There’s a wisecrack in journalism going back to the late 19th century, attributed to many. “‘Dog bites man’ is not news but ‘man bites dog’ is news.” That’s what I thought of when I read the headlines this morning about a Texas Congressman and his wife being charged with accepting bribes for official actions from a foreign country. “Congressman accepting bribes” is not news but “Congressman charged with accepting bribes” is news. And it’s not just any Congressman, either, but one with ten terms worth of seniority and positions on significant committees and subcommittees.
I wasn’t shocked by the report for reasons I’ve explained before. I think that practically all Congressmen are engaged in illegal or unethical activities and those who aren’t know about the actions of the rest which makes them guilty, too. It did surprise me that the DoJ was charging him. I can only speculate that some rogue news organization or another was about to reveal the facts (or, worse, hold the facts until releasing them could do the most harm) that prompted the action.
You can’t blame the voters. The Congressman has been running unopposed for quite a while. That’s true in a remarkable number of districts.
I could propose reforms that would reduce the scale of the problem but why bother? They will never be adopted and Constitutional amendments restraining Congressmen would just move the problem from members of Congress to staffs and the civil bureaucracy. The only thing that could really eliminate the problem would be to restrict the scope of Congressional action and that’s impractical.
“I can only speculate that some rogue news organization or another was about to reveal the facts (or, worse, hold the facts until releasing them could “”do the most harm) that prompted the action.”
He’s a conservative Dem. Critical of Biden border policy. Probably a far more likely reason to poison him in an election year.
Or maybe Biden is “saving our democracy”. Snicker
I was going through the list of charges against Cuellar and his family looking for differences between them and the improprieties that the Biden clan has been implicated in and ????? I couldn’t find any.
Now I’m not an attorney, I’m not a politician, never been to DC, I know things are different there, more expensive.
Still can’t get past the obvious, the Department of Justice is controlled by the DNC.
For people who don’t see Trump’s support,
This is it in a nutshell, we don’t trust the DOJ.
There are 17 cases in the recent past against Congress members either pending or complete. 9 GOP and 8 Dems, though it should be noted it was the Dem DOJ that re opened and got a Republican senator’s charges dropped/reversed. Among governors that are 4 cases, 2 GOP and 2 Dems. Of note 2 of those are from Illinois. Only 2 of those served their full terms as Trump commuted Blago and SCOTUS changed the rules about corruption and bribery (it’s OK if a GOP governor does it) to let McDonnell go free.
Going by actual evidence, there is nothing to indicate the DOJ is permanently controlled by one party. It’s certainly biased in favor of whatever POTUS is in charge but there are many cases of charging their own party, like Menendez.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/23/politics/bob-menendez-democrat-republican-what-matters/index.html
Steve
The DOJ is also prosecuting Menendez, a Democrat. Looking at recent prosecutions by the DOJ among Congress it has been 9 GOP and 8 Dems, though note that a Dem DOJ worked to clear the conviction of Stevens, a GOP. Among governors its 2 GOP and 2 Dem (2 from Illinois). Note that only 2 gov served their term as Trump commuted Blago and SCOTUS changed the rules on bribery and corruption (it doesnt count if you are a Republican) to let McDonnell go. Anyway, based upon evidence it doesnt appear that the DOJ is permanently tilted one way or another, just serially supporting the POTUS in office.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/23/politics/bob-menendez-democrat-republican-what-matters/index.html
Steve
Of Illinois’s governors since 1960 four have gone to prison after their terms of office. Additionally, the Speaker of the Illinois House and chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party for most of the last 40 years has been indicted on corruption charges. The notion that high-ranking party officials were unaware of his corruption is laughable. Any notion that our present governor was unaware of Blagojevich’s corruption is flat out false—we have him on tape talking with Blago about it.
steve, the reality of public office is that it is not possible to serve for any substantial period of time without becoming corrupt. Forty years serving in public office should be considered a prima facie case for corruption.
Lord Acton’s remark is appropriate: “Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely”.