Members of the Justice Department team that investigated and tried Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) withheld evidence and had inappropriate relationships with witnesses, according to an FBI agent who worked on the case.
The allegations are contained in a whistleblower complaint made public yesterday. It alleges that FBI agents met with witnesses in their homes and hotel rooms and even provided one source with a bureau-issued cellphone. An FBI agent apparently became so friendly with a key witness that the investigator wore a special outfit when the man testified. "It was a surprise/present for Allen," the complaint alleged, in a reference to former oil executive Bill Allen.
The whistleblowing agent, who joined the bureau in 2003, also wrote that members of the prosecution team "created a scheme" to send a witness home before trial and that they inappropriately altered a document later turned over to Stevens's attorneys
Continued on Page 49
A lawyer who served in the Clinton administration and more recently was an adviser to California's lieutenant governor pleaded guilty to a child porn charge in a San Diego federal court Monday. Wade Rowland Sanders admitted to having 600 images of minors on his computer, including a video depicting "several prepubescent females engaged in sexual conduct with an adult male and performing oral sex on one another," according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Karen Hewitt.
FBI agents raided Sanders' home last May after they suspected his home Internet service account was used to download several pictures and a video showing underage girls having sex with adult men, according to an investigator's sworn statement.
"Sanders admitted that he had downloaded child pornography using the program Limewire but that he deleted the files once he noticed that they had been downloaded," FBI Special Agent John Caruthers said.
A search of Sanders' computer found the child porn files saved on his hard drive in two "My Documents" folders, Caruthers said. At least one of the young girls in the photos was identified and is a "known victim," the investigator said.
When Sanders, 67, is sentenced on March 30, he could get up to 10 years in prison and be ordered to pay a $250,000 fine. The minimum sentence for the charge is five years with supervised release for his lifetime and registration as a sex offender, the prosecutor said.
FBI agents discovered the illegal downloads as part of a nationwide initiative called Project Safe Childhood. The multi-agency program, which began in 2006, is "designed to combat the growing epidemic of child exploitation and abuse," the U.S. Attorney's statement said.
Sanders was a U.S. Navy Swift boat captain during the Vietnam War, where he earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He retired from the U.S. Navy as a captain. Sanders was chosen by fellow Swift boat veteran John Kerry to introduce him at the 2004 Democratic Convention, when the senator accepted the presidential nomination.
He briefly entered the 2000 congressional race in a San Diego district, but withdrew citing lack of funding. He ran as a Democrat.
Sanders served as the senior adviser to California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi for Veterans and Military Affairs until the time of his arrest, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. He was also in the Clinton administration as a deputy assistant secretary of the Navy.
When Garamendi's office announced Sanders' appointment in July 2007, it said he was a practicing lawyer and a community activist. "He is a member of the San Diego Police Department Senior Oversight Committee and has served on many non-profit boards," the lieutenant governor's office said.
However, is anyone else here aware of the abuses of power surrounding the prosecution of Project Safe?
I am. Friendly advice:
1. Don't let 'visitors' to your home or office use your computer (or laptop, travelling or not), ESPECIALLY your own logon (this includes teenage friends of children and grandkids).
2. Don't 'share' a hi-speed internet connection WITH ANYONE (especially a roomate).
3. Make sure Wireless security on cable/DSL modems is ON to prevent unauthorized downloading to your IP address (they will arrest YOU).
Not paranoia...from 'indirect' experience...
If implicated, you're screwed, innocent or not.
The level of 'screwed' depends on how much money you have to defend yourself against eager ADA/DAs.
State Sen.-elect Hiram Monserrate flew into a volcanic rage and attacked his girlfriend after seeing another man's business card in her purse, sources told The Post yesterday.
The law-enforcement sources also believe that the jealous Monserrate was so angry that he deliberately broke a glass into jagged pieces so he could slash Karla Giraldo, who required 20 stitches around her left eye following the alleged domestic-violence assault. Sources said her wound is consistent with a jagged piece of glass tearing into her skin.
Investigators have seen the business card and who it belongs to and consider it potential evidence in the case.
Meanwhile, it was revealed that a top aide to Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm Smith showed up at the police station to offer assistance to Monserrate, a fellow Democrat, on the morning he was busted.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/23/2008 09:27 ||
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#1
Okay - I been trashed for saying it before .. but here it goes..
I believe pure random chance will give us a better quality of individual in government than the TRASH that currently get elected!
I REPEAT RANDOM IS BETTER!
So... it is time to try out my scheme...
Make elected office like jury duty...
It's a citizen's duty if randomly chosen and elected. He/She can not turn it down...
Now here is my scheme:
1) for each elected office a set of random individuals is chosen by lottery of the registered voters within the appropriate pool. (elected area). In the case of professional like judges or engineers it could be electronically winnowed down within that pool.
2) The voters will be presented 1 week prior to the election the particulars of each voter (resume, job history, crime history, credit situation etc..) Then the vote as a preference.
1 2 3 4 etc...
3) None of the candidates will ever be in the pool for that position again.
4) Preference voting rules will then choose the unluck target.
5) There will be no electioneering
6) There will be no right of refusal unless they are on their death bed.
On the average this should give us a better quality of elected office holder.
#5
The fact that a man's business card was enough to cause this really speaks to this guy's fitness for public office.
Does conviction for this offence prevent him from taking his seat in the Senate? Or are we stuck in a situation like Blago where the criminal stays in office?
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
12/23/2008 13:19 Comments ||
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President-elect Barack Obama has shown almost perfect pitch in crafting his new administration, aptly choosing old hands instead of fresh faces and bringing in the experience he lacks.
But there is one glaring void. Obama has yet to name key intelligence officials to manage the war against terrorism. And one of the central reasons he hasn't come forward with a pick for one of the top jobs is because he's running into pressure from an unexpected source -- left-wing bloggers.
John Brennan, Obama's chief intelligence adviser and anticipated CIA chief, was recently forced to withdraw his name. There was no drumbeat of opposition to Brennan from the front pages or on cable. Rather, the pick was torpedoed by the blogosphere.
"Apparently there is a lot of pressure on the Obama team from a blog saying that Brennan couldn't be made the director of the CIA because he was involved in torture and renditions, which he wasn't," said Mark Lowenthal, former assistant CIA director.
Count on the Kos Kiddies to be cannibals for the next couple of years ...
The turn of events only emphasizes the influence of the Internet on the operation of a president-elect whose campaign was powered in large part by the Web.
"Blogs do have significant influence," said blogger Glenn Greenwald, one of with his several sock-puppets those critical of Brennan. "I think the Obama team would be foolish if they just ignored what happened on blogs, and I know for a fact that there are people high up in the Obama campaign and now the transition team who read blogs regularly."
Gee Glenn, think you could puff yourself up a little more?
As a result, say knowledgeable sources, the Obama transition team pushed Brennan to withdraw his name. "Their knees buckled," one intelligence veteran said.
You don't push, you have a senior guy make a single call ...
Brennan once served as George Tenet's chief of staff and later took an administrative role at the CIA, before moving on to what became the National Counterterrorism Center.
Greenwald and other bloggers blamed Brennan, though, for condoning harsh interrogation methods, as well as rendition -- the practice of capturing terrorists, like 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and taking them to the U.S. or other countries for interrogation and imprisonment.
But many say Brennan had no control over those policies. "This is one of those Washington drive-by shootings that we have from time to time where someone is near a policy issue that's controversial and is dragged down by the conventional wisdom," said Douglas Paal, former CIA senior analyst.
Brennan did say rendition was a vital tool -- after all, without it, Khalid Sheik Mohammed and others might still be free.
Which doesn't bother Greenwald ...
But when he withdrew his name from consideration, he wrote a letter to the president-elect, obtained by FOX News, in which he described himself as a Bush critic on many fronts. "It has been immaterial to the critics that I have been a strong opponent of many of the policies of the Bush administration such as the preemptive war in Iraq and coercive interrogation tactics, to include waterboarding," Brennan wrote in the Nov. 25 missive.
All that brave opposition didn't land you a job in the new administration. You'll have to find another rice bowl ...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/23/2008 00:00 ||
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ASIA TIMES > DISSECTING OBAMA'S PERESTROIKA [Russia may come to miss the days of Dubya]; + STRATEGYPAGE > PHILIPPINES: HAVE YOURSELVES A SCARY LITTLE CHRISTMAS. MILF hiding, aiding ABU SAYAFF and vice versa; MILF + NPA engaging in criminal drug-trading to suppor anti-Govt/Terror campaigns.
#4
aptly choosing old hands instead of fresh faces and bringing in the experience he lacks.
Uh, yeah, a nice way of saying he's filling his cabinet with Chicago machine pols and Clinton administration retreads. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
If she were applying to be, say, an undersecretary of education in Barack Obama's new administration, Caroline Kennedy would have to fill out a 63-item confidential questionnaire disclosing potentially embarrassing text messages and diary entries, the immigration status of her household staff, even copies of every résumé she used in the last 10 years.
If she were running for election to the Senate, Ms. Kennedy would have to file a 10-part, publicly available report disclosing her financial assets, credit card debts, mortgages, book deals and the sources of any payments greater than $5,000 in the last three years.
But Ms. Kennedy, who has asked Gov. David A. Paterson to appoint her to succeed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton -- and who helped oversee the vetting process for Mr. Obama's possible running mates -- is declining to provide a variety of basic data, including companies she has a stake in and whether she has ever been charged with a crime.
Disclosures are for little people ...
Ms. Kennedy declined on Monday to reply to those and other questions posed by The New York Times about any potential ethical, legal and financial entanglements. Through a spokesman, she said she would not disclose that kind of information unless and until she becomes a senator. "If Governor Paterson were to choose Caroline, she would, of course, comply with all disclosure requirements," said the spokesman, Stefan Friedman.
Guess we'll just have to trust her ...
Mr. Paterson's office said his choice for the Senate would undergo the same background check as any cabinet-level officer in Albany, including verification of employment and education, a review of tax returns, and a criminal background check by the State Police. The governor's vetting process drew criticism this fall when it surfaced that his top aide at the time, Charles O'Byrne, had failed to pay income taxes for five years. The Paterson administration has since said it is requiring more extensive background checks.
Sure he did, it's Neu Yalk ...
The Senate's self-imposed ethics rules do not require any disclosure by potential appointees, although sitting senators are required to file financial disclosure statements by May 15 each year. (The latest filing by Ms. Kennedy's uncle, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, showed a net worth of at least $43.8 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which ranked him the seventh richest senator.)
But several ethics experts, good-government advocates and scholars, who called Ms. Kennedy's situation highly unusual -- because of her overt pursuit of the job, her celebrity and her lack of previous political experience -- urged her to reveal information on her finances now, if only for appearances' sake.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/23/2008 00:00 ||
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waiting for the media to Palin-ize Caroline...waiting, waiting.
The Federal Election Commission says U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint's campaign has agreed to pay $25,000 in fines for accepting donations that exceeded the legal limit. Documents recently released from the federal agency show the South Carolina Republican's campaign committee accepted 42 donations over the $2,000-per-person limit. The $68,106 in excessive donations were made in 2003 and 2004, when he won his Senate seat.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/23/2008 00:00 ||
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ION $$$ = BAILOUT, RUMORMILLNEWS > COMMERCIAL PROPERTY DEVELOPERS SEEK CASH FROM [US$200.0Bilyuhn]BAILOUT LOAN, or else won't be able to refinance anyone anymore; + THE LAS VEGAS GRAVY TRAIN HAS ENDED [Crashed and Burned]. Iff its in or operates in Las vegas, its failing iff not already failed - LV reportedlt on its way towards becom one of the Nation's WORST ECONOMIES???
#3
FEC investigation of the Obama donations - when hell freezes over cause they're exempt. The FEC is like gun control - aimed at law abiding, not the criminal. Both abridge fundamental Constitutional guarantees no matter how lawyers weasel word their excuses.
#4
This is truly amazing. Facts are facts, if DeMint's campaign effed up then they should pay the fines. But where in the hell is the FEC investigation - with accompanying bad publicity -about what at least was the strong appearance of massive malfeasance in the Obama campaign?
In their natural reaction to want to support the country and its leader, many non-Obama supporters surely cannot be forgetting what new and shocking lows this last campaign set not just in the financial area but in terms of thuggery and abuse (J the P's treatment by state govt., etc.).
Like most with any sense I've always opposed all but the most basic transparency-oriented campaign finance rules, but this last campaign was so ugly in so many ways, it adds to the ignominy and bad precedent of the substantive result.
The White House is pushing back hard against a New York Times article that essentially blamed President Bush for the sub-prime mortgage mess and the Wall Street collapse by linking those crises to a policy goal he stated more than six years ago.
That goal?
"We want more people owning their own home," as Bush said in December 2003.
But a 5,000-word article in the Times on Sunday, under the headline, "White House Philosophy Stoked Mortgage Bonfire," said Bush was also encouraging a "hands-off approach" to regulation that encouraged "lax" standards on behalf of lenders.
"He pushed hard to expand homeownership, especially among minorities, an initiative that dovetailed with his ambition to expand the Republican tent -- and with the business interests of some of his biggest donors," the article said.
"That's about as myopic as you can get," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said in response.
White House counselor Ed Gillespie lashed out at the Times for its interpretation of Bush's housing policies. "They've had to mortgage their building in Manhattan to help make ends meet, and they've been reduced to junk-bond status. I don't know if the New York Times' shoddy reporting is the result of being in junk-bond status, or if their junk-bond status is what's resulting in their shoddy reporting," Gillespie said.
In fact, the Times' article ignored a wealth of its own reporting, dating back to the era of Bill Clinton, whom the article mentioned only once, in passing.
For example, in September 1999, the Times noted that, "Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stockholders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits."
The 1999 piece went even further:
"In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times," the Times noted presciently. "But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's."
Likewise, the Times made no mention over the weekend of President Clinton's aggressive deregulation of the financial services industry, which empowered banks, brokerage firms and insurance companies to engage in some of the very practices -- such as credit default swaps -- that contributed most to the current fiscal crisis.
While the Times mentioned that mortgage bankers and brokers donated almost $850,000 to President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, the newspaper omitted the fact that the top three recipients of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and its sister organization Freddie Mac over the last two decades were all Democrats.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, head of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; President-elect Barack Obama; and Bush's 2004 opponent John Kerry all benefited from Fannie and Freddie.
Asked to respond to the White House criticism, Times Executive Editor Bill Keller said Sunday's article "was based on on-the-record interviews with dozens of current and former (Bush administration) officials."
"It is part of an ongoing series that examines in-depth the accountability of numerous players in the economic meltdown, including Congress, rating agencies, brokerage houses and the Fed," Keller said.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
State Sen.-elect Hiram Monserrate flew into a volcanic rage and attacked his girlfriend after seeing another man's business card in her purse, sources told The Post yesterday.
The White House is pushing back hard against a New York Times article that essentially blamed President Bush for the sub-prime mortgage mess and the Wall Street collapse by linking those crises to a policy goal he stated more than six years ago. 
