House Ethics Committee publicly admonishes Candice Miller

[Lefty48197]

These days, you can hardly get a Republican to admit their own mistakes, let alone, criticize one of their party brethren for their mistakes. Such was the case, however, this week when Republican Congresswoman Candice Miller of Harrison Twp, MI was admonished by the House Ethics Committee for her part in a bribery and extortion scandal.
The Republicans on the committee decided not to block an investigative report that served as a "public admonishment" of both Candice Miller, and House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay. Those two are at the center of the controversy concerning a vote cast by Rep. Nick Smith-R, Addison, MI on George Bush's Medicare Prescription Drug plan last November.
Smith voted against that bill on the morning of Nov 22, 2003, but not before he was offered a bribe to change his vote to "yes". Rep. Smith had already announced his plans to retire, and his son Brad had already announced his plans to run for the seat his father was going to vacate.
After his "no" vote, Smith announced that a group of lawmakers and business people had promised to give a substantial amount of money to his son's campaign, if Rep. Smith would change his vote to "yes". Smith said he was offered $100,000 for his son's campaign. Smith also said the same "interests" threatened to support a different candidate if Smith didn't change his vote.
The committee found that, "Representative Smith fairly interpreted Representative Miller's statements to him during the vote as a threat of retaliation against him for voting in opposition to the bill." The committee didn't answer the question of whether the "threat of retaliation" was limited to opposing the candidacy of Brad Smith, or whether there were additional threats.
When asked about her role in the scandal, Candice Miller said, "I may have committed a discreet violation of the rules." She also added, "There was no evidence adduced of a pattern of misconduct."
Well that's just dandy, Congresswoman. I'm glad to hear that you weren't accused of a pattern of extortion and bribery, but rather just an isolated instance of each. When she and the committee used the phrase, "discreet violation of the rules", they were 'sugar-coating' the whole affair, to say the least.
The committee also failed to mention who the "business interests" were that participated in the bribery and extortion scheme. Since this is Michigan, it's probably possible to assemble a list of the "usual suspects", and have the guilty parties appear on that list.
To date, I haven't heard of any special prosecutors, or grand juries pursuing a possible indictment against either Tom DeLay, Candice Miller, or the "business interests".
Stay tuned...

[AIJ Alom]

1. Hmmm. Wonder how many other Republicans have been bribed.

I bet this brave Republican is now getting death threats from freeperville just like the guy who came forward with Abu Ghraib.

[Obamarama]

2. And this was our Secretary of State....

Candice Millwe was our Secretary of State during the administration of that fat, disgusting fuck John Engler. As for the "business interests," I'm sure there's no connection at all to the lovely Betsy DeVos of Amway infamy. <sarcasm off>

[Lefty48197]

3. Here's a link to today's story:

http://www.detnews.com/2004/politics/0410/01/a07-290796.htm

Here's a couple of earlier links to the story:
http://www.freep.com/voices/editorials/esmith5_20031205.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/21/congress.bribery/