Days Before The Florida Primary, A Judge Forced Prosecutor To Name "Co-conspirator A"-- No One Batted An Eye When It Turned Out To Be David Rivera

Conservative Culture of Corruption (congressional chapter)

A wonderful new word for conservative parasites popped into the colloquial dictionary last year: affluenza. I can't think of a better term to describe the self-entitlement that defines garden variety American conservativism/white supremacy. According to yesterday's New York Daily News, Frederick Couch, "father of the infamous affluenza-afflicted teen, who ducked jail time for a deadly drunken driving accident because his family said he was too rich to tell right from wrong, was busted Tuesday for pretending to be a cop."

People like this are attracted to power almost as much as they are to money. And we find more and more of them turning up in politics. We have, for example 4 conservative governor who have either been indicted or are under serious investigation and likely to be indicted-- all of whom harbor pretensions to be president: Chris Christie (R-NJ), Scott Walker (R-WI), Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) and Rick Perry (R-TX). Florida Governor Rick Scott isn't running for president but his criminality is in a league of its own. Crooked congressmen are even more common!

Many people have their fingers crossed that Staten Island Mafioso, Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm, will win reelection in November from the inside of a prison cell. His has a long criminal career but is currently under indictment on the first 20 charges. He's still serving in the John Boehner's House of Representatives.

Now we're hearing the the hammer is finally coming down on crooked Miami Republican David Rivera, a former congressman who was defeated in 2012 and claims to be running again this cycle-- although his only FEC disclosure shows $139,873 in debt and a loan to himself of $11,000. According to the bane of Rivera's existence, Miami Herald ace investigative reporter Marc Caputo, one of the gangsters in Rivera's mob, Ana Allliegro had finally pleased guilty-- and ratted out Rivera, who was officially named as a target of a federal investigation on Tuesday. At the court appearance, he "was identified by a prosecutor who confirmed the Republican politician was 'Co-conspirator A' in an $81,000 campaign-finance scheme to prop up a little-known candidate who used the illegal cash to trash a rival of Rivera’s."

“Why do we keep not naming the co-conspirator?” U.S. District Judge Robert Scola asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Mulvihill. “We’re past that time.” Mulvihill pointed out that U.S. Justic Department policy forbids prosecutors from naming unindicted co-conspirators.

Rivera’s ties to the case have been reported by the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald for years, but he had denied wrongdoing. Heading into the Tuesday GOP primary for Congressional District 26, Rivera had also denied being the target of any investigation.

But Judge Scola wanted Mulvihill to leave no doubt and directed him to name names.

About three minutes later, Mulvihill made the first of six direct mentions of Rivera, who is suspected of also helping Alliegro leave the United States for Nicaragua when she was supposed to be cooperating with prosecutors.

…The extraordinary scene that played out in federal court-- and the steady drip of information showing the prosecution’s arsenal of evidence-- underscores the strength of the case the government is trying to build against Rivera. At least five people, including Alliegro, could testify about Rivera’s alleged involvement.

…In the Sternad-Alliegro case, the prosecution indicated that Rivera was the mastermind. Mulvihill said that, after Alliegro met with Rivera, she then approached Sternad, an unknown Democrat running against Joe Garcia in the Democratic primary for the seat extending from Kendall to Key West.

Sternad, a hotel night-desk clerk, was raising five kids and was so financially strapped that he was on food stamps and took the bus to work.

Alliegro “told him that she had connections to provide the financing for his campaign. Since, as I told you, he was an extremely poor man, he agreed to accept it, took it as a lifesaver,” Mulvihill said.

Sternad used the money to rent a car, pay his cellphone bill, phone voters with pre-recorded calls and produce mailers, at least one of which attacked Garcia, who went on to beat Sternad and then Rivera.

During the primary campaign, the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald noted Sternad’s suspicious campaign activities and pointed out his incomplete campaign-finance reports. Campaign vendors, three of whom had been used by Rivera in previous campaigns, told the Herald that Rivera was behind Sternad’s candidacy.

Alliegro helped Sternad fill out his campaign finance reports, where he lied about the source of the illegal campaign cash, claiming the expenditures were from personal loans from his own account.

Sternad was later indicted for his role in the conspiracy and was recently given a seven-month prison sentence.

Alliegro faced similar charges. She pleaded guilty to four counts of making a false statement, conspiring and making illegal campaign contributions.

“She always said she would not invoke the Fifth Amendment, and that she would tell the truth,” said one of Alliegro’s defense attorneys, Richard Klugh. “And she intends to do that if called upon.”

She faces a maximum five years in prison, though that penalty would likely be lower if she cooperates in the case against Rivera. Her sentencing has been scheduled for Sept. 10. The informal plea deal announced in court indicates Alliegro, who has been incarcerated for nearly six months, could spend as little as six more months under house arrest.

Had Alliegro fought the case, she could have faced far more time behind bars.

Rivera spent his entire political career as Marco Rubio's consiglieri and the two of them own a notorious Tallahassee party house together. The Florida Republican Party will do anything to make this go away as soon as possible in such a way that Rubio is kept out of it.

God Answers Democratic Prayers In Miami-Dade-- David Rivera Is Back!

NRCC and Marco Rubio are not embracing their old pal Rivera this time around

Florida New Dem Joe Garcia has turned out to be a pretty big disappointment. A guy who certainly knows better, he quickly adopted the DCCC strategy of amassing a Republican-lite voting record in Congress. According to ProgressivePunch his abysmal 42.76 crucial vote score is, by far, the worst of any Florida Democrat (including Patrick Murphy), and one of the dozen worst among all House Democrats. Garcia votes against progressives even more frequently than reactionary Blue Dogs Jim Costa (CA), Dan Lipinksi (IL) and Jim Cooper (TN) and is exactly tied with West Virginia's Nick Rahall. And, remember, Garcia's district has a PVI of R+1 where Obama won both times; Rahall's district's PVI is R+14 and Obama barely scored a third of the votes against Romney and also lost big to McCain. Even Murphy has a "better" excuse for voting with the GOP so much-- a PVI of R+3. Garcia is just one big inauthentic mess who compromised away so much promise!

Yesterday, though, he may have had a lucky break-- a last minute entry into the Republican primary: the crook he defeated last time, David Rivera. Rivera's nemesis at the Miami Herald, Marc Caputo, reported that Rivera announced Thursday night that he would run for his old seat. In 2012, Garcia beat him 135,551 (54%) to 108,737 (43%), outperfoming Obama by 4%. But that was before Garcia had run up such a disappointing, defensive, Big Business-oriented voting record.

Rivera's thesis is that he didn't do anything wrong and all his troubles were manufactured out of thin air by the media, especially the Miami Herald. No one believed it in 2012 and there's been a lot more to prove it wrong since then.

“I will not answer to the lies of the Miami Herald,” Rivera said on the political talk show Ahora con Oscar Haza.

“I will not deviate from the issues and [will] defeat Joe Garcia. “Rivera said he’s running due to a “leadership crisis,” calling Garcia “incompetent.”

...Rivera’s announcement stunned Florida’s tough-to-surprise political world.

One of his fellow Republicans running against Garcia, Miami-Dade School Board Member Carlos Curbelo, issued a statement that blasted Rivera as well as Garcia, whose former campaign manager was recently jailed in an unrelated absentee ballot-request fraud scheme exposed by The Herald.

“Now more than ever our campaign is about putting an end to the scandals and the corruption that have plagued our community for far too long,” Curbelo said in a statement.

“The unethical conduct of public officials in both parties-- including incumbent Joe Garcia-- has landed people in jail and embarrassed the residents of Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties,” Curbelo said. “We will run a clean campaign focused on reestablishing the public trust and putting an end to this sad chapter in our community’s history.”

Curbelo is the Republican establishment favorite in the race and earned the endorsement of former Gov. Jeb Bush, an early Republican presidential frontrunner.

Rivera is a friend of another potential Republican candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, though the two haven’t been as close as in past years amid Rivera’s mounting political and legal troubles.

The two still jointly own a Tallahassee rental home, but associates of the two say Rubio would like to sell it and that he doesn’t think it’s a good idea for him to run for Congress against Curbelo.

Rivera, who said he’d officially file for the office on Friday, didn’t address Curbelo. The two had a tense race against each other for Miami-Dade Republican chairman in 2008 when Rivera, then a state representative, won the post by just a single vote.



Rivera, then a state representative, went on to win his congressional seat in 2010 when he defeated Garcia and a phony tea party candidate who had links to Garcia’s former campaign manager, Jeffrey Garcia.

The FBI began investigating that incident last year after the Miami Herald uncovered new evidence in the case.

By then, the FBI and U.S. Attorneys Office were farther along in the investigation of Rivera and his friend, Ana Alliegro, who helped manage the campaign of a little-known Democratic candidate named Justin Lamar Sternad.

Sternad admitted to the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office that his Democratic primary campaign was funded with about $82,000 in illegal campaign contributions, which were used, in part, to bash Garcia to the benefit of Rivera.

Sternad identified Alliegro as a source of the money. A March indictment against her says she was aided by at least one unnamed “co-conspirator.”

Alliegro is in a federal lockup awaiting trial on charges of breaking campaign-finance laws and lying about it.

Sternad, who is cooperating against her, has yet to be sentenced after pleading guilty last year to charges of breaking federal campaign-finance laws and lying about it.

Alliegro was arrested in March in Nicaragua, to which she twice fled to avoid investigators and prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas J. Mulvihill argued last month in court as part of a successful effort to keep her locked up.

Mulvihill said that, after she surrendered her passport last fall, Alliegro and “another individual” left Miami by flying to Texas, boarding a Greyhound bus to Mexico-- where a U.S. passport isn’t needed for entry-- and then flying to her hideout in Nicaragua.

While in Nicaragua, Alliegro was frequently visited by Rivera, neighbors told the Miami Herald.

When the Sternad case broke in theHerald/El Nuevo Herald, Mulvihill had already been leading an unrelated federal tax investigation into Rivera stemming from a secretive $500,000 payment from a dog track.

Rivera also narrowly escaped a state indictment on 52 counts of theft, money laundering and racketeering revolving around his use of campaign money. State prosecutors said the alleged crimes were too old or too tough to prosecute.

Rivera has long denied wrongdoing in those cases and on Thursday night he downplayed close ties to Alliegro. “I know her family; everyone knows her family,” he said.

He also dismissed the Sternad case.

“Nobody cares about a fake campaign from two years ago.”

Rivera said “no” when asked if federal investigators have come knocking on his door.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said of the allegations.

The DCCC has relvamped and updated their old House of Scandal website-- still no mention of Joe Crowley-- but I bet they can hardly wait to tackle Rivera again. It remains to be seen if they can ever get anything as good as John Steward's Grimm Shady piece though!

Though Christie Didn't Put It There, New Jersey Does Have A Severed Horse's Head On It's State Flag

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As a service to people who watch Fox News, which has made a great effort to block out the unfolding Chris Christie scandal, here's what happened today to their shockingly incompetent hero-- aside from this, of course:

Chris Christie succeeded at one thing in his press conference today. He acted civilly. He didn't thrust a pudgy finger into any women's faces and scream at them; he had his bullying instincts in check. He announced that he was "embarrassed and humiliated" that his bridge scandal was uncovered and that he was firing more staffers-- this time deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly and his campaign manager, state GOP head Bill Stepian-- as though anyone other than the most gullible think the guilt lies anywhere than with himself. "I'm a sad guy standing here today." Is there a silver cloud somewhere in this for Christie? Yes and no. Looks like Governor Soprano, who has turned this scandal into an opportunity to make himself into a victim and for perspective voters nationally to see how he manages a crisis (and that's the "no"), hasn't been eating as much as usual though (and that's the "yes").

No credible Christie watchers believe any of this attempt to blame "rogue" staffers. A Barbara Buono told Andrea Mitchell, the Christie office is run like a paramilitary organization and no one sneezes or goes to the bathroom without his permission. He wants people to believe that 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 10 of his top staffers put this whole conspiracy together without him and then kept him in the dark about it for weeks and weeks? New Jersey's voters made have been taken in his his persona before, but they're not this stupid and, more important, neither are voters in Iowa, New Hampshire or even South Carolina. After his performance today, Lindsey Graham said he couldn't win in the South and that everyone could see that he's a "bully… You know, he's a little too slick by half," said the South Carolina senior senator.

Meanwhile, one of Christie's primary hatchetmen, David Wildstein took the 5th over and over again, rather than incriminate himself today at a state legislative hearing into the Christie scandal. Later in the day, his lawyer implied, pretty strongly, that he would turn state's evidence if he was granted immunity from prosecution himself. Everyone loves a rat. Presumably, all Christie's aides will follow suit, take the 5th and obstruct justice. If the Republicans lose the House in November, Darrell Issa won't be running the investigation committee and I'd love to see a real investigation into why Christie thought he could disrupt interstate traffic with impunity.



Journalists who have followed Christie most carefully are now agreeing that his carefully devised, no-nonsense image is in peril. The guy is coming across not just as a bully-- a majority of NJ voters seem to like that-- but as a pitiful incompetent who can't even control his own staff.

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey has built a remarkable brand in Republican politics around a simple message: that his bluster and brashness, grating as they might be, were driven by a desire to transcend partisan rancor and petty politics in the service of the public good.

He would never let himself engage, he once pledged, in the “type of deceitful political trickery that has gone on in this state for much too long.”

But embarrassing revelations about his office’s role in shutting down some access lanes to the George Washington Bridge now imperil that carefully cultivated image. They suggest that the same elbows-out approach that the Christie administration brought to policy battles at the State House may have been deployed for a much less noble end-- punishing an entire borough for its mayor’s sin of not embracing the governor’s re-election campaign.For Mr. Christie, the timing of the blossoming scandal is dreadful, disrupting a highly anticipated plan to present the popular governor to the national electorate as a no-nonsense, bipartisan balm to a deeply divided federal government.

For Mr. Christie, the timing of the blossoming scandal is dreadful, disrupting a highly anticipated plan to present the popular governor to the national electorate as a no-nonsense, bipartisan balm to a deeply divided federal government.

…Despite Mr. Christie’s claims to the contrary, many saw an inescapable link to the temperamental governor, whose emotional outbursts at those who challenge him in public are a hallmark of his governing style.

Several leading conservatives, long suspicious of Mr. Christie’s allegiance to their cause, seemed eager to pounce. “The point of the story is that Christie will do payback,” Rush Limbaugh said on his popular conservative radio show. “If you don’t give him what he wants, he’ll pay you back.”

The episode is tricky for Mr. Christie and his aides. His cantankerous manner and independent streak are essential to his White House ambitions; advisers view them as an asset in early primary states like New Hampshire that have a history of embracing blunt-talking politicians.

Now there is a new worry: that what once seemed like a refreshing forcefulness may come off as misguided bullying.

“We like mavericks here,” said Thomas D. Rath, a longtime political strategist in New Hampshire. “But there is a line.” … The concept of a governor whose top aides mete out political revenge by triggering a giant traffic jam “could be a problem” for people in the state, said Mr. Rath, who has advised the Republican presidential campaigns of Bob Dole, George W. Bush and Mr. Romney.

Terry Golway, Director for History, Politics & Policy at Kean University in New Jersey penned an even more devastating piece reminding readers that, in essence Christie is nothing but another old-fashioned New Jersey boss.

Christie’s carefully crafted image as an anti-politician explains why a scandal involving traffic cones at the George Washington Bridge has become a potentially crippling handicap. His closest staff members and longtime friends have been revealed to be petty thugs who punished ordinary citizens to settle a political score. And while Christie has denied knowledge of the scheme to cause traffic havoc in the city of Fort Lee, questions are being raised about his administration’s aggressive methods of dealing with critics.

New Jersey has long been a place where politics is practised with brass knuckles. It is still home to a number of old-fashioned political bosses-- even after Christie put several behind bars. The most prominent boss still at large is a man named George Norcross, a Democrat who has worked co-operatively with Christie, a Republican, on several projects and who did little to oppose Christie’s re-election last year.

As governor, Christie has shown a weakness for the sort of autocratic boss-style politics that he seemed to despise during his career as a prosecutor. Even other Republicans have felt his wrath whenever they seemed insufficiently enthusiastic about his program or governing style. In the end, though, important reforms were passed into law during his first term after years of languishing in legislative committees. Sometimes it takes a boss to get the wheels of government working properly.

As the dominant political figure in New Jersey, Christie has no equal and no real rival. But voters have not objected to his my-way-or-the-highway approach to governance: he was re-elected in November with 60% of the vote. Still, it is one thing to force-feed legislation on recalcitrant politicians, and quite another to engage in political thuggery. Christie’s aides crossed that line, and now the governor’s presidential prospects are critically damaged.

Christie says he did not know of the plan to target Fort Lee’s mayor, and apologised for it in a press conference. But the plan itself reeks of prosecutorial zeal, a red-hot desire to punish a perceived wrong-doer. Christie’s aides have made a habit of posting videos of the governor assailing critics as if they were in the dock rather than simply questioning his policies. The bridge scandal may not bear the governor’s fingerprints, but critics have noted that he has been nothing if not aggressive with those who disagree with him.

New Jersey’s old-time political bosses were equally autocratic, but the best of them realised there was a time and a place in politics for compromise and negotiation. Prosecutors, however, live in a very different world. They deal with accused criminals. It is their job to prove that their adversary is guilty as charged. There is no room for debating the charge.

If Chris Christie is to recover, he must show that he does not regard critics as criminals, and that he understands that reasonable people can disagree in a reasonable fashion. That will require a radical change in style.

Right! That's not going to happen anytime soon. Christie, despite his performance today, has very little self-control. And, as Ezra Klein showed in this morning's Washington Post he's a low-grade and pathetic bully through and through. "Christie," he wrote, "inhabits a rare space in American politics: He's a bully. He's followed around by an aide with a camcorder watching for moments in which Christie, mustering the might and prestige of his office, annihilates some citizen who dares question him… The reason Chris Christie is so good at this is that Chris Christie is actually a bully. That doesn't mean he's not also a nice guy who cares deeply about his family and his constituents and his country. It doesn't mean he's not an unusually honest politician who's refreshingly free of cant and willing to question his party. There's a lot about Christie that's deeply appealing. But there's one big thing that's not: He's someone who uses his office to intimidate people and punish or humiliate perceived enemies… What makes Christie unusual is that he's a bully with power. That can be a dangerous combination."

John Banzhaf, a Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University Law School wrote today that there's more bad news for Christie around the corner: civil suits that are bound to uncover more information about what he and his team are covering up. "In addition to the political fallout, and any punishments for the aides who deliberately sabotaged traffic at the GW Bridge, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and his aides could be sued by commuters for massive damages under a variety of legal theories-- a tactic which, even if it doesn't succeed in inflicting severe financial harm upon those responsible would, as least, help undercover more still-secret evidence about how the fiasco was organized, and any role Christie played in it." Remember, an elderly woman died when her ambulance couldn't get through Christie traffic blockade of the Bridge. "In addition, those who willfully caused the massive tie-ups could be sued for 'false imprisonment.' Deliberately engaging in an unlawful act for the purpose of forcing people to remain in one place for any significant period of time constitutes the civil tort of 'false imprisonment.' Indeed, many courts have held that intentionally preventing a car from moving can make the defendants liable not only for the actual damages suffered by a person detained (e.g. time lost from work, missed appointments or classes, etc.), but also for massive amounts of punitive damages designed to prevent a repetition of the unlawful conduct… Tort actions, and especially class action law suits, permit those who have been harmed by the wrongful actions taken by those acting in concert-- a civil conspiracy-- to sue everyone responsible, even if the wrongful deeds do not necessarily meet the more exactly standards of a criminal conspiracy," says Banzhaf, who helped develop novel legal theories to successfully sue cigarette manufacturers, fast food companies, soda bottlers, Spriro T. Agnew, and many others.

At least Staten Island Mafia figure and GOP congressman, Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm is standing by his man. Grimm, a lowlife thug who is under investigation of a wide range of serious charges by the FBI and is likely to face far more prison time than Duke Cunningham or Bob Ney ever got, vouched for Christie a few hours ago:

“Governor Christie demonstrated true leadership and accountability during today’s press conference,” said Grimm. “I have known Governor Christie since he was a United States Attorney with a distinguished anti-corruption record and I was an undercover agent working a high profile public corruption case with his office. I know him to be a man of unquestionable honor and ironclad integrity, and I take him at his word. In an a time when President Obama and key figures in his administration shamelessly pass the buck and avoid accountability for one massive failure after another, the Governor’s swift and immediate action to dismiss those responsible, commit himself to a full vetting of his staff, and embrace his responsibility as his state’s chief executive is both uncommon and refreshing.”

And then there is this… pay close attention:

Another Republican Sex Scandal-- And For Staten Island Again?

We probably cover Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm more than any other blogs outside of his Staten Island/south Brooklyn district. Usually, we're posting about his Mafia connections and other criminal activities. I don't think his latest scandal rises to "criminal" but it might just be the one that ends his ridiculous congressional career. My sister lives on Staten Island and she always warns me that exposing Grimm's mafioso dealings just makes him stronger among her absurd neighbors. They all fantasize that they're in the Mafia too.

But congressional public sex acts-- drunk or not-- may even be beyond the pale for Staten Island. I might mention at this point, that although Obama beat Romney, 52-47%, Grimm looked relatively safe because of typically flawed DCCC recruiting. NYC Councilman Domenic Recchia was picked by Steve Israel because, as chairman of the Council Finance Committee, he's sure to raise a hoard of cash. He's a crappy candidate but that sure isn't preventing Terry McAuliffe from kicking Ken Cuccinelli's ass in Virginia. Meanwhile, Grimm, whose fundraising is down, continues to embarrass even hard-to-embarrass Staten Island:

A Republican congressman spent the Friday before the government shutdown drinking and behaving boorishly at a constituent bar in Brooklyn, two witnesses told us-- including disappearing into a restroom with a woman for at least 15 minutes. Michael Grimm, who represents Staten Island and part of Brooklyn, spent the evening at the Bay Ridge bar with two couples and a woman in whose back pocket he repeatedly placed his hand, and whose ass he slapped more than once, the witnesses said. He drank wine and insisted each drink be served in a fresh glass.

The three couples also each slipped in turn into the bar’s only restroom, including the congressman and his female companion, who stayed in there together for “a long fucking time,” one witness said-- 15 minutes or more, so long that people at the bar were talking about it. ”I was surprised someone so sleazy could be a congressman,” one witness said.

The congressman’s press representative did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Grimm is single; he wedded Susan Kim in 1994, but the brief marriage was annulled.

A Nexus Between The DCCC And Miss McConnell-- Here's What's Wrong With Inside The Beltway Politics

The DCCC has been howling for 3 days about how Staten Island Gambino crime family congressman, Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm was first for war and then anti-war. "He changed his mind, he changed his mind" has been the constant, annoying refrain, although they haven't said anything about Ami Bera (D-CA) doing exactly the same thing. Even more interesting, when I called the DCCC candidate for Grimm's seat, Dominic Recchia, they said he has no position on Syria "yet." I found that consistent with nearly all the DCCC-manufactured candidates. None of them have positions; all of them are trying to figure out what to say. One of them told me she's antiwar in her heart but that she doesn't want to offend Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman Schultz or, most important, vicious warmonger Steve Israel who controls the flow of DCCC campaign cash. Did Israel threaten her, I asked. "No, but he sent me a memo that confused me about what to say." I coaxed it out of her.

Basically the memo comes from a mirror image place of fear that has kept Mitch McConnell (R-KY) from taking a stand on bombing Syria, something his Tea Party opponent, Matt Bevin, is taking him to task for (though, not his far more cautious Democratic opponent Alison Lundergan Grimes; she's as incomprehensible and afraid to stand for anything as McConnell). Bevin says he's "offended by all these guys that have been sitting around that place gathering dust and moss for decades who are utterly unwilling to lead on and be thoughtful on things that are of this magnitude and this importance... These old fuddy-duddy moss-covered relics are just hiding behind their inactivity in the hopes of getting six more years on our dime. And I think the people of Kentucky, certainly, are fed up with it." Sounding not unlike Alan Grayson (D-FL)-- at least on this issue-- Bevin makes a lot of sense on Syria: "The reason I am opposed to it [U.S. military involvement in Syria] is we have absolutely no business whatsoever being in Syria. There is no military reason for us to be involved. There is no security risk to the United States. There is nobody on either side who is or has the potential to be a true ally of ours because they don’t even remotely believe in what we believe as it relates to freedom of religion, freedom of the press, human rights, basic human dignity. We have no business in being there."

Bevin criticized the administration for even considering getting involved in the Syrian civil war. He claimed it is McConnell’s role to step up and do something about the issue.

“The idea that we have an administration and we have silent ‘leaders’ like Mitch McConnell who are just spineless and refuse to come out and state what they believe, who when they do come out in the case of the administration they say, ‘Well we don’t intend to have any kind of a regime change,’ then what the flying flip are we even going in there for?” Bevin said.

“Really and truly, what is the point if we don’t have an end goal, if we don’t have a purpose, if we don’t have a mission, why would we be sending our weapons, which could potentially lead to our people being involved in this, destroying infrastructure and destroying people in another nation when we don’t have any knowledge of why we’re doing it?" he asked. "Because of some arbitrary line that the president drew in the sand and is now trying to pretend that the world drew in the sand? Really? What a cop out.”

...“One of the greatest reasons we hear in Kentucky for why we need six more years of Mitch McConnell is that he’s so influential,” Bevin said. “He’s so powerful. He’s a leader. And it’s so good for those of us in Kentucky."

"But the reality is when asked if they can name any one thing that that leadership and influence has done for Kentucky, any one thing that power has done for Kentucky, nobody can think of anything because the answer is nothing," Bevin claimed. "The only person who has been served by that influence and power is Mitch McConnell. He is a spineless person and he is unwilling to lead."

"It isn’t specific to any party. There is amazing dearth of leadership on both sides of the aisle. These are people whose primary mission is to keep getting re-elected," Bevin suggested. "When it’s hard and when it’s tough, and when someone truly needs to stand up and lead, they’re silent. They’re missing in action.”

"Spineless person, unwilling to lead" is also an apt description for 6 Democrats running for Ed Markey's old congressional seat (MA-05) in the suburbs around Boston, from Revere and Winthrop in the east, up to Malden, Medford, Woburn and Lexington in the north and then out to Watertown, Waltham, Sudbury and Framingham in the west. The one exception, as we've pointed out: state Rep. Carl Sciortino, a courageous progressive leader who has come out against the bombing. That election is October 15 and voters will be able to send a message to DC about how serious they are in their opposition to more wars of choice.

Now, back to the secret DCCC memo to its candidates, all of whom have been revoltingly mum on the number one issue that voters in every single district are talking about. You looking for leadership on the Syria crisis? Don't expect any from any of the DCCC cardboard candidates. So while you have independent progressives like Nick Ruiz (D-FL), Carl Sciortino (D-MA) and Tom Guild (D-OK) speaking out clearly and in a principled way against war, the DCCC is encouraging mealy-mouthed candidates to hold their fire and keep their heads down. "In short," their wishy-washy memo to candidates begins, "President Obama wants Congressional approval to strike with precision-guided missiles. This action would be a response to a targets in Syria August 2013 chemical weapons attack launched by the Syrian military during the course of Syria’s civil war. The Obama Administration asserts that it must uphold international norms against the use of chemical weapons to reduce future use."

Then comes the facts and figure for candidates who don't know the difference between Syria, Tanzania and Honduras: "Syria is about the size of North Dakota with roughly 22 million inhabitants. The majority of them are Sunni Muslim. Syria is a predominantly Arab country." No, really... that's an exact quote from the memo. Then comes all the propaganda about how Assad used sarin gas on his own people and killed all those children, no less a bold-faced lie than the manufactured "evidence" the Bush regime offered to justify their predetermined attack against Iraq. The "evidence" is anything but clear about who used the chemical weapons and it seems to point to agents provocateurs dead set on persuading Obama to attack Syria. But reflexive warmongers like Steve Israel insist on twisting the facts for hapless candidates, sending them out like lambs to be slaughtered. (And, yes, Steve Israel helped push through Bush's authorization for the use of force against Iraq, even though a big majority of House Democrats opposed him on it. He shouldn't be allowed to use the DCCC for his personal agenda of war.) After pages of worthless propaganda, the DCCC memo end with the arguments, pro and con, for its candidates to consider:

For giving authority for an attack:

• "The U.S. has to attack to uphold the longstanding international norm against the use of chemical weapons so that they aren’t used in future wars."
• U.S. credibility is now on the line: The U.S. President declared the use of chemical weapons to be a red line, and has also asked Congress publicly for support. To deny the Commander in Chief the authority undermines our nation. (Also stated as: U.S. failure to follow-through questions American willingness to engage and gives an appearance of weakness.)
• "The U.S. should stand against the use of chemical weapons generally on humanitarian grounds. Related argument: the U.S. has a history of moral authority we risk losing if we do not act in Syria."
• "The U.S. will intimidate Iran by attacking, which helps Israel (and the U.S.) primarily by reducing the confidence and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) manufacturing intentions of Iran, Israel’s most powerful declared enemy."
• "If we don’t attack, Assad may use these weapons again. Consequences include that more Syrians die from chemical weapons as opposed to traditional weapons, and that the use of chemical weapons could trigger a refugee crisis that is greater than would otherwise occur if the war continued only with traditional weapons. The refugee crisis threatens to destabilize our allies in the region, including Jordan and Turkey, a partner in the NATO alliance that we are also part of."

Against giving authority for an attack:

• "Syria does not pose a direct threat to the United States and an attack is not in our interest from a national security or a financial perspective; our excessive debt has already cut funding for the military and domestic programs significantly, and the U.S. experience in limiting costs for Middle East interventions shows we tend to underestimate."
• "There are other ways to put pressure on Assad other than a direct missile strike. This is a premature decision until additional diplomatic options have been pursued." Also stated as: We should go through the U.N. since we are not directly impacted.
• "An attack could create more instability in the region and makes regional American military reinvestment (troops on the ground) more likely. U.S. Secretary of Defense Kerry has not ruled out ‘boots on the ground’ in a long-term scenario resulting from this action."
• "The U.S. lacks a clearly defined and obtainable objective, and the plan lacks any element of surprise."
• "The U.S. did not intervene when chemical weapons were used by Iraq against Iran, or when Iraq used them domestically against the Kurds. A precedent is not created if we do not attack."
• "This threatens American personnel in the region: Iran ordered militants in Iraq to attack US interests (our embassy primarily) in Baghdad should the US carry out military strikes in Syria."
• Potential negative consequences: Our strikes could result in: heavy civilian casualties, Assad killing more civilians with chemical weapons, Syrian army sympathizers attack Americans somewhere else in the world, Assad falls and the chemical weapons end up in the wrong hands, escalation across the board. In addition, the chances that the attacks are so slight that Assad survives them easily and appears strengthened before the world.

And then a warning for any candidates who understand the insidious role AIPAC-- the Israeli lobbying arm in DC-- plays in U.S. politics: "Israel’s Prime Minister has not commented publicly on American involvement other than to say that Israel is prepared in the event that Syria decides to attack Israel as retaliation for an American strike on Syria. The American Pro-Israel community has shown support for an American campaign against Syria, with AIPAC specifically saying 'AIPAC urges Congress to grant the president the authority he has requested to protect America’s national security interests and dissuade the Syrian regime’s further use of unconventional weapons. The civilized world cannot tolerate the use of these barbaric weapons, particularly against an innocent civilian population including hundreds of children.'" How often does the DCCC send out memos from Beltway lobbyists to candidates? They ended their missive with a dismissive sneer to the UN: "Incidentally, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon opposes further military action without Security Council approval, which is not unexpected."



Please watch the video above of Grayson questioning Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Secretary of State John Kerry. This back and forth between Hagel and Grayson was pretty shocking, especially to anyone who recalls the fraudulent "evidence" manufactured by the Bush Regime to persuade Congress into authorizing an attack on Iraq.

GRAYSON: Secretary Hagel, there’s been a report in the media that the administration has mischaracterized post-attack Syrian military communications, and that these communications actually express surprise about the attack. This is a very serious charge. Can you please release the original transcripts so that the American people can make their own judgment about that important issue?

HAGEL: What transcripts are you referring to?

GRAYSON: The transcripts that were reported that took place after the attack in which the government has suggested that they confirm the existence of an attack, but actually it’s been reported that Syrian commanders expressed surprise about the attack having taken place, not confirmed it.

HAGEL: Well, that’s probably classified. Congressman, I’d have to go back and review exactly what you’re referring to.

GRAYSON: Well, you will agree that it’s important that the administration not mislead the public in any way about these reports, won’t you?

Grayson kept pushing and Hagel kept dancing and finally said "I have no idea what exactly you’re talking about..." and was probably delighted when teabaggy warmonger Tom Cotten (R) of Arkansas replaced Grayson as the questioner. And what Grayson was referring to was Obama's statement last week that “Our intelligence shows the Assad regime and its forces preparing to use chemical weapons, launching rockets in the highly populated suburbs of Damascus, and acknowledging that a chemical weapons attack took place.” Many intelligence experts have dismissed this as the exact same kind of chicanery that the Bush regime used.

Carpenters Union, Under Fire For Mob Connections, Endorsed And Funded Gambino Crime Family Congressman, Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm

Grimm with the Carpenters Union bosses

Obama won yesterday for many reasons. One of them was the overwhelming support he had from unions-- although let me mention that my sister's union, the American Federation of Teachers endorsed Obama and worked hard for him on a national level, while her Staten Island local never tired of urging the members to vote for Romney. We've been talking about unions that back Republicans and we've concentrated on the AFL-CIO's building trades unions, the worst of the lot. One of the most corrupt (and right-wing) of the unions is the Carpenters and Joiners Union. They spent close to $8 million on this election cycle and only 4 candidates running for Congress got over $10,000:

• Janice Hahn, a mainstream Democrat they backed to keep a liberal from winning the primary ($20,000)
• Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm, Staten Island's Mafia clown who we'll discuss below
• Kathleen Hochul, one of the most conservative New Dems in the House
• David McKinley, a corrupt right-wing multimillionaire the DCCC wanted to see win

The Carpenters and Joiners also backed John Boehner, always the champion of the working man, to the tune of 10,000 smackeroos. But let's get back to all this carpenter/joiner love for Grimm, a fervently anti-working family fanatic. What's the story? Well, it turns out the Carpenters and Joiners Union is involved with the same fraternal organization as Grimm, the Mafia.

The former FBI agent who infiltrated the New York Mafia and helped convict more than 200 gangsters told Quebec's Charbonneau commission on Monday that the Mob would manipulate the construction industry and rake in large payoffs by infiltrating unions and controlling the supply of raw materials.

Joseph Pistone, who spent five years undercover as a Mafia henchman and whose story was made famous in the movie Donnie Brasco, testified at the inquiry about his experience in "deep cover," mostly inside New York's Bonanno crime family in the late 1970s and early '80s.

"Organized crime cannot operate without corrupting someone," Pistone said in response to questions about how New York's five Mafia families insinuated themselves into business and government.

And in the construction sector, that meant gaining control of labour unions-- generally by having a Mafia man get elected president or business manager of a local, Pistone said.

"They'll start their own union, or there will be an existing union where they'll have their man, a Mafia guy within the union, become the representative of the union, become the president of the union," he testified.

Since most big construction projects use unionized workers, a Mafia family could then use its control of the labour force to extort the construction company's bosses.

"They would tell their members to slow down the job so the company's losing money every day," Pistone said. "If a legitimate company did get a contract and didn't play ball with the Mafia, that's what they would do until they finally gave in."

Construction companies could be hit up for millions in payments this way. It might happen subtly: Sometimes the Mob would dictate that 20 workers be hired for a particular construction project, when only 10 were really needed, Pistone said. Or Mafia-run construction companies would submit claims for more expensive unionized labour while actually paying cheaper non-union rates.

Organized crime also had a stake in raw-materials companies like cement or steel suppliers, and could squeeze a piece of the profit that way, even when public contracts went to a business not controlled by dons.

The ultimate consequence of these Mafia rake-offs is to drive up costs, the FBI veteran said.

"The government, taxpayers are paying more when the Mafia is involved in any particular business, if the government or taxpayers have to use that business."

Early in September the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, Locals 926 and 20, officially endorsed Grimm, in the midst of several scandals and an FBI investigation. Here's their press release:

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-- Two Carpenters Union locals endorsed Rep. Michael Grimm Thursday, saying the freshman lawmaker understands working-class voters.

"We strongly support the congressman for re-election," said Salvatore Tagliaferro, president of Local 926 outside the Bulls Head construction site of the new 121 Precinct. "His voting record is one of standing up for the working class. We hope everyone comes out and supports him."

Grimm called the backing of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Union Brooklyn Local 926 and Staten Island Local 20 "special because they represent hard-working families."

"You hear the sound bites about how Republicans don't care about the working-class, the middle-class," said Grimm (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn). "That shows how little they know about me. Here is more proof, added to the other union support I have gotten and will get. They know I have stood up for them and fought for their families. I do my homework on the issues. I won't be swayed. I have broken with the Republican Party 70 times to stand up for our labor force."

One time was on project labor agreement legislation, to guarantee skilled union labor at the prevailing wage on job sites, said Grimm and Tagliaferro.

"Some people think the congressman is a shoe-in," added Tagliaferro. "But you never take your opponent lightly. You have to fight the fight. He fights the fight for us every day. He rides the wave; we ride it with him."

Tagliaferro also noted that Grimm grew up in a union household. The congressman's father was a roofer.

The Carpenters Union is one of the largest building trades unions in North America.

Despite Grimm's Mob connections he defeated hapless Democrat Mark Murphy yesterday, 53.4 -45.7%. Grimm raised $2,120,030 to Murphy's $824,424 (both figures as of October 17). Neither the DCCC nor the NRCC spent any money in the race, although right-wing groups spent slightly over $150,000 bolstering Grimm. And it appears there was some ticket-splitting on Staten Island yesterday. Obama beat Romney 67,524 (50%) to 66,420 (49%) but Grimm triumphed over Murphy 72,102 (55%) to 58,193 (44%).