Another Full Blown Scandal Enveloping Deranged North Carolina Closet Case Patrick McHenry

These days, when someone is looking for congressional scandals, they usually go to GOP criminal types like Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm (R-NY), David "The Gangster" Rivera (R-FL) and Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-CA), all of whom are barely avoiding indictments. But scandal has dodged diminutive little closet case Patrick McHenry for his entire career-- and not just the regular legalistic bribe taking that he and so many of his colleagues use to finance their careers-- and this year is no different.

McHenry started in politics working as a sleazy operative for Karl Rove in 2000 and it's been all downhill ever since. He only won the GOP congressional primary by using out of state college students, at least one of whom he was having a homosexual relationship with, some of whom voted in the primary illegally. After winning that first primary amid a voter fraud scandal there was the little matter of a gay triple homicide that involved one of his lovers and then matters like insulting American fighting men in Iraq and taking bribes from Countrywide in the midst of the mortgage scandal to help them cover-up their criminal activities. He's generally considered one of Congress' most corrupt and untrustworthy characters-- and that's saying a lot!

Like so many of the dubious characters that float in and out of McHenry's life, his close pal and confidant Wesley Clayton Golden is hardly a household name. He's a conservative activist and former Cherryville city councilman from McHenry's home town and he was arrested by the FBI yesterday as part of a massive bribery and extortion ring.

Police in Cherryville took bribes, helped transport stolen goods and extorted money in a multi-state operation that raked in at least $750,000, according to federal indictments unsealed Wednesday.

FBI agents flocked to the Cherryville Police Department and several homes in Cherryville Wednesday morning, loading up boxes of evidence and making arrests.

Six Cherryville men were arrested, four currently working in Gaston County law enforcement.

One of those charged, Wesley Clayton Golden, 39, is a former captain in the Gaston County Sheriff’s Office who left the force earlier this year but continued to serve as a reserve officer. Golden also once served on Cherryville City Council and served on U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry’s 2010 Gaston campaign steering committee, which reads like a who’s who of the county’s most powerful Republicans. ...Beginning in August, Dellinger, Golden and Hoyle conspired with undercover law enforcement agents to provide "protection" for tractor trailers transporting through Gaston County what all three believed to be stolen merchandise, according to the indictments filed Aug. 21 but only unsealed on Wednesday. ... On multiple occasions, "Dellinger, Golden, Crawford and Mauney used their credentials and legal authority to assist with the transfer of stolen goods and/or cash proceeds from the sale of stolen goods, in exchange for monetary bribes," according to the release. Hendricks's role in the scheme was to assist Crawford and Mauney by acting as a lookout. Hoyle represented himself as a law enforcement officer, according to the release.

In several instances Dellinger, Golden and Hoyle provided armed escorts for undercover agents when they took cash to a safety deposit box at a Charlotte bank, indictments say.

In February Golden started a local branch of Prodigy Payment Systems [aka- Encore Payment Systems, a shady operation], a credit card processing firm, with offices at 1422 Burtonwood Drive in Gastonia. He was active in local politics and also was a licensed firearms trainer, according to his Facebook page.

Blue America is backing progressive Democrat and state Rep. Patsy Keever in the congressional contest. Her campaign put out this statement yesterday:

You may not remember, but Congressman Patrick McHenry was one of only twenty House Republicans to vote against reinstating House ethics rules after they suspended them to protect Majority Leader Tom DeLay. He not only knowingly protected a felon in Congress, but he voted against reinstating rules that punished those who broke the law in Washington.

He voted against key legislation on ethics issues too like the DISCLOSE Act, which helps eliminate corporate and anonymous money in our politics, and he opposed a stronger STOCK Act, which makes it illegal for member of Congress to commit insider trading. He opposed them both!

That is a pattern, folks. Plain and simple-- and we have a chance to do something about it.

If you'd like to contribute to Patsy's campaign, you can do it here.