Fun With Dick & Jane

Dick begins today’s hour with a swat at MA Governor Deval Patrick’s latest idea which is to implant a GPS chip in everyone’s car inspection sticker to tax us on every mile we drive. Dick than slams Governor Patrick’s choice to spend the state’s Porkulus money, who, Dick believes, has been named to the post to boost his government pension.

Ted Kennedy’s name enters the fray and I ask why MA can’t get past electing Kennedy’s. Dick seems to think it is the pork, while I can’t think of a thing either he or John Kerry has done for the state.

We also talk about Judd Gregg’s departure.

I then bring up the Ted Steven’s trial and suggest that Brenda Morris the prosecutor is being held in contempt of Court because of a report of an inappropriate relationship with a witness. Brenda Morris is being held in contempt of Court (and has now been dismissed by the Obama administration), but is not being accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a witness. The person accused of having the inappropriate relationship with the witness is the FBI agent in charge Mary Beth Kepner. My mistake. Dick doesn’t seem to think it matters if Steven’s was railroaded because he doesn’t like Stevens. I think it matters a lot, whether you like Stevens or not. I also note that if Stevens was still in the Senate, Porkulus would not have passed.

Dick talks about a local story where a prostitute is prosecuted for extortion and he is upset that, ala Spitzer, the john isn’t prosecuted. My ambivalence for the entire incident is apparent.

About a half hour in we get to the Porkulus bill, and Dick asks me to recite the pork. I comply for a while and then go off on President Obama’s doomsday rhetoric and how I think he used the politics of fear to pass the bill. Dick follows with the obligatory Bush bashing.

At this point I lost the recording, but hopefully Roger can put it back together.

Enjoy!

Two stories caught my eye today. The first, about Ted Stevens, I’ve known about for a while. Seems Ted Stevens didn’t get a fair trial. The prosecutor cheated.

In July of 2008 Stevens was indicted on 7 counts of concealing gifts from a private corporation and lying about it. During the trial the prosecutor was admonished by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan for sending a subpoenaed witness back to Alaska “a move that defense lawyers asserted was intended to hide exculpatory evidence.”

As luck would have it, Steven’s trial wrapped up right before the November election. The Jury believed the prosecutor and convicted Stevens on all seven counts. The following Tuesday, election day, Stevens was defeated by a mere Democrat Mark Begich by a margin of about 3,000 votes.

On Friday there was another development in the Steven’s case.

The federal judge who presided over the trial and conviction of former Senator Ted Stevens on ethics charges ruled Friday that four Justice Department lawyers involved with the case were in contempt of court.

The judge, Emmit G. Sullivan, was angered over the failure of the Justice Department to produce 32 documents he had asked for to help him assess a statement by an F.B.I. agent who had accused the prosecution team of willfully concealing evidence helpful to the defense.

It remains to be seen if the Judge will overturn the verdict, order a new trial, or decide the prosecutor’s conduct was not material to the conviction. We can certainly speculate that if Stevens were not convicted, he would have retained his senate seat.

The second story that caught my eye is more fallout from the Rod Blagojevich scandal. Blagojevich is accused of trying to sell President Obama’s senate seat. Before he was removed from office with an impeachment conviction, he appointed democrat Roland Burris as Obama’s replacement in the Senate.

At first Harry Reid and senior Illinois senator Dick Durbin refused to seat Burris citing the appointment as “tainted”.
Burris went on a media blitz implying Reid was racist, prompting a Reid capitulation and withdrawal of his objection. Meanwhile Burris testified at the Blagojevich impeachment panel, and as we learned today, perjured himself. From Capt Ed:

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s brother solicited U.S. Sen. Roland Burris for up to $10,000 in campaign cash before Blagojevich named Burris to the coveted post — something Burris initially failed to disclose under oath before an Illinois House impeachment panel, records and interviews show.

We can also speculate that had Harry Reid known that Burris was communicating with Blagojevich, he would not have been allowed to take Obama’s senate seat.

If Stevens won and Burris had not been seated, most likely, the trillion dollar Porkulus bill would have been defeated.

Funny how things work out.

The confrontation yesterday between Barney Frank and his posse at the Financial Services Committee was a sight to see. In this corner we have the guy who along with Chris Dodd at the Banking committee repeatedly refused to regulate Fannie and Freddie . That refusal to act pretty much forced banks into oblivion via the subprime mortgage mess. In the other corner, the Presidents of those banks who while losing assets in record speed were lining their pockets even faster.

It was very hard to decide which set of crooks to root for but I finally made up my mind. Until we find some way to get testimony under oath from Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, John Murtha, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the rest of the elected officials who have become rich beyond expectation on an elected official’s salary, I’m going with the bankers.

Tough choice, I admit.