Human
Events...
Holder,
Blago, Richardson: Triangle of
Sleaze
by Michelle Malkin
12/09/2011
It
was a rough week for the
corruptocracy. White House officials better ho-ho-hold on tight because
the
sleigh ride isn’t going to get any smoother.
On
Wednesday, disgraced former Gov.
Rod Blagojevich, D-Ill., received a 14-year prison sentence for
scheming to
sell President Barack Obama’s Senate office, along with several other
pay-for-play schemes. Blago played the distressed daddy for the federal
judge,
invoking his young daughters and wife (who held her notoriously foul
tongue in
check) to bemoan how his “life is in ruins.”
How
far Blago’s fallen from the glory
days of 2008, when he was gloating at the prospect of naming a
candidate to
fill then-President-elect Obama’s seat. “I’ve got this thing, and it’s
f**king
golden,” he crowed. All that glitters now, though, are the paparazzi
flash
bulbs that Blago faces on his perp walks.
Earlier
this week, Bill Richardson,
former Democratic governor of New Mexico, disgraced former presidential
candidate and failed Obama Commerce Secretary nominee, faced new
reports of a
federal grand jury into his possible violations of campaign finance
laws. The
funny-money business is tied to an alleged mistress payoff a la
disgraced
former presidential candidate and Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.
Additionally,
the Wall Street Journal
reports, investigators are probing how “Richardson’s close allies
steered more
than $2 billion of public money into investment funds run by money
managers who
in turn agreed to pay millions of dollars in consulting fees to
high-profile
Democratic fundraisers and other supporters of Richardson.”
The
star that joined together this
little constellation of sleaze? Disgraced U.S. Attorney General Eric
Holder.
Holder
and Blago go way back. Holder
himself suffered selective amnesia about the relationship during his
confirmation hearing. He somehow “forgot” to mention that Blagojevich
had appointed
him to probe corruption in Illinois casino licensing decisions. State
officials
had objected to Blago’s crony appointment of fundraiser Christopher
Kelly to
the state Gaming Board. Kelly’s business partner was now-convicted
felon and
shakedown artist Tony Rezko, Obama’s former bagman and real-estate
fixer.
Holder
pocketed $300,000 from Blago to
“investigate” and -- surprise, surprise -- concluded that no corruption
existed. They stood shoulder to shoulder at a 2004 news conference to
make the announcement.
But Holder failed to disclose it on his Senate Judiciary Committee
questionnaire, which he signed five days after Blagojevich’s arrest in
December
2008 for putting Obama’s U.S. Senate seat up for sale.
After
duping a Senate majority (including
19 Senate Republicans) into approving his AG nomination despite
multiple
admissions of failure, neglect and sabotage of the rule of law, Holder
moved up
to perform more cover-ups for Obama’s pals. In August 2009, Holder’s
DOJ
announced it was dropping federal corruption charges against Richardson
after a
yearlong federal probe into pay-to-play allegations involving one of
his large
political donors and state bond deals.
“It’s
over. There’s nothing. It was
killed in Washington,” a source close to the investigation told the
Associated
Press. Even as they tapped Richardson to serve as Obama’s first
Commerce
Secretary, the White House transition team knew about Richardson’s
pay-to-play
scandal involving a California company, CDR Financial Products. FBI and
federal
prosecutors had launched their probe of CDR’s activities in New Mexico
in the
summer of 2008.
The
feds had been digging into a
nationwide web of favor-trading between financial firms and politicians
overseeing local government bond markets. CDR was tied to a doomed bond
deal in
Alabama, which, according to Bloomberg News, threatened to cause the
biggest
municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. CDR raked in nearly $1.5 million
in fees
from a New Mexico state financial agency after donating more than
$100,000 to
Richardson’s efforts to register Hispanic and Native American voters
and to pay
for expenses at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, the news
service
reported.
The
state agency that awarded the
money consisted of five Richardson appointees and five members of his
gubernatorial cabinet. CDR made contributions both shortly before and
after
securing consultant work with the state of New Mexico. CDR’s president
also
contributed $29,000 to Obama’s presidential campaign. After Holder
dropped the
case, New Mexico Republicans blasted the lack of transparency in the
decisions
and the refusal to heed the advice of experienced, non-political
prosecutors
and FBI investigators.
Mother
Jones writer James Ridgeway’s comment
on the day of Richardson’s Commerce Secretary nomination withdrawal
proved
quite prescient: “It may be premature to say that Obama and his team
have too
high a tolerance for corruption. But this first self-destruct among his
cabinet
picks could well prove all the more damaging because it’s something
they should
have seen coming from miles away.”
The
same applies, of course, to Holder
himself -- who admitted at a House hearing that the Operation Fast and
Furious
scandal under his watch was “flawed,” “reckless,” “tragic” and deadly.”
How
much longer will America tolerate this reign of error and terror?
Read
this and other columns at Human
Events
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