Tennessee Democrats Indicted
Bill Hobbs is good place to keep up with the story.
All those indicted are Democrats except for one Rino who is a lapdog for the Democratic Speaker of the House, Jimmy Naifeh. For those of you who are not familiar with Tennessee politics, the speaker has the most powerful post in state government. There have been a few Republicans in the House who have gone over to the dark side in exchange for small dollops of power handed out by Naifeh. Naifeh has made quite a bit of money from his position of power -- his wife is a very successful lobbyist in Nashville.
The backdrop of this investigation is really interesting because Republicans made a big push this year to strengthen ethics rules for government which the Democrats fought tooth and nail. Naifeh demonstrates that it is only the small time corruption which is illegal. Big bucks corruption that makes people like Naifeh, Tom Daschle or Tom Foley wealthy is perfectly legal.
One last note -- John Ford, the one whose indictment includes threats to kill anyone who exposed his corruption, is the same one who was tried a few years ago for shooting at a trucker while he was driving on the highway. He's also the one who was recently revealed to have used campaign funds to pay for his daughter's wedding. And he's the one who forgot to reveal his receipt of over 200 grand from a company which got a lucrative state contract.
This probably isn't good news for his nephew, Harold, who is the Congressman from Memphis and a recently announced candidate for US Senate. Especially since young Harold's only qualification for office is his family's political machine in Memphis.
All those indicted are Democrats except for one Rino who is a lapdog for the Democratic Speaker of the House, Jimmy Naifeh. For those of you who are not familiar with Tennessee politics, the speaker has the most powerful post in state government. There have been a few Republicans in the House who have gone over to the dark side in exchange for small dollops of power handed out by Naifeh. Naifeh has made quite a bit of money from his position of power -- his wife is a very successful lobbyist in Nashville.
The backdrop of this investigation is really interesting because Republicans made a big push this year to strengthen ethics rules for government which the Democrats fought tooth and nail. Naifeh demonstrates that it is only the small time corruption which is illegal. Big bucks corruption that makes people like Naifeh, Tom Daschle or Tom Foley wealthy is perfectly legal.
One last note -- John Ford, the one whose indictment includes threats to kill anyone who exposed his corruption, is the same one who was tried a few years ago for shooting at a trucker while he was driving on the highway. He's also the one who was recently revealed to have used campaign funds to pay for his daughter's wedding. And he's the one who forgot to reveal his receipt of over 200 grand from a company which got a lucrative state contract.
This probably isn't good news for his nephew, Harold, who is the Congressman from Memphis and a recently announced candidate for US Senate. Especially since young Harold's only qualification for office is his family's political machine in Memphis.
posted by Stan at 7:23 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home