Ever Wonder What Happened To GOP Boy Wonder Tom Reynolds?

At one time he and Pataki pretty much ran the Republican Party in New York State. And in the 2006 election cycle he certainly ran the NRCC, the Republican version of the DCCC and was a big deal member of the Republican House leadership. In fact, in 2000, no less personages than Dick Cheney and Tom DeLay went to the New York state legislature and pressured them to give Reynolds a district so ridiculously safe that he could "vote like a Southern conservative" without ever having to fear being seriously challenged by a moderate-- from either party. It worked-- and he did.

But then the Mark Foley scandal broke and Reynolds' "Democratic" opponent, Jack Davis (a very rich right-wing Republican with a grudge who the Democrats allowed to run on their pretty worthless line), made sure everyone from Buffalo to Rochester was aware that Reynolds not only participated in the coverup-- while Foley was still actively raping texting young boys-- but that when Foley begged the House leadership let him retire before something disastrous happened, it was Reynolds who literally forced Foley to buck up and run again. And then something disastrous happened.

It was disastrous for Reynolds too. He was on the defensive from the day the scandal broke and not only never left his district to campaign for other Republicans-- part of his job as NRCC chair-- but he syphoned a couple of million dollars from money meant to protect marginal GOP seats to his own super-safe (vote like a Southern conservative) district. The Republicans lost dozens of those marginal seats and Reynolds... well he lost his sheen. And almost lost his seat. An early snowstorm saved him but Cheney and DeLay didn't help create the district they did so Reynolds could spend millions of dollars and nearly lose anyway.

He soldiered on-- for a while. And then the shit really hit the fan... except no one outside of Buffalo political junkies ever heard about this part. Ever hear of Judge Ronald H. Tills? Of course not-- but he was Reynolds' mentor. In fact Reynolds gave ole Judge Tills quite the greatest-man-since-Jesus-walked-the-eath encomium in the Congressional Record at the very end of 2005. The occasion was Tills' retirement from the bench and Reynolds went beyond just calling him "a valued mentor." He brought up how crucial to Tills were the Masons and the Shriners and a much lesser known organization that flows out of being high up in both those secret societies, the Royal Order of Jesters.

One of his great loves is the largest and oldest fraternal organization in the world. As a Mason, Ron Tills has held numerous responsibilities within the Masons and the organizations within it, including Proctor of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, Potentate of the Ismalia Shrine Temple, Director and President of the Shrine Oasis and Director of the Buffalo Court 22 of Jesters.

Never heard of the Jesters? I hadn't either. They're not the kind of group Members of Congress should be talking about too loudly. A month before Judge Tills was arrested-- he went to prison-- and a month before Reynolds suddenly announced his retirement from that super-safe seat DeLay and Cheney helped create for him (not a coincidence, as you'll soon see), the Dallas Morning News ran a story about "death threats, drug use, cutthroat competition and middle-age Americans paying 13-year-old Brazilian villagers for sex." The Jesters weren't clowning around when it came to sex tourism.

The Jesters, an offshoot of the Shriners and the Masons, is a fraternal organization devoted to having fun. Their slogan is "Mirth is King."

With chapters nationwide, the group is headquartered in Indiana but registered as a not-for-profit corporation in Texas.

Poking through federal court filings, Marsteller learned that in September 2008, a New York state judge who was also a Jester agreed to plead guilty to procuring prostitutes for Jesters' parties in Kentucky.

Nothing in the records made any connection between the New York case and the alleged activities in Brazil. However, the judge's lawyer said in a pre-sentence memorandum that partying with prostitutes "was pervasive throughout the organization" and "was reported to have occurred at Jester meetings across the country."

The lawyer added: "The group's practice of inviting women, called 'Jester girls,' to meetings for sexual activities was ... a long-standing tradition."

Garcia da Silva, in his deposition for the slander suit, said Wet-A-Line clients from "the mason group" had been involved in orgies on their trips to Brazil.

Alex Rogers, business administrator at the Jesters national office, told The News that the New York case was not indicative of normal Jester behavior. "This organization doesn't partake of any of that activity," Rogers said.

And that brings us back to Reynolds' mentor, Judge Tills, the Jester. Tills plea agreement-- they let him off easy-- was a doozy: "The defendant agrees to waive indictment and to plead guilty to 1 count Information charging a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2421 (transportation of an individual in interstate commerce with intent that the individual engage in prostitution), for which the maximum possible sentence is a term of imprisonment of 10 years, a fine of $250,000..." Tills was procuring prostitutes and bringing them for Jester parties in Kentucky-- over state lines. He wasn't just Reynolds' mentor; they owned property together as well.

This story got covered up with a story about how hundreds of thousands of dollars were embezzled from the NRCC while Reynolds was in charge. That looked like something the GOP could handle more easily than the Jesters' and Tills' human trafficking and prostitution scandal coming right on top of Reynolds' connection to Foley and his boy pages. Within 2 weeks of Tills' arrest, Reynolds hoisted the white flag and said it was time to take up new challenges. He's a K Street lobbyist, one of the slimiest out there.

This is about the retired Erie County Deputy Sheriff who recently pleaded guilty to knowing about the felony of transporting prostitutes from the Buffalo International Airport to a national Royal Order of Jesters (ROJ) national convention in Ontario, Canada and hiding the crimes by not reporting them.

This is part of the case involving three Jesters who got caught in an FBI human trafficking sting out of Buffalo, NY. These include a retired police captain, a former New York State Supreme Court judge and his law clerk. All three pleaded guilty to violating the Mann Act after confessing to driving an illegal alien prostitute from Buffalo to a weekend Jester party in Ashland, Kentucky.

The ROJ is a secret sub-group of the Shriners, best known for operating a network of 22 hospitals that used to provide free care to burned and crippled children but now takes insurance. One must first be a Master Mason before joining groups like the Scottish Rite, the Knights Templar and the Shriners... Ronald Tills is the former New York State Supreme Court Judge who was caught w/his law clerk, Michael Stebick and retired police captain John Trowbridge in an FBI human trafficking sting last October, 2007.

...“The Royal Order of Jesters (ROJ) is a world wide fraternal organization whose membership is limited to individuals invited to join by other members. The motto of the ROJ is ‘mirth is king.’ The ROJ has local chapters or ‘courts.’ On occasion, a local court or group of local courts in the same geographical location sponsor social gatherings known as ‘books of the play’ or ‘books.' The sponsoring courts organize the ‘books’ and arrange for food, lodging, and entertainment at the ‘book.’ Jesters from all over the country may attend the local ‘books.’ The ROJ also sponsors a yearly national ‘book,’ the equivalent of a national convention. In April, 2005, the Jester's national ‘book’ was held in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. As set forth below, a typical feature of a ‘book of the play’ is the presence of prostitutes (‘Jester Girls’) who engage in commercial sex acts with members of the ROJ. Arrangements for the prostitutes are generally made by the organizer of the ‘books,’ or the region hosting the national ‘book.’ On occasion, individual Jesters may make arrangements to transport prostitutes to ‘books.’”

...Tills was in charge of getting the prostitutes to the Jesters’ national “book” across the border in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. According to his plea agreement, Tills admitted to coordinating the prostitutes’ travel with national Jester officers, in or about spring, 2006.

Trowbridge then stated that Tills asked Michael Lesinski, a deputy sheriff with the Erie County Sheriff’s Department, to take care of it. Trowbridge then disclosed that Lesinski rented a limousine to transport about a dozen prostitutes from Buffalo to Canada.
The complaint then includes co-conspirator Michael Stebick’s description of how Jester “books” are typically held in hotel hospitality rooms where members can pick from a list of Jester Girls.

It continues that in April, 2008, Trowbridge provided investigators with contact information for the 13 prostitutes as he’d spoken with each of them as they gathered at the Buffalo airport though there were other prostitutes he’d not spoken with.
In June 2008 Tills told investigators that there were about 30 women at the national book and “described a network of members who had the ability to supply such women.” It was then that he identified Lesinski’s renting of two limousines that took the prostitutes to Canada.

Tills got off very light-- 18 months in prison. And his lovely encomium by Reynolds still stands in the Congressional Record. Anyway, that's why-- unless you're a DC insider (or a fracker) who engages Nixon Peabody LLP for their lobbying activities-- you never hear about former up-and-comer Thomas Reynolds any longer.