Money trails lead to Bush judges

[cally]

Salon

:wow:

Oct. 31, 2006 | At least two dozen federal judges appointed by President Bush since 2001 made political contributions to key Republicans or to the president himself while under consideration for their judgeships, government records show. A four-month investigation of Bush-appointed judges by the Center for Investigative Reporting reveals that six appellate court judges and 18 district court judges contributed a total of more than $44,000 to politicians who were influential in their appointments. Some gave money directly to Bush after he officially nominated them. Other judges contributed to Republican campaign committees while they were under consideration for a judgeship.

Republicans who received money from judges en route to the bench include Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Sens. George Voinovich and Mike DeWine of Ohio, and Gov. George Pataki of New York.

There are no laws or regulations prohibiting political contributions by a candidate for a federal judgeship. But political giving by judicial candidates has been a rarely scrutinized activity amid the process that determines who will receive lifelong jobs on the federal bench. Some ethics experts and Bush-appointed judges say that political giving is inappropriate for those seeking judicial office -- it can appear unethical, they say, and could jeopardize the public's confidence in the impartiality of the nation's courts. Those concerns come as ethics and corruption scandals have roiled Washington, and on the eve of midterm elections whose outcome could influence the makeup of the federal judiciary -- including the Supreme Court -- for decades to come.

The CIR investigation analyzed the campaign contribution records of 249 judges appointed by Bush nationwide since 2001. The money trail leading from Bush judges to influential politicians runs particularly deep through the political battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

[TheDebbieDee]

1. This is from Salon? An MSM source?

The trickle is turning into a stream!

[Tellurian]

3. Salon.. in a continuing investigative series.. of corruption

http://dir.salon.com/topics/bush_judges/index.html

[Tellurian]

2. Is there a BROOM BIG enough to sweep the Republican Cancer from this country?

So Judges, who may in THIS midterm election, may be standing in review of
contested elections in key battleground states. These Judges have donated to
the campaigns of Republican politicos seeking re/election. At the very least,
will have to recuse themselves in the event a contested election lands
in their court.

[0rganism]

5. Not yet, and it will take a long time to make one

The damage these corrupt selfish nepotistic asshats have done to our country will take generations to remove. Assuming the country is still around in 100 years, we may be free of their taint by then.

[Tellurian]

7. Thanks, Salon for doing the investigative homework..

exposing the rampant corruption coming from the Bush White House,
destroying our country and the America, we once knew!

[Canuckistanian]

12. "recuse themselves"? hahaha, good one...

Just like Scalia "recused himself" in the Cheney Energy Task force case, the Monday after he went hunting with Cheney on the weekend?

What was it Scalia said? Oh, yes,

If it is reasonable to think that a Supreme Court Justice can be bought so cheap, the Nation is in deeper trouble than I had imagined.

[Tellurian]

15. Judicial Watch and The Sierra Club asked the same question..

To my knowledge they're STILL NOT laughing...

after Scalia said :

Supreme Court justices have the power to decide for themselves whether they should be removed from pending cases.

Scalia concluded friendship alone did not meet the standard.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/04/27/scotus.cheney/index.html

[truthisfreedom]

13. if we cut all of the rethug cancer from the body of America, there might

just be enough governmental tissue left to flush down the drain in one try.

[MGKrebs]

4. "runs particularly deep through ... Ohio and Pennsylvania."???

Oh fer chrissakes. There aren't enough prosecuters to handle this level of corruption.

On edit: 24 out of 249 analyzed? Thats about 10%!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

6. to be fair, we should compare it to the Dem record

be prepared, we may have been sucking at that trough too.

[satya]

8. Conservative advocacy group looked into that. Found 10 in their sampling.

After being alerted to the forthcoming Salon/CIR story, the Committee for Justice, a conservative advocacy group in Washington with ties to Karl Rove and Santorum, looked into a sampling of President Clinton's judicial picks, according to Sean Rushton, the group's executive director. CFJ found 10 judges confirmed to the bench under Clinton who had given political contributions of some kind after they were nominated, according to information provided by Rushton.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

11. thank you satya!

:)

[hootinholler]

9. For everyone who is surprised by this report...

What part of "pay to play" did you not understand?

-Hoot

[ShockediSay]

10. Federal Rules of Judicial Ethics require that a judge avoid any conduct

that would appear to violate one's impartiality (or words to that effect)

[Charlie Brown]

14. WHILE they were under consideration??

Anyone who's that dumb should not be on the bench to begin with.

[xchrom]

16. judges PAID bushco to get their jobs!?!? colour me surprised!

well maybe not so much.

[skooooo]

17. Olbermann should get on this.!!!

[Auntie Bush]

20. Definitely! Did you or the Op send it? Anyone?

[skooooo]

22. nope can't right now

[cally]

18. kick for the morning

[technorazzi]

19. emperatus dipshiticus

emperatus dipshiticus' days are numbered. No single entity living or dead has left a longer trail stench and destruction.

[cally]

23. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[kestrel91316]

21. Just when you think you've heard it all........

Bush could be locked up on federal bribery charges for life just on THIS. Nevermind all the other thousands of criminal violations under his belt.

Jesus wept.