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What a train-wreck!

Richardson to withdraw as Commerce secretary - Politics- msnbc.com

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, tapped in December by President-elect Barack Obama to serve as secretary of Commerce, has withdrawn his name for the position, citing a pending investigation into a company that has done business with his state.

Buck Naked Politics: Bill Richardson: Unlucky Target in Pay-to-Play Investigation

Obama’s pick for Commerce Secretary, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, is apparently under investigation for corrupt activities. The Los Angeles Times reports:

LexisNexis News

NBC News Transcripts
SHOW: NBC Nightly News 6:30 PM EST NBC
December 23, 2008 Tuesday
427 words
Questions over Bill Richardson’s political contributions while governor
ANN CURRY
LISA MYERS

ANN CURRY, anchor:

The Obama team may have another problem on its hands: a growing investigation into New Mexico governor and former presidential candidate Bill Richardson, who is Obama’s choice for Commerce Secretary. At issue is whether there was a relationship between political contributions to Richardson and his actions as governor. More on this now from NBC’s chief–rather, senior investigative correspondent, Lisa Myers.

President-elect BARACK OBAMA: Secretary of commerce, my great friend, Governor Bill Richardson.

LISA MYERS reporting:

The allegations now being investigated by a federal grand jury involve whether Richardson as governor steered state bond business to a firm whose founder made substantial contributions to Richardson’s political action committee. Two former state officials involved in the bond deals told NBC News that they testified before a grand jury in Albuquerque last week. One official says prosecutors focused on whether Richardson or staff pushed to give business to CDR Financial Products. It specifically asked about what’s called pay to play.

Now, feds probe Gov. Richardson of Obama Cabinet for ‘pay-to-play’ - Los Angeles Times

It seems that Illinois’ legally challenged Gov. Rod Blagojevich is not the only close Barack Obama associate and Democratic governor being investigated by the feds for possibly selling government business in return for campaign contributions.

New Mexico’s Gov. Bill Richardson, who is the newly named Secretary of Commerce in Obama’s about-to-be Cabinet, is also being investigated by a federal grand jury in his home state for possibly steering state bond business from the New Mexico Financial Authority toward David Rubin, a significant campaign contributor, according to an NBC News report, among other

What a difference a candidate makes. TPM hackery on full display.

Funny how when a report cleared Governor Sarah Palin of any wrongdoing on bogus accusations Talking Points Memo and the rest of the nutroots cried foul because one report was done by the Governors office.

Talking Points Memo | Election Eve Info “Dump”

It’s fitting that the McCain-Palin campaign ends with a couple of politically motivated pretend nods to transparency.

First Sarah Palin’s own personnel board released a report earlier this evening clearing her in the Trooper-Gate investigation. Nice timing.

Now Palin has released a letter from her personal physician proclaiming her to be in good health and fit to serve — instead of releasing her medical records, which she’d promised to do days ago.

They see fit to do this on the night before the election?

(As a side note, the McCain camp press release is titled “GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN RELEASES MEDICAL HISTORY SUMMARY.” But it appears all they released was that letter (.pdf). Over at The Page, that morphs into the headline: “PALIN RELEASES MEDICAL RECORDS.” A letter becomes a summary becomes medical records.)

Now today, with their own report, Barack Obama clears himself and his Chief of Staff to be Rahm Emanuel, the same Talking Points Memo and nutroots are shouting from their laptops that all is well on this night before Christmas Eve document dump, prepared by and released by team Obama itself.

Talking Points Memo | Read It Yourself

We have the Obama team’s report on its contacts with Blago posted here.

TPM Election Central | Talking Points Memo | Obama Team Releases Blago Report

The Obama transition team has now released its much-awaited internal report on staff contacts with Rod Blagojevich and his own office, saying that members of the transition team did not behave improperly.

What a joke.

As the Democrats continue to unravel a NY Senator-elect Hirram Monserrate figures he would contribute to the the unraveling by assaulting his girlfriend

The Daily Politics - NY Daily News

Senator-elect Hirram Monserrate was arrested early this morning after he brought a woman believed to be his girlfriend to Long Island Jewish Hospital with severe lacerations on her face that will require multiple sitches to close, sources confirmed.

Monserrate and his girlfriend arrived at the hospital at approximately 4:30 a.m. where he was detained for questioning and subsequently arrested, according to an NYPD source. The incident occurred at an apartment at 37-20 83rd St. in Jackson Heights, Queens.

Monserrate was charged with assault one.

UPDATE: More details on the incident: It involved a beer bottle, which Monserrate allegedly used to cut his girlfriend, Karla Giraldo, 30, in or around her left eye so badly that she required 20 to 40 stiches.

HIRAM MONSERRATE - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

Officials said that Mr. Monserrate had taken his girlfriend, Karla Giraldo, 30, to Long Island Jewish Medical Center with what appeared to be a serious injury in or around her left eye.

Ms. Giraldo told hospital staff members that it was Mr. Monserrate who had assaulted her, officials said. It appeared that she had been punched and slashed in or around her left eye with a shard of glass, and officials said it took 20 to 40 stitches to close the wound. A doctor at the hospital, which straddles the border between Queens and Nassau County, called the police at 4:50 a.m.

MySpace.com - Hiram Monserrate - 100 - Male - Queens, New York - www.myspace.com/hirammonserrate

Hiram Monserrate made history in 2001 when he became the first Latino elected to public office in Queens, winning a seat representing the 21st Council District of Corona, East Elmhurst, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. Since then, he has brought his unique experience as a Marine, NYPD police officer, and civil rights advocate to the City Council, working to empower and protect all New Yorkers.

democrats, crime, new york, senate, monserrate

Barack Obama and the Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich senate seat scandal.
Rahm Emanuel looks to be neck deep in this scandal by at least 21 taped phone calls between Emanuel and Blagojevich;

Rahm’s calls on tape :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Michael Sneed

Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is reportedly on 21 different taped conversations by the feds — dealing with his boss’ vacant Senate seat!

A lot of chit-chat?

How deep in is Obama?

Blagojevich, crime, obama, democrats, scandal, fbi, taped, phone calls, emanuel, video

Wow….. when Barack Obama said “change” who knew it meant having the most corrupt cabinet to ever enter the White House!

“Pay To Play” Probe Hits New Mexico, Washington Post: Gov. Bill Richardson’s Office Investigated Over Political Contributor’s $1.4M State Contracts

A federal grand jury is investigating whether a financial firm improperly won more than $1.4 million in work for the state of New Mexico shortly after making contributions to political action committees of Gov. Bill Richardson (D).

The probe focuses on whether the governor’s office urged a state agency to hire CDR Financial Products. The probe is in a highly active stage at a time when President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Richardson as his nominee for secretary of commerce, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.

First Rahm Emanuel now Bill Richardson, how many members of team Obama will be under investigation before entering the White House?

Gov. Bill Richardson as Commerce Secretary-designate - Change.gov: The Obama-Biden Transition Team

President-elect Barack Obama announced he has asked Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico to join his administration as Secretary of Commerce.

obama, crime, scandal, richardson, new mexico, CDR

Will Rahm Emanuel be forced to resign as President Obama’s Chief of Staff before he ever even officially move into the position?

No taint seen on Prez-elect, but Rahm Emanuel gave a wishlist for Senate

President-elect Barack Obama’s right-hand man reportedly gave the disgraced Blagojevich administration a list of four women Obama considered acceptable to fill his U.S. Senate seat.

Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois congressman who will serve as Obama’s White House chief of staff, was heard discussing the issue on court-approved wiretaps with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s chief of staff, the Chicago Tribune said.

TPM would be the place where convicted felon and laft wing partisian hack John Dean would go to post an open letter to Barack Obama how to not look so guilty in the Governor Blagojevich / Senate seat scandal.

Talking Points Memo | Open Letter to President-Elect Obama

I am writing with a suggestion that might help to remove you and your new administration from the still metastasizing scandal of Governor Blagojevich trying to sell your senate seat. Needless to say, until the news media is satisfied that you and your new administration have no complicity in this matter, they will continue to focus on it. Because of my own personal experience with Watergate, the mother of modern presidential scandals, not to mention being a student of scandals that followed, I speak as someone who learned the hard way by making mistakes and then watched as others made their own similar and unnecessary blunders.

It may be hard for Obama to “remove” himself from the Blagojevich scandal if he and or his newly appointed cabinet members like David Axelrod or Rahm Emanuel are directly involved .

Report: Emanuel talked to Blago about seat - UPI.com

White House chief of staff-designate Rahm Emanuel spoke to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich about President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat, sources say.

Emuanel spoke to Blagojevich about who would be acceptable to Obama as a replacement for him in the U.S. Senate, which the Illinois governor has the right to appoint to fill out the term, Saturday’s Chicago Tribune quoted unnamed sources as saying.

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo is a Liar and Supporter of Child Abusers, he is and he knows it.
Few if any have done more to smear, twist and outright lie when it comes to the facts and Alaska Governor Sara Palin.

Talking Points Memo | How Did I Miss This?

In other news, Mike Wooten, the state trooper and former brother-in-law who Palin abused power over and lied about, is getting reassigned again because of continuing threats to his safety tied to Palin’s nonsense.

What part of Palin being CLEARED does Marshall not undrstand?

Palin cleared by Alaska panel in ethics probe | Reuters

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Alaska Gov. and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was cleared on Monday of wrongdoing in an abuse-of-power investigation into the firing of the state’s public safety commissioner.

The Facts on Wooten that Josh Marshall refuses to put forward.

Isn’t it ironic that it’s the left that resorts to violence when they don’t get their way here in America.
From the Radical enviro-terrorists to the Anti-Military groups to the reemerging domestic terrorist Bill Ayers to the Radical “Gay-Rights” thugs who are now terrorizing churches.

As the father of domestic terrorism and the “Family Friend” of Barack Obama Bill Ayers says… terrorism is just fine as long as you feel your cause is just.

It just proves the point that the conservative mindset is far less likely to resort to violence because if it was every one of these sad sack, sorry ass America hating groups would be crushed without breaking a sweat.

Daily Herald - Vandalism over Prop. 8 denounced

Following an FBI report that the white powder that spilled onto a mail clerk’s hand at Temple Square is nontoxic, local gay rights advocacy groups have condemned any acts of non-peaceful protest against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

And then you have complete MORONS like John Aravosis who runs Ameriblog calling for a boycott of Utah?
Ahhhh….ummmm…..pretending for a split moment that Aravosis has a point, it’s California that voted to ban gay marriage not Utah.

Zarch Rants » The Imam of the Gay Jihad
Aravosis
expressed outrage over alleged “mishandling” of the Quran. Can we at
least get a “please don’t do that” when someone burns a copy of the
Book of Mormon? Or is Mormonism less equal than Islam?

Oh and just a side note:

FOXNews.com - Lindsay Lohan Pelted With Flour Bomb for Wearing Fur

Actress Lindsay Lohan was pelted with a flour bomb when she arrived at a Paris nightclub wearing a fur stole.

Notice how Democrats are only interested in counting votes when they lose. Al Franken lost to Senator Norm Coleman but now the democrats are pulling out all the stops in an attempt to steal the election.

This must be an Al Franken recount because it reads like a scene from a Saturday Night Live script.

Minnesota Democrats Exposed

“Let’s assume the 32 disputed ballots in Minneapolis were legitimate. Let’s assume the newly discovered 100 votes in Pine County — all for Al Franken — were just overlooked by a sleepy official, and the 100 votes found in Mountain Iron — again, all for Franken — were valid.

Mischief in Minnesota? - WSJ.com

The vanishing Coleman vote came during a week in which election officials are obliged to double-check their initial results. Minnesota is required to do these audits, and it isn’t unusual for officials to report that they transposed a number here or there. In a normal audit, these mistakes could be expected to cut both ways. Instead, nearly every “fix” has gone for Mr. Franken, in some cases under strange circumstances.

For example, there was Friday night’s announcement by Minneapolis’s director of elections that she’d forgotten to count 32 absentee ballots in her car. The Coleman campaign scrambled to get a county judge to halt the counting of these absentees, since it was impossible to prove their integrity 72 hours after the polls closed. The judge refused on grounds that she lacked jurisdiction.

Some democrats all but admit how they are going to steal the election for Franken using the already in place guidelines. Hiding votes in car trunks and attics…No big deal.

The courts have already rejected a claim that Hennepin County cannot count absentee ballots because they were accidentally left in an election official’s car. Republicans are criticizing St. Louis County (where Duluth is), another Franken stronghold, because the county stores its ballots in the courthouse attic. But that just happens to be the location of a secure room to which the county auditor and chief election official have the only two keys.

What the democrats wont touch or answer is how many Coleman votes are making their way into the trash as the DEMOCRAT election officials transfer the “new found” ballots from their car trunks to the recount table?

Why Al Franken Will be Minnesota’s Next Senator | Democracy and Elections | AlterNet

There are many steps to a certified election result in Minnesota and each, to Franken’s benefit

The Democrat Firewall

Katherine Kersten - Could Senate recount referee’s resume color the result?

On the day before last week’s election, the respected on-line journal Politico predicted that these SOS victories would bear fruit this year. “Democrats have built an administrative firewall designed to protect their electoral interests in five of the most important battleground states,” Politico said. As a result, they are now “in a more advantageous position when it comes to the interpretation and administration of election law — a development that could benefit Barack Obama if any of those states are closely contested.”

That advantageous position could also benefit a Democrat in a pivotal Senate race, they might have added.

Ritchie said in an interview that he will be impartial in the Coleman-Franken recount. “Just two months ago, we ran two really great primary recounts, and I’m looking forward to the four recounts coming up,” he said.

Thus far, Ritchie has shown no evidence of misconduct. But many Minnesotans are questioning the openness and transparency of the vote tally that just ended.