against granting a bonus to grant a $1,500 bonus to every American service member serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, including National Guard and Reserve forces.

    You can help defeat Tom Feeney in FL-24 by donating to the FL-24 Congressional race on this Act Blue Page. If you want to preserve American democracy against corruption and voter fraud, send Washington a message by donating at the above Act Blue site to win in Florida in 2008.

    Wednesday, August 29, 2007

    Republican Corruption in Florida: Tom Feeney (FL-24)

    Corruption is one of the issues I focus on the most. On Daily Gotham I focus a lot on problems within the Democratic party in Brooklyn, NY. But nationally I find than generally it is Republican corruption that is most prevalent and damaging to America.

    Right now, I want to focus on a particularly vile, corrupt Republican Congressman, Tom Feeney (FL-24). This is a man closely connected with the Abramoff scandal that Republicans want you to forget but you and I know is still playing out. But Feeney is also majorly involved in voter fraud. In fact, Feeney should be the poster boy for the most un-American attack on democracy America has seen in recent years.

    Feeney is a sitting Congressman, but let's start out by realizing that Tom Feeney has already been fined by the House ethics committee for his Abramoff connections. He has already been found to be corrupt by the House Ethics Committee, yet is still a "respected" member of the Republican Party and has not resigned from Congress.

    But there is probably more coming...it seems that the FBI is investigating Tom Feeney further for those Abramoff connections. Gee, and the Republicans wanted us to think the Abramoff scandal had blown over.

    But perhaps the worst Feeney has done is active participation in voting fraud. Yes, I say ACTIVE PARTICIPATION in voter fraud. Tom Feeney has been accused of recruiting computer programmers to write software that could alter vote totals on touch-screen voting machines in Florida. From the Seminole Chronicle:

    Republican Congressman Tom Feeney of Oviedo asked a computer programmer in September 2000, prior to that year's contested presidential vote in Florida, to write software that could alter vote totals on touch-screen voting machines, the programmer said.

    Former computer programmer Clint Curtis made the claim Monday in sworn testimony to Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee investigating allegations of voter fraud in the 2004 presidential election involving touch-screen voting in Ohio.

    In his testimony, Curtis said that Feeney, then a member of the Florida House of Representative, met with Curtis and other employees of Yang Enterprises, an Oviedo software company, and asked if the company could create a program that would allow a user to alter the vote totals while using the touch-screen machine. The program had to be written so that even the human-readable computer code would not show its illicit capabilities, Curtis recalled.

    Curtis said he wrote a prototype program for Feeney, and that he believed the program might not only be usable on touch-screen voting machines, which some counties - predominantly in South Florida - now use, but also on optical-scan machines, which most of the state's counties used in the 2004 elections.

    Feeney could not be reached for comment.


    If true, THIS is one of the most disgusting attacks on American democracy I can think of, whether you are Republican or Democrat. Tom Feeney is accused of trying to subvert American democracy, plain and simple.

    Now I want to turn to Feeney's voting record. Feeney's probable corruption is damning enough. But his voting record damns him at least as much. Simply put, Tom Feeney votes AGAINST Americans: (voting record from Project Vote Smart)

    Feeney opposes a woman's right to choose, and essentially supports forcing a woman to carry a rapist's child to term...even at the risk of her own life. Feeney receives 0/100 ratings from Planned Parenthood every single year.

    Feeney gets a 0/100 rating from National Farmers Union. He sure isn't pro-farmer!

    Feeney is anti-freedom: Gets 0/100 from ACLU, Arab American Institute, National Council of La Raza, Human Rights Campaign and low ratings from NAACP. Feeney does not believe in Civil Rights.

    Feeney hurts our children: gets 0/100 from Children's Defense Fund.

    Feeney hurts working class Americans: Gets below 10/100 from almost every Union out there, including SEIU, AFL-CIO, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Worker, American Postal Workers Union, United Auto Workers, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers...shit, if I were Feeney I'd worry about meeting any of these folk in a dark alley. Solid, working class Americans hate Feeney.

    Feeney hurts America's Senior Citizens: He consistently gets below 10/100 ratings from Alliance for Retired Americans.

    Feeney hutrs American soldiers and Veterans: Gets an abyssmal D+ grade from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in 2006, and gets a 0/100 rating from Disabled American Veterans in 2004 and 2005 (he did better in 2006 with a 66/100 rating).

    THIS is the Republican who represents FL-24. The DCCC has more information on Tom Feeney and his anti-America, corrupt stands. Here are some examples:

    * Rep. Feeney voted against cracking down on the oil and gas industries price gouging.
    * Big oil and gas industries have given Rep. Feeney $15,200. Any surprise?

    * Rep. Feeney voted to strip overtime protection from millions of workers.
    * Rep. Feeney voted to allow federal loans to American companies that have escaped paying U.S. taxes by moving offshore.

    * Rep. Feeney voted to continue awarding contracts to Halliburton even if the Pentagon's own audit processes found that more than $100 million of their contractor's costs in Iraq were unreasonable.
    * Rep. Feeney opposed expanding access to the military's TRICARE health insurance program to thousands of Reservist and National Guard members, even though 20 percent of all Reservists do not have health insurance, and 40 percent of Reservists aged 19 to 35 lack health coverage.
    * Rep. Feeney voted against granting a bonus to grant a $1,500 bonus to every American service member serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, including National Guard and Reserve forces.

    You can help defeat Tom Feeney in FL-24 by donating to the FL-24 Congressional race on this Act Blue Page. If you want to preserve American democracy against corruption and voter fraud, send Washington a message by donating at the above Act Blue site to win in Florida in 2008.

    Tuesday, August 21, 2007

    BROOKLYN CORRUPTION: A Sad Case of Democratic Corruption

    Even though it is clear that on a naitonal level Republican corruption FAR outweighs Democratic corruption, in my own neighborhood it is often the Democrats who are corrupt. The focus of that corruption once was a man named Clarence Norman. Well, I use Clarence to highlight one difference between Democratic corruption and Republican corruption: Clarence Norman was put in jail by a DEMOCRATIC District Attorney. Usually Republicans circle the wagons around even their most corrupt members and go so far as defending sex offenders and rapists if it gets them what they want. So at least Democrats are capable of recogizing corruption in their midst and fight it.

    And fight Democratic corruption is what I do in Brooklyn, NY.

    Once Clarence Norman was in jail, his job of head of the Brooklyn Dem party was taken over by someone named Vito Lopez. Sadly, Vito Lopez is just as corrupt as Clarence Norman.

    Seems Vito Lopez may be doing exactly what put Clarence Norman in jail:



    Brooklyn assemblyman Vito Lopez, who is pushing hard to win the county's Democratic Party leadership post made vacant by the conviction of his former assembly colleague, Clarence Norman, Jr., has something else in common with Norman: Both men used political campaign committees to pay for their personal cars, and then accepted mileage reimbursement from the legislature - a legal no-no according to Brooklyn District Attorney Charles "Joe" Hynes who won indictments against Norman for that very offense.

    State election board filings show that since 1999 the Bushwick pol's campaign committee, "Friends of Vito Lopez," has routinely shelled out $500 a month in leasing costs for his Acura sports car, and another $2800 a year for his auto insurance costs. It also pays more than $200 a month for a luxury dashboard computer service. In addition, the committee picks up a monthly American Express bill for the assemblyman, a tab that runs from $400 to $8,000 a month.

    Village Voice

    Vito Lopez takes crony capitalism to a level that even Republicans might envy:

    The lengthy lead story in the Real Estate section [of the NY Times] credited Lopez with sparking a massive rebuilding effort in Bushwick, way back when he was a graduate student in 1971, and then carrying it through. The story also mentioned that Angela Battaglia's agency is the developer for a $20 million component of the rebuilding effort. It even pictured [Vito] Lopez and Battaglia standing together in front of new housing construction. But the story omitted that Battaglia is Lopez's girlfriend. Does that connection at least deserve mention? Might the article have explained why there was or wasn't a conflict of interest present? Was it a coincidence that Lopez's girlfriend's outfit was put in charge of the $20 million deal? Inquiring minds would like to know. It may well be that everything was done on the up-and-up. But given Lopez's tendency to do favors for his friends-for example, he helped make his girlfriend's brother Jack Battaglia a Civil Court judge-the Times should have explored the question.

    --Lambda Independent Democrats

    And Vito Lopez puts cronyism ahead of qualifications when choosing judges:



    Just as dispiriting, party regulars chose as the convicted Norman's successor Assemblyman Vito Lopez, an old-time ward heeler from Bushwick who has never shown a zeal for reform until, gee whiz, now. He vows the party will consult a panel of learned men and women, such as Brooklyn Law School's dean, about picking quality judges.

    We've seen this movie before, and the ending stinks. Two years ago, Norman and party district leaders, Lopez included, pledged they would never support a candidate for a judgeship who had not been approved by an independent screening commission. This year, for the first time, the panel reviewed Civil Court candidates.

    And guess what? The party shoehorned two lawyers onto the bench without any screening. Kenny Sherman, son of district leader Roberta Sherman, will get a 10-year Civil Court term without so much as a primary. And Canarsie Assemblyman Frank Seddio was awarded an uncontested ballot line for Surrogate's Court. So much for quality control. So much for keeping your word.

    Daily News (quoted from "It Takes a Blogger")

    So, given Vito's record of supporting sleazy and often unqualified judges, this year in Brooklyn many are suspicious of his hand picked candidate for Surrogate Judge, one of the more powerful and coveted judicial positions in Brooklyn. Shawndya Simpson is Vito Lopez's picked candidate for this race, running against Judge Diana Simpson, who already has 16 years judicial experience. Sadly neither Johnson nor Simpson are completely free of connections to the local corrupt machine, but Johnson has been endorsed by Brooklyn's reform clubs, Independent Neighborhood Democrats and Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, and is opposed by Brooklyn Crook Vito Lopez. By contrasy, Shawndya Simpson was hand picked by Vito Lopez at practically the last minute, circumventing much of the normal procedures for endorsements.

    Diana Johnson seems more qualified because she already has 16 years of judicial experience. But what really turned me off to Shawdya Simpson is some recent statements in court while trying to prove that she really lived in Brooklyn, rather than in New Jersey where some records indicate she really lives. Under oath, Shawndya Simpson swears she doesn't know what address her 10-month old child lives and sears she does not know contact info for any of her children's schools or care providers. I kid you not:

    To the amazement of many in court, Ms. Simpson testified under oath that she didn't know the contact information for her kids at their various schools in New Jersey. In a post 9-11 world, a judge makes this incredible statement. Plus, her own obstetrician is in NJ; her kid's doctors, dentists, and such, are all in NJ.

    Even more amazing (as reported by a Johnson supporter) was that both Ms. Simpson and her husband (Jacob Walthour), could not even agree as to where their 10 month-old infant lives. Shawndya Simpson testified that her infant lives in Brooklyn with her, and that her mother-in-law takes care of the kid during the day. Simpson's husband Jacob testified that all the children- including the infant- live with him and his mother in New Jersey.
    There is even more strange testimony. At another point on the witness stand Ms. Simpson said that all the children live in New Jersey. Can anyone really believe that a mother does not live with her 10 mother old infant?


    So I wonder is Shawndya lying under oath (not a good thing for a judge) or is she just one of the most negligent parents I have heard of (not a good thing for ANYONE)?

    But there is even more about Vito Lopez that makes him one of the worst Democrats around and a prime target for anyone who opposes corruption.

    Vito Lopez gets most of his campaign contributions from developers and, interestingly enough, chiropractors. Not sure why he's so popular among chiropractors, but it is easy to see why he is so beloved by developers. Now it becomes clear that Lopez has been bought by the family of one of Brooklyn's most corrupt developers: Bruce Ratner.

    Bruce Ratner himself doesn't funnel money to candidates so much. Usually it is other family members who buy the politicians and Bruce who reaps he benefits. This is the case with Vito Lopez. In September 2006, the Ratner family maxed out donations to Vito Lopez, someone who had been largely quiet on Ratner's Atlantic Yards project before that.

    From Atlantic Yards Report:

    Greenwich Village resident Michael Ratner...brother of Forest City Ratner (FCR) CEO Bruce Ratner, has given campaign contributions to several candidates from Brooklyn and beyond apparently favored by the developer. So has his wife, Karen Ranucci...

    On 9/8/06, Ratner and Ranucci each gave $3100 (the contribution limit) to the campaign of Brooklyn Democratic Chair Vito Lopez, who has a lock on his Assembly seat. Lopez had no primary and token opposition in the general election.

    But Lopez can have influence with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Forest City Ratner certainly wants Silver to greenlight Atlantic Yards when it reaches the Public Authorities Control Board (PACB), where Silver has one of three votes. (Ratner and Ranucci had previously contributed the maximum to Silver, as well.)

    Lopez, interestingly, was not on the list of public officials supporting AY announced at the 8/23/06 press event. Still, he has ties to several project supporters.


    That was around the time of election 2006. Before that, Silver had already been a major crony of the Ratner clan. But Vito had been strangely silent given his close ties to developers. Of course, soon AFTER the Ratners paid for their Lopez, Lopez suddenly offered Bruce Ratner a deal so sweet even Michael Bloomberg balked. From Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn: (quoting the Post)

    The provision, quietly inserted by Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn), would provide Ratner with an extra $300 million in property-tax benefits.
    ...

    Another provision eliminates - for Ratner only - the requirement that at least 20 percent of the housing units in each building in a complex be affordable.

    Critics say it opens the door to Ratner "segregating" all of the project's 2,500 affordable-housing units into several buildings.

    "More sinister, [Ratner] can build the market-rate housing first and wait a decade to do the affordable housing or, even worse, come back after the market-rate housing is done and then say, 'We can't afford to do the affordable housing,' " an official said...


    So...let's review. Vito Lopez is largely silent on Atlantic Yards. Then Ratner's family max out their donations to Lopez. Then Lopez steamrolls the Assembly to offer Bruce Ratner a deal worth $300 million.

    Gee...Vito Lopez sounds more and more like a Republican every day. Or, at least, part of the Shelly Silver/Joe Bruno vortex of corruption.

    Monday, August 13, 2007

    Vito Fossella: Bush Lap Dog, Social Security Flip Flopper, and Friend to Criminals

    Congressman Vito Fossella, the rat that he is, is desperately trying to abandon the sinking Republican ship. As Michael Bouldin has pointed out, Fossella now no longer identifies himself as a Republican, but is claiming to be "independent" despite having voted Republican Party line 92% of the time.

    Well, voting record is not the only way in which Fossella is a Bush/Cheney/Rove lapdog.

    Let's look at the record. Let's start with an article from 2005 from Americans United to Protect Social Security:

    STATEN ISLAND – Social Security recipients and activists delivered a large frosted “Social Security” cake to Congressman Vito Fossella’s office today – to illustrate Fossella’s approach to Social Security -- having his cake and eating it too.

    “Fossella continues to consider legislation that would privatize Social Security by diverting the Social Security surplus into private accounts – even as he says he opposes the sliding-scale benefit reductions promoted by the Bush-Cheney administration,” said Frank O’Connor, a volunteer with the IN THIS TOGETHER campaign. “Fossella wants to have his cake and eat it too – because any privatization plan is inevitably accompanied by benefit cuts and dramatic increases in the national debt.”


    The article then highlights the extreme duplicity of Fossella's stand on this issue:

    "I do not believe the progressive indexing plan I have seen is in the best interests of the people I represent in Staten Island and Brooklyn.” – Fossella Statement 5/26/05

    “I can support personal accounts.” – Fossella Statement, 5/26/05

    Later on Monday, Fossella will be joined at a fundraiser by one of privatization’s biggest boosters, Vice President Dick Cheney.


    Now let's look at that visit Cheney made at this fundraiser for Fossella: (from the WHITE HOUSE WEBSITE)

    Tuesday, July 26, 2005
    Vice President at Dinner for Vito Fossella
    Vice President's Remarks at a Dinner for Congressman Vito Fossella
    The Excelsior Grand Staten Island, New York 6:40 P.M. EDT

    THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you all very much.

    Well, thank you very much, it's great to be back and to visit Staten Island -- the home of one of America's outstanding congressmen -- (applause) -- and friendly territory for our President, George W. Bush. (Applause.)

    I want to thank all of you for coming out today, and, of course, I'm here to join all of you in a tribute to one of our foremost rising stars, if you will, in the U.S. House of Representatives. You know him well, and you know he's a man who comes through time and time again for Staten Island and all of New York.

    Some of you may not be aware that I spent 10 years in the U.S. House of Representatives as a congressman. I was the congressman from Wyoming. Wyoming only has one congressman. (Laughter.) It was a small delegation, but it was quality. (Laughter and applause.) And my 10 years of service there taught me to appreciate the qualities of my colleagues and those who were first rate in terms of having good strong convictions, who never forgot where they came from, and who were, in fact, the leaders of the nation. And Vito Fossella is exactly that kind of member. (Applause.)...

    We're going to continue making progress for the American people, and in that work we could not ask for a better partner than Congressman Vito Fossella. (Applause.) Once again, I want to thank all of you for your commitment to the cause we share, and for electing Vito to Congress. Every time you vote for this man, you're voting for a better America, and for a strong, effective, patriotic Congressman who never forgets who sent him to Washington. The President and I look forward to working with Vito for a good many years to come.

    Thank you very much.

    END 7:00 P.M. EDT For Immediate Release Office of the Vice President July 25, 2005


    Clearly, Vice President Cheney does NOT think Fossella is in any way independent but rather considers him one of his best "partners" in enacting the extreme right wing agenda. Including, I might add, the destruction of Social Security.

    Going back a little further, to 2004, here are remarks by Bush at a Bush-Cheney reception in NYC: (again, from the White House website)

    Remarks by the President at Bush-Cheney 2004 Reception
    The Carltun
    East Meadow, New York

    6:25 P.M. EST

    THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming. Thanks for the warm welcome. It's great...Let me get started. (Laughter.) Thanks for coming. Thanks for your friendship. Thanks for your support. It is great to be back in New York. We have had a fantastic day here today. And it's topped off by what is a successful effort to make sure that my campaign is properly fueled -- (laughter) -- for the charge ahead. (Applause.)

    We're going to compete here in New York, and we're going to compete here hard. I'm counting on you. I'm counting on you to help us. The Vice President and I look forward to bringing our message to this great state. New York is going to be a part of what is going to be a great national victory in November of this year. (Applause.)

    Speaking about our Vice President, I made a really good pick when I asked Dick Cheney to join me. He's the finest Vice President our country has ever had. (Applause.)...

    I'm also pleased that Peter King traveled with me today, from Washington, D.C., to his district here in New York. (Applause.) I want to thank Peter for his service. He's a fine United States congressman, as is Vito Fossella. Vito is a New York congressman, as well. (Applause.)


    So, when Bush and Cheney love you, how can you call yourself independent? But it goes beyond Fossella serving Bush and Cheney. He also has been great friends with Republican criminals in Congress.

    Remember that Vito Fossella has received money from Republican Congressman and sexual predator Mark Foley, AND happily posed for photographs with him. And here is a list of contributions Fossella has received from the corrupt Republican leadership (from the DCCC website):

    TIES WITH THE GOP LEADERSHIP

    * Fossella received $15,000 from House Majority Leader John Boehner's "Freedom Project" PAC [Go here to read about Boehner's corruption].
    * Fossella has taken $1,000 from GOP Whip Roy Blunt[Roy Blunt is on of the nation's most corrupt politicians].
    * Fossella received $5,000 from GOP Whip Roy Blunt's "Rely on Your Beliefs" PAC.
    * Fossella voted with President Bush 89% of the time.
    * Fossella voted the GOP party line 92% of the time.

    TIES WITH TOM DELAY
    Fossella has taken:

    * $10,000 from Tom DeLay's ARMPAC.

    With all of these ties to the DeLay mess, is it any surprise that Fossella has:

    * Voted to weaken House ethics rules when DeLay proposed doing so as GOP Majority Leader.
    * Voted to allow the GOP House Leader to continue to serve after an indictment, an apparent tactic to protect DeLay.
    * Voted with Tom DeLay 91% of the time (through 3/31/2006)

    And let's not forget that Tom DeLay has been ARRESTED for his corruption.

    Now let's return to Fossella's voting record (remember...90% of the time voting with Republicans and Tom DeLay). Here are some excerpts:

    Rep. Fossella voted to cut Federal student aid by $12.7 billion -- the biggest such cuts in history.

    Rep. Fossella voted against granting a bonus to grant a $1,500 bonus to every American service member serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, including National Guard and Reserve forces.

    Rep. Fossella opposed expanding access to the military's TRICARE health insurance program to thousands of Reservist and National Guard members, even though 20 percent of all Reservists do not have health insurance, and 40 percent of Reservists aged 19 to 35 lack health coverage.

    Rep. Fossella voted to continue awarding contracts to Halliburton [Dick Cheney's pet company] even if the Pentagon's own audit processes found that more than $100 million of their contractor's costs in Iraq were unreasonable. No surprise that Halliburton gave Fossella $1,500.

    Rep. Fossella voted for the GOP Medicare Prescription Drug Bill that will give billions to businesses and the health care industry, while forcing seniors to accept annual increases in premiums and deductibles and a growing gap in coverage for the prescription drugs they buy.

    Rep. Fossella voted to allow federal loans to American companies that have escaped paying U.S. taxes by moving offshore.

    Rep. Fossella voted against cracking down on the oil and gas industries price gouging.

    Rep. Fossella voted for the GOP energy bill that gave billions to oil, gas and nuclear industries.

    So I have to ask, where in all this solid service to Bush, Cheney, DeLay, Foley and Halliburton does Fossella show ANY degree of independence whatsoever? And where is all this does he in any way serve America or New York?

    And, lest we forget, Vito Fossella himself is corrupt and scandal ridden.

    Sunday, August 12, 2007

    Vito Fossella: Corrupt Bush/Cheney/Rove Lapdog

    Vito Fossella (NY-13) is a Corrupt Republican Congressman in NYC. In 2006 he was nearly defeated by a grassroots challenger with only $100,000 and no support from the DCCC. That challenger, Steve Harrison, is ready for a rematch. Only this time Fossella is already in debt from last year, Harrison is getting an earlier start, and the DCCC are already considering supporting Harrison.

    Vito Fossella likes using the term "independent" and he and his followers actually got angry when I called him a Republican. But he IS a Republican and he VOTES like a Republican. I think it is time to review Vito Fossella's record. From the DCCCVito Fossella Corrupt Republican:

    FOSSELLA: Supporting Oil Companies, Not Americans

    * Rep. Fossella voted against cracking down on the oil and gas industries price gouging.
    * Rep. Fossella voted for the GOP energy bill that gave billions to oil, gas and nuclear industries.
    * Big oil and gas industries have given Rep. Fossella $62,700. Any surprise?

    FOSSELLA: Supporting Halliburton, NOT Supporting Our Troops

    * Rep. Fossella voted to continue awarding contracts to Halliburton even if the Pentagon's own audit processes found that more than $100 million of their contractor's costs in Iraq were unreasonable. No surprise that Halliburton gave Fossella $1,500.
    * Rep. Fossella opposed expanding access to the military's TRICARE health insurance program to thousands of Reservist and National Guard members, even though 20 percent of all Reservists do not have health insurance, and 40 percent of Reservists aged 19 to 35 lack health coverage.
    * Rep. Fossella voted against granting a bonus to grant a $1,500 bonus to every American service member serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, including National Guard and Reserve forces.

    FOSSELLA: NOT Independent...Republican Lap Dog

    * Fossella received $15,000 from House Majority Leader John Boehner's "Freedom Project" PAC.
    * Fossella has taken $1,000 from GOP Whip Roy Blunt.
    * Fossella received $5,000 from GOP Whip Roy Blunt's "Rely on Your Beliefs" PAC.
    * Fossella voted with President Bush 89% of the time.
    * Fossella voted the GOP party line 92% of the time.


    Here is a newspaper artilce onVito Fossella's Corruption:

    Bay Ridge’s four-term Republican congressman has been dipping into campaign funds to finance pleasure trips to exclusive resorts in Florida, Colorado, Nevada and California, according to published reports.

    Rep. Vito Fossella violated federal law when he took $53,142 from his campaign war chest to pay for fun-filled trips to the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and the Lodge at Vail, according to the Daily News.

    The trips often included his wife and two children, the News reported.

    In addition to the alleged misuse of campaign funds, the congressman took $11,000 from political consultants and corporate sponsors for “fact-finding missions,” including a $5,000 stay at Turnberry Isle Resort near Miami, which he charged to a political consultant’s credit card.

    Fossella also failed to disclose a free roundtrip to Miami on the private jet of the late Richard Adeo, cited by federal authorities as a Gambino crime family associate.

    He even sent out a taxpayer-funded mailing in which it appeared that Muppets Elmo and Rosita were endorsing him — a no-no in the public TV world


    And, just for the record, this is what the NY Times said about Vito Fossella in 2006:



    Fossella [is] anything but the independent fighter for constituents that he claims to be in this campaign. He has been a real water-carrier for the Bush administration and the Republican leadership, staunchly backing the war in Iraq while at the same time denying health benefits to National Guard and Reserve members who make up much of the American force there.

    The congressman...has been unsympathetic to environmental concerns and has opposed a woman’s right to choose. He does his constituents no favors by his support for privatizing Social Security. He has voted to protect gun makers and sellers. While Mr. Fossella has lately sought funding to deal with health problems related to to the attacks of Sept. 11, he has largely been missing on important local issues. His Democratic colleague, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, who represents the Sixth District, has often been left to advocate Staten Island’s many transportation needs, including the North Shore rail.

    Mr. Fossella has offered only lame excuses for improperly using his campaign funds for skiing holidays in Vail (including lessons and equipment), as well as vacations in Florida — transgressions first reported by the Daily News. He has received donations from a lobbying firm with ties to Jack Abramoff. Earlier this year, he was fined a reported $60,000 for misusing his taxpayer-funded official mailing privileges.


    And, by contrast, this is what the NY Times said about Steve Harrison, who is running against Vito again in 2008:

    Mr. Harrison...is an attractive alternative to Mr. Fossella in his own right. Mr. Harrison has a presence in both sides of the district; he resides in Brooklyn, while his mother and sister live on Staten Island.

    As chair of Community Board 10 in Brooklyn, he demonstrated leadership as he oversaw one of the city’s largest efforts to contain overdevelopment through rezoning. He has a good command of the issues, and a feel for the concerns of the district. Mr. Harrison surprised many with his passion and keen intelligence in a series of debates with Mr. Fossella. The distinctions could not be clearer. We endorse Mr. Harrison for Congress.


    You can help defeat Lap Dog Vito (NY-13) and other NY State Republican Incumbents by donating to the official Daily Gotham Act Blue Page.