One difference between how Democrats and Republicans react to scandal is that Democrats tend to resign, while Republicans hang onto power until the bitter end. The end may be coming soon for a prominent resident of C Street, operated by the Family, a secretive religious cult. C Street bribes Republicans and Blue Dogs by providing them luxury accommodations at a fraction of their market value.
A federal grand jury has issued subpoenas to a Republican campaign committee and companies in Nevada in a probe of Sen. John Ensign, who has been under scrutiny for his efforts to find lobbying work for the husband of his former mistress.
One subpoena went to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which was formerly chaired by Ensign, a Nevada Republican, committee spokesman Brian Walsh said Thursday.
Sean Cairncross, general counsel for the group that is the campaign committee for Republican Senate candidates, said the committee has responded appropriately to questions concerning matters related to the timeframe of the 2008 election campaign.
Earlier Thursday, a Las Vegas television station reported that grand jury subpoenas in the Ensign probe went to six Las Vegas businesses that it did not name.
According to one subpoena obtained by the Las Vegas television station, recipients were ordered to testify March 31 in Washington, D.C., and to turn over documents relating to the Republican senator. The station posted one subpoena on its Web site with the recipient’s identity blacked out.
Ensign’s affair and the legal problems it has engendered have derailed talk that he might make a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 and forced him to resign his position as chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee.
Asked about the subpoenas, Ensign spokeswoman Rebecca Fisher said, "Sen. Ensign is confident he has complied with all ethics rules and laws and will cooperate with any official inquiries."
The FBI and Senate Ethics Committee are investigating whether Ensign tried to limit political damage from an affair he had with the wife of one of his Senate aides by conspiring to help the aide find a new job as a lobbyist, which might have violated restrictions on lobbying by former congressional staff.
Federal criminal law prohibits congressional aides from lobbying their ex-bosses or office colleagues for one year after departing their Hill jobs… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <AP>
I am among the first to recognize that people have feet of clay. I do. I donate considerable time helping people that do. I believe that people who rehabilitate themselves deserve a second chance. So if I seem to have a double standard, here’s the difference. When someone takes responsibility for their crimes and accepts the consequences, they should be allowed to rebuild. I would have no objections to Elliot Spitzer or John Dean returning to public service. But when someone does not take responsibility for their crimes and tries to evade responsibility beyond the issuance of a brief theatrical mea culpa, especially when trying to pretending to be holier than the rest of us, that person is not fit for public service.
Rachel Maddow and Rev. Welton Gaddy discussed the issue:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Wow! It’s not often that I agree with a Baptist preacher.
20 Responses to “A Cloud Over C Street”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Yes sir I could get behind a DoJ investigation of The Family as a corollary to an Ethics Committee investigation. But Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrich (D 13th district MI) was also served subpoenas last week but SHE says she is not the target of the probe. Must be her dirty ass son or her rotten to the bone ex old man or other members of her posse of which she IS the ringleader.
Mark, I’m not aware of her. Bush Dog?
I agree with Rev Gaddy – when you put your religion ahead of your politics, you suddenly think you’re above the law. I’m glad Ensign is finally getting his. TC, like you said at least the Dems resign when something like this happens – I said that yesterday. I hope this asshole gets fried by thee DoJ and that the IRS finds out what’s going on with this C Street group. A religious organization masquerading as a political organization is not something this country needs.
I’d call it a theocratic organization. I have participated several times in the Blogswarm Against Theocracy. I have my own faith, and at times, I share it as an alternative, but were I to try to impose it on others, I’d be crossing the line into their space. This is what the rabid religious right refuses to recognize.
John Ensign, like the entire C Street “Family”, is a charlatan. That entire C Street complex should be razed and its inhabitants banished from office. And if that clan of phonies can be considered a legitimate church, then call me “Pope Jack I” and mail in all your tax-deductible contributions, everybody!
Well hey there PJ!! 😉
The check is in the mail, Your Helliness. 😈
Rev. Gaddy is the acceptable face of religion. What a decent man.
Holte, I agree and respect his faith, even though I disagree with much of his theology.
Not to disparage, but Gaddy’s remarks are most interesting coming from a Baptist minister and even more so coming from a “Southern” Baptist of any ilk. I’d love it if my “Southern” Baptist relatives were as enlightened. Maybe if there were more leaders of his caliber the membership numbers wouldn’t be dwindling.
Mr. Hollywood Ensign with the perfect teeth (are they his?) will tumble along with the walls of C-Street.
I agree, Tnlib, that he is certainly atypical for an evangelical pastor. I wish there were many more like him.
I’m sorry to disappoint anyone, but didn’t you all get the memo? Since Bush/Cheney ALL Republicans are above the law now. Laws are for Democrats and “little people” to obey.
“Conservative” means not having to be accountable.
That’s sure the way they see it, Dave.
I tell you right now, you can’t view these people the way that WE view them, because THEY don’t understand that point of view. They literally do not understand it.
The right wing religious fringe believes that they are “chosen” people, and therefore not subject to the same rules that govern the heathens. That’s why Michele Bachmann and Caribou Barbie can both get by with being welfare queens while they cry about healthcare reform, that’s why “Diaper Dave” Vitter is still considered one of the leading lights of the right wing, and that’s why Mark Sanford is still Governor of South Carolina. IOKIYAR. OF COURSE people like Spitzer and Clinton are held to a different standard! They aren’t “special.”
JR, of course I agree. They believe that they are right by defination, and therefore, justified in any evil they do to achieve their saintly ends.
JR: You’re right on the button as usual. I know so many of the “chosen” who have said that Mormons are not Christians. Yet, they follow Beck with their tongues hanging out.
An interestion observation. But, if Romney gets the nomination, that should prove most interesting.
Democrats resign quickly because they have something that’s gone out of fashion with modern-day Republicans: a sense of shame.
Well said, FG.
There are different levels of scandals and lies.
In this “C” street house we see the most devious level of immorality and hypocrisy. I mean in one room they are having prayer meeting, while in the next room at the same time they are committing adultery. Then they lie and cover for each other, not to mention communally paying for a place to engage in their acts. Yet, Republicans will say, that’s no worse than getting a BJ in the White House. Really?
When you tell a lie that costs thousands of American soldiers to lose their lives, I think that’s a lie much worse than lying about one’s income to the IRS. I could go on with a long list of comparisons, but I know you understand the difference. It’s the religious, moral right, that does not. Funny!
But Tom, Clinton’s BJ was the unforgiveable sin, because he was not one of them.