This is a rehash of Old News, but relevant, since it involves two who are implicated in the alleged cover-up of the Foley Scandal.

Republican Representative James Walsh of New York, said Hastert can't sit on the fence any longer on leadership elections. Walsh also wants Hastert to back a package of lobbying rule changes.

``The speaker has to be the leader right now,'' Walsh said. ``He's got to decide whether or not he needs to move forward and call for elections and put a reform package before the House, or say, `I've weighed it all and I think we should not have elections because it would lead to disarray.' He's got to do one or the other.''

Long History of Collaboration

The insistence on Hastert taking action puts the speaker in the awkward position of possibly ending the leadership career of his one-time mentor. Hastert organized DeLay's successful campaign for majority whip after Republicans took control of the House in 1994. DeLay then selected Hastert to be his chief deputy, and the two shared offices and a staff in the Capitol.

In 1998, Hastert vaulted into the speaker's chair, when Speaker Newt Gingrich retired after Republicans losses in mid- term elections, and speaker-designate Bob Livingston admitted extramarital affairs and resigned. Bill Paxon, a former Republican House lawmaker, said he heard DeLay tell Hastert on the House floor that he should run and by day's end Hastert was elected.

Charles Jones, an analyst at the Brookings Institution, a public policy group in Washington, said the genial Hastert and more hard-charging DeLay developed a ``good cop-bad cop'' style that has been effective in helping them to maintain party unity.

``This combination has been a good one, and it would continue to be a good one if DeLay hadn't gotten into these problems,'' Jones said.
Shimkus said just the implication will be enough to force DeLay out.
``He could be on the losing end, even if he's done nothing wrong,'' Shimkus said. ``Perception could overtake reality. That's unfortunate, but that's the body politic we live in.''

Perhaps the tail has come around to bite both Hastert and Shimkus, maybe its time for both to step down, permanently.

Ron McBride
CEO www.USLINX.com
Exec Dir www.WeDemocrats.com

Least some forget the Abramoff Scandal:
Key Vote

Jack Abramoff Investigation Resolution

Bill Number: H Res 746
Issue: Congressional Affairs
Date: 04/06/2006
Sponsor:Tabling Motion: Rep Bishop, Rob [UT-1]; Original Bill: Rep Pelosi, Nancy [CA-8]

Roll Call Number: 76
Tabling Motion Adopted (House)
How members voted

Representative John M. Shimkus voted YES.

reported by Vote-Smart.org

Why given the facts he voted to table this resolution? Why? Politics of course, protected republicans at any cost, even crooks.

Ron McBride
CEO www.USLINX.com
Exec Dir www.WeDemocrats.com

Why I am Afraid

Today following the revelations of yesterday, I went back into my files, and started chronicling the abuses of the Republicans, and friends I am afraid.

Bush and his cohorts, have been able to advance unpopular policies, derail popular programs of the opposition, deflect deserved blame and appropriate undue credit. From rented reporters, purchased pundits, and rigged rallies to scripted sessions, fake news and pseudo-science, an unapologetic White House has sought to alter public perceptions to control political debate - and reality itself.

The New York Times detailed the range of strategies and tactics the Bush administration uses to ensure favorable press coverage. The easiest way to get good ink, of course, is just to buy it. Accordingly, Maggie Gallagher collected from $41,500 from Tommy Thompson at HHS to push the marriage initiatives. The main drawback of paid-for-punditry is getting caught; President Bush may need to hire additional journalists to spin the GAO investigations now underway. (The Government Accountability Office will investigate whether the Bush administration broke the law when it paid a syndicated columnist to help its pro-marriage efforts. By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY).

GAO is already investigating a $240,000 Department of Education contract with columnist and pundit Armstrong Williams to promote Bush's No Child Left Behind education plan. Williams agreed to produce ads and promote the program during TV and radio appearances but never disclosed the deal on air.

The Republicans have been riddled with ethics scandals and investigations. CIA Plamegate leak investigation and DeLay's indictment are just a start.

Jack Abramoff, a conservative lobbyist whose Washington ties stretched deep into the Bush White House and the Republican Capitol was indicted for bank fraud, the indictment is now part of a Florida grand jury inquiry and the guilty plea by Michael Scanlon, a former DeLay aide who became Abramoff's partner, on charges of conspiring to bribe a Congressman, the scandal is creating headaches for Republicans--and opportunities for Democrats to turn a national scandal into political pay dirt.

The Abramoff scandal is about forced sex, human trafficking and selling out
ones values and principles for money and power, all involving Abramoff's work on the Commonwealth of North Mariana Islands (CNMI).

Old-fashioned bribery and influence-peddling scandals have already sullied the reputations of some of Washington's most powerful Republicans, not to mention Republican Lawmakers who accepted overseas trips, gifts and hefty campaign donations from Abramoff.

America’s mounting frustration with the Iraqi War and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s ridiculous statements and refusal to resign. As well as those statements of VP Cheney, who was former CEO of Halliburton Corporation, the same Corporation who got the billions of sweetheart contracts in the rebuilding of Iraq, who likens Democrats against the war to Nazis.

Voter’s concern about the damage done to Illinois' industries by the Bush Administration free-trade policies.

Now this latest Breaking News:

The improper communications between Congressman Mark Foley and former House Congressional pages is unacceptable and abhorrent. It is an obscene breach of trust.

The teen's family contacted their congressman, Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., who then discussed the problem with Reynolds sometime this spring.

"Rodney Alexander brought to my attention the existence of e-mails between Mark Foley and a former page of Mr. Alexander's," Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a written statement Saturday.

"Despite the fact that I had not seen the e-mails in question, and Mr. Alexander told me that the parents didn't want the matter pursued, I told the speaker of the conversation Mr. Alexander had with me," Reynolds said.

Hastert said he does not remember talking to Reynolds about the Foley e-mails, but did not dispute Reynolds' account.

"While the speaker does not explicitly recall this conversation, he has no reason to dispute Congressman Reynolds' recollection that he reported to him on the problem and its resolution," Hastert's aides said in a preliminary report on the matter issued Saturday.
The information was passed along to the congressman who oversees the page program, Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill.

Shimkus has said he learned about the e-mail exchange in late 2005 and took immediate action to investigate.

He said Foley told him it was an innocent exchange. This also calls into question the Republican's values.

“Anyone who was involved in the chain of information should come forward and
tell when they were told, what they were told and what they did with the
information when they got it,” said Representative Peter T. King, Republican of
New York. Mr. King called it a “dark day” for Congress and said, “We need a
full investigation.”

Representative Christopher Shays, Republican of Connecticut, said any leader
who had been aware of Mr. Foley’s behavior and failed to take action should
step down. “If they knew or should have known the extent of this problem, they
should not serve in leadership,” Mr. Shays said.

Besides the leaders, such as Shimkus and Hastert, other lawmakers and Congressional officers who served on the board that oversaw the page program were aware of e-mail messages, though the lone Democratic lawmaker who serves on the board, Representative Dale E. Kildee of Michigan, said Saturday that he had never been informed. Politics at its finest.

Mr. Shimkus, who chairs the Board, knew about these allegedly inappropriate e-mails from a fellow congressman to a minor for months (11 to be exact) and didn't lift a finger, excuse me he said he took immediate action; what a phone call to the guilty party?

Would the Prosecutor in a murder or robbery case take the word of the guilty party? No he would make sure that the investigation was thorough, Shimkus held the position of the Prosecutor, with the House as the Judge, and he dropped the ball.

Shimkus should resign now instead of hoping for a win in November, then resigning so Bush can appoint another of his cohorts to the post for another term. Even Republicans such as Shay of Connecticut is calling for the leadership including Shimkus and Hastert to step down.

It seems that Sen. Jim Talent (R-Mo) is getting some heat for having a lobbyist as his campaign treasurer. Well, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch looked around its readership area and found another lawmaker with a similar problem: John Shimkus.

It seems that the treasurer of Shimkus' campaign PAC, Mark Valente III, also "lobbies for a gamut of interests, including the North American Coal Corp." Shimkus didn't find anything wrong in this. (one wonders at the United Mineworkers of America UMWA endorsement of Shimkus, in view of the fact that his PAC treasurer was on the payroll of the opposition to their supposed positions on labor).

Shimkus also dismisses suggestions that lobbyist-campaign connections are improper. Valente never lobbied him after he became his PAC treasurer, Shimkus said. "I couldn't even tell you who he represents," he said.

Shimkus conceded that Valente's role as treasurer for him and other lawmakers "probably" gives him cachet with clients, who understand that it means he has a financial connection to those who hold power. "That's Washington," Shimkus said.

Indeed, there's little question that lawmakers are likely to return a lobbyist's call more quickly if that lobbyist also volunteers for their campaigns and helps bring in campaign cash. And there's little doubt that lobbyists use their "treasurer" or other campaign titles in pitches to clients, as proof that they are wired in with Washington's power players.

IL-19 has seen the evidence of all these scandals and lies, they have seen and heard that Shimkus lied about limited terms, they can see that he is involved in the alleged cover-up of the Foley scandal, that people in his organization are lobbyist for the very firms he is supposed to govern.

A recent article in an IL-19 paper talked about Shimkus as a likeable guy, a real lamb. Yea right, a Wolf in sheep clothing. So who is afraid of the big bad wolf, I AM!

Its time to stop this, its time to cleanup politics in IL-19, in Illinois, and in the Nation, its time to say ENOUGH!

Danny Stover is the first step, support him NOW.

Ron McBride
CEO www.USLINX.com
Exec Dir www.WeDemocrats.com

Shimkus and Hastert should resign
Foley cover up requires resignations

Because of the suspected cover-up of the Rep Foley Scandal, and the subsequent revelations of who knew what, WeDemocrats.com are advocating an immediate resignation of both John Shimkus from his IL-19 position, and the resignation of Speaker of the US House Dennis Hastert. Both knew better, but put political concerns above the law.

The time has come to set things right.

Ron McBride
CEO www.USLINX.com
Exec Dir www.WeDemocrats.com

I hate request for contributions from Candidates, but the time has come for all of us to stand up and be counted. To support Danny Stover in IL-19.

Its been said that “$400,000, just to do a couple of radio ads and a couple district-wide mailings," spending on everything from political consultants to parades and T-shirts, buying new signs, bumper stickers, letterhead and other items cost even more.

Fundraising is one of the two biggest ticket items, along with overhead, on most Candidates’ expense lists. Running a campaign is like running a business, and there are "customers" you have to cultivate: financial donors, campaign volunteers and loyal constituents, but you can’t do that unless you are a multi-millionaire.

Danny isn’t, he is a former college professor who is giving his all to this campaign, and deserves our support, not only in the blogs, or on the ground, which we do, but with our money, to help him win this seat.

As you know in an informal poll conducted by WeDemocrats.com, we predicted a Stover victory in November with a 4,000 vote margin, you can help insure this by supporting him NOW, with only 5 weeks left we can’t wait.

Ron McBride
CEO www.USLINX.com
Exec Dir www.WeDemocrats.com