BIG--Jerry Lewis(R-CA) Does The "Saturday Night Massacre" .....LINK

[Blackhatjack]

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001845.php

"House Appropriations chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) is under federal investigation for possible improprieties in how he oversaw Congress' spending of $900 billion annually. Yesterday, we reported that Lewis had dropped nearly $800,000 in legal fees to defend himself against the probe."

"This evening, Congressional Quarterly reports (sub. req.) that in a round of calls Monday evening, Lewis fired 60 investigators who had worked for his committee rooting out fraud, waste and abuse, effective immediately. As in, don't bother coming in on Tuesday."

Nixon's attempt to head off investigation of the Watergate Case by firing the Special Prosecutor came to be known as the "Saturday Night Massacre." Nixon was not successful.

Here Jerry Lewis is trying to reprise that famous technique by firing those who might investigate and uncover corruption that leads to his door.

THis should be front page news tomorrow.

It is the equivalent of saying "I no longer want to have an investigation of my wrongdoing, and you are all fired. Go home."

[Beetwasher]

1. Yeah, I Just Saw This Too. Who's His Opponent?

n/t

[Hepburn]

8. His opponent?

"Lewis has won re-election easily in the past and is not expected to be ousted next month. He has more than $1 million cash on hand, and his Democratic opponent on Nov. 7, Louie A. Contreras, of Hesperia, has not raised significant amounts of money. Contreras, who has a Web site, did not file campaign-disclosure reports for the period ending Sept. 30."

http://www.pe.com/elections/2006/state/stories/PE_News_Local_D_lewis19.36409cd.html

[OnionPatch]

16. Yes, Contreras

who I've not heard a peep out of. Neither one of them seems to have a commercial or even a sign! In 2004, Lewis didn't even have a Democratic opponent! I wrote in "Elmer Fudd." (I would have written something better but I didn't want to chance having my ballot thrown away.)

This is a very conservative district, full of evangelicals. But I'd like to see us at least freakin' try! I've watched them write off this district time after time. :mad:

[Blackhatjack]

18. You Have To Start Somewhere, Have a Candidate For Each Race...

....if we are going to build a unified Democratic Party we need to run a candidate in every race, regardless of the likelihood of success. You never know who you are influencing to vote Democratic in a district, even if you do not win. It pays dividends in other ways.

There is absolutely no excuse for any Republican to run unopposed in any race in this environment.

[mcg]

27. Contreras for Congress web site link

http://contrerasforcongress.com

[DURHAM D]

2. This is unbelievable and you are right - it will be BIG. n/t

[stillcool]

3. wow...that boat is taking on water...

[Lars39]

4. K&R

Friday night news dump is early. :bounce:

[speedoo]

5. He was one of Rolling Stone's "most crooked" in Congress.

Top five, as I recall. A complete crook, who must be voted out. Otherwise, he'll be investigated, taking up valuable time and resources.

[Blackhatjack]

6. You oversee $900 bil, and do this. Nothing suspicious???

I tell you it takes real arrogance to think you can do this and get away with it.

I am guessing he did not run it by his lawyers first, as they would have likely advised him not to do it.

Just wait, this is an act of desperation --it must really be about to hit the fan.
If I were an investigator, I would look closely at any expenditures of $$$ or transfers of $$$ to accounts outside the country.

[Greatwildbeast]

7. He's a major Anti-Environmentalist too

The unfunny "Jerry Lewis".

Not the wisecracking host of the Labor Day Telefon against Muscular Dystrophy. That one is a cool dude.

I'm talking about Jerry Lewis R Congressman California District 41.

A stinking, Anti -Environmentalist caught up like so many (of late) in the GOP of ethical matters. Serious ones. More on that later.

But the major reason I personally hate this disgusting "Representative" of the Mohave Desert region is because of this:

Lewis was a staunch opponent of the California Desert Protection Act, which created the Mojave National Preserve. In 1995, he used his clout on the House Appropriations Committee to try to reduce the nascent reserve's budget to $1. This year, blaming high energy prices, he voted in favor of allowing natural-gas drilling off the California coast.

From: http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200609/losers2.asp

Now we don't know if Congressman Lewis is another Pedophile. However his actions against Americans is suitable for a looonnnggg jail term.

Again: An absolutely DISGUSTING politician. People like him are not fit to breathe the same air as the rest of us. Which is why they should be incarcerated downwind of a copper smelter somewhere in Arizona where the average summer temperature reaches 120 degrees.

Without air conditioning...

But lastly and (unfortunately) the undoing of Jerry's "accomplishments" in Congress won't be because of his attacks on Public, scared lands.

No it'll come in a HUGE list of indictments for illegal fundraising and shady deals.


So whether this BASTARD is re-elected to his term or not i will enjoy every single hearing the New Democratic Ethics panel has on this CRIMINAL COCKSUCKER.

Yes you could say that i don't like him very much at all.

[acmejack]

15. Don't forget Letitia White!

snip>A stepdaughter of Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands (San Bernardino County) and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, has been paid more than $40,000 since early last year by a political action committee funded substantially by donations from a lobbyist close to the congressman and from her firm's clients.

Lewis's stepdaughter, Julia Willis-Leon of Las Vegas, is listed as director of the Small Biz Tech PAC. She received $44,474 of the approximately $115,000 the committee has collected since it was set up in February 2005, federal election records show.

The lobbyist, Letitia White -- a former longtime Lewis aide -- is the largest donor to Small Biz Tech. She is also part owner of the $1 million Capitol Hill house that initially served as PAC headquarters.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/06/08/MNGQIJAJM31.DTL&type=politics

highlighting added by poster

[never_get_over_it]

9. Jesus someone needs to get a tourniquet

for these people....

[Straight Shooter]

22. Heavens no. Let them hemorrhage to the point of political death. n/t

[never_get_over_it]

29. Works for me

but its UFB everytime you turn around its something else....although I'm "glad" all this crap is killing them - it is so depressing to hear this crap day after day after day - that these freaks have been SO SO SO CRIMINAL while so many of our soldiers and Iraqis are dying. None of that matters to the vast majority of them as long as the power and greed continue. Makes abusing the franking privilege seem kinda quaint doesn't it.

[Straight Shooter]

34. UFB is right.

I was thinking this morning, if bush had started right off with destroying habeas corpus, how far do you think he would have gotten?

And yet, here we are, 6 years of bush and destroying 200 years of a country that despite its faults, has managed to preserve the liberties of its citizens. Until this GOP war-mongering, power-lusting Congress, and an administration hell-bent on becoming the unilateral authority of the world.

[BrotherBuzz]

44. But let's be neat about it and stick them in the bathtub....

that Grover Norquist used to talk about. I'm just saying...:shrug:

[KharmaTrain]

10. This Dude's Skated For Too Long...

Those who read TPM Muckraker regularly are familiar with Jerry "Hey Laydeee" Lewis and how he's as slimy, if not slimier than Cunningham. Sounds like the slow wheels of justice are about to take him for a spin.

Add one more mound of slime on the Mt. Everest that's already out there. And still 30% of the people think what these scum is fine and the corporate media is trying to scare people with such headlines as GOP: If Ems Win People Will Die. Sickening.

[Tom Joad]

11. I liked him better when he was paired with Dean Martin.

[ForrestGump]

28. But Senator Paul Simon was

pretty good even without Art Garfunkel, I thought.

[burythehatchet]

12. O M G

:nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

[leftupnorth]

13. Another one bites the dust

BADASS!!! :woohoo:

[Tom Joad]

14. I predict the Dems will take control of the House on November 4th...

Q: But the election is not until the 7th?
A: I know, but at this rate of resignations and indictments, we won't have to wait that long.

[Greatwildbeast]

17. Agreed

Agreed. You can win by default.

Doesn't matter if your football team is so worn, injured and weathered that you can't even field all eleven players.

If the other team doesn't show up you just win by forfeit.

[Richard Steele]

19. Kicked and recommended

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

20. How "safe" was this guy's seat prior to this news? Anyone know?

[Tom Joad]

21. Very Safe. It was.

[originalpckelly]

23. I hope this makes the NEWS! If it doesn't

I plan to raise holy hell!

[gatorboy]

24. $800,000 in legal fees buys a lot of trial lawyers.

Huh. I thought they hated trial lawyers...

[originalpckelly]

25. Only the ones who take care of normal people...

and sue the drug companies & etc. They love the ones who cater to corrupt politicians. :-)

[originalpckelly]

26. This so needs to be on the front page...

no one should be missing this. The more buzz we create the more likely this bombshell makes the news tomorrow. DU can do its part in helping change America.

[Blackhatjack]

30. Maybe the Curse of Abramoff Will Get Him Before Election Day....

...that would be a just end for one of the 'big dogs' of Republican corruption.

He already spent $800,000 on legal fees and has yet to be charged with anything.
I wonder, do most people spend that kind of money to fend off potential charges?

He is obviously in deep, knows that he is going to have to fight criminal charges, and does not want to face investigation by the House at the same time.

Abramoff is gift that just keeps on giving, as he continues to cooperate with authorities to get a lenient sentencing. Hope he does not forget any of the Republican wrongdoers --there are so many.

[Gabi Hayes]

31. great resource on Lewis here.....7 pages of incriminating stories

FLAVIN!

http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/taxonomy/term/60

[Tom Joad]

32. Not front page news yet. Not even middle page news.

[Gwerlain]

33. K&R- "and the hits just keep comin."

[Jacobin]

35. Oh, for a news media

If only we had journalists in this country.

KO will probably take a swing at it, though

[Blackhatjack]

36. I saw a post that this was reported in the USA Today....today's edition

have not confirmed it yet.

[Blackhatjack]

37. TPM Does It Again --Lewis Prosecutor Quits, Joins Firm Defending Him

As reported at www.tpmmuckraker.com, the prosecution of Lewis takes another turn:
*************************************************************************************************
Prosecutor in Lewis Probe Leaves -- to Join Lawmaker's Defense Firm
"Debra Wong Yang, U.S. attorney for California's central district, is resigning to take a job with a high-profile private law firm.

Yang is expected to leave Nov. 10 for Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where she will serve as co-chair of the firm's crisis management practice group. . . .

" provides legal counsel to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, currently under investigation by Yang's office over his ties to a lobbyist." (LA Daily News)
**************************************************************************************************

I just wonder if Yang will 'reveal' to her new law firm the evidence her office uncovered so far in investigating Lewis? Might be worthwhile to examine just how she came to leave her investigation of Lewis and end up at his defense law firm. How much was she offered in cash and benefits? Where did the money come from? If she was approached after the investigation of Lewis began, did she break ethical rules or the law?

[nashville_brook]

40. how the f*ck can this be allowed? ethical violation, at least.

[lyonn]

41. As Bill Mahr says "new rules, new rules,

Remember Habeas Corpus? Of course not, probably been deleted from Webster's Dictionary.

The 60 investigators were contractors, hum. And Monday they get the axe and Wed. word leaks out and yet it's a non-story. Wonder how Calif. is treating it?

Media is running rampant on the fiasco in Southern Iraq. I'm sure it's important, but, is it new? We are now getting 'hot' info from Iraq all of a sudden. BS - Course we get Condi in between with her BS, my gawd she is an embarrassment. Will this country ever live down all of this BS down? Here and overseas?

[donkeyotay]

42. Abramoff prosecution had a demotion and a promotion

November, 2002, Bush had the US attorney for Guam and the Northern Marianas demoted, thus ending a prosecution of Abramoff. Then, in January of 2006, Bush appointed Noel L. HIllman to a federal judgeship, removing him from Abramoff's case. He was replaced by Alice Fisher, someone with ties to Chertoff.

snip>
Hillman's departure from the Justice Department creates a vacancy at the top of the Abramoff investigation only three weeks after Abramoff, once one of the city's most powerful Republican lobbyists and a major fund-raiser for Bush, announced his guilty plea and agreed to testify against others, possibly including members of Congress.<end

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/27/MNGCNGU1J01.DTL

Despite all the tantalizing links to other members of Congress, not much has happened. Lewis specifically, and other members generically, were mentioned in the Cunningham scandals, too. Oddly, nothing ever seems to come of it...

[warrens]

38. This guy is a one-man crime wave

And he's so popular in his district he would probably win from a jail cell. Even the Dems like him because of his incredible ability to attract pork.

[NNN0LHI]

39. He has some great Telethons though n/t

[donkeyotay]

43. Maybe they should call them over sight committees, as in "Oops, did

we over look that?" Our government is overrun with criminals.

from the OP link:

Lewis’ decision “has in fact stalled all of the investigations on the staff,” said one of the contractors, a former FBI agent, who asked not to be identified. “This eviscerates the investigatory function. There is little if any ability to do any oversight now.”

PS - Front page?