Fascism Is On The March In Europe-- Elections Tomorrow In Austria And Italy

Tomorrow Italy votes on a package of complex referendums that are extremely difficult for voters without post-graduate degrees to understand. But rejection could be another devastating blow the EU. The BBC tried sorting out what it means and why it's important. The reforms Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is trying to impose on his fractious country are tied up in the referendum and he says he'll step down if they lose-- the 3rd domino after Brexit and Trump in "he onward march of the right-wing (neo-fascist) populists. Italy's been there before-- and it worked out badly for them. Unfortunately by making the referendum about himself, Renzi has put the country in unnecessary danger with plenty of voters looking at the referendum as nothing but an opportunity to punish a government they have beefs with.

Renzi has had strong support from global leaders... The concern is that if Renzi goes, Italy's politicians will squabble, the country's fragile economy will suffer, borrowing costs will spike and once again Europe will be facing a crisis in the eurozone.

Waiting in the wings are anti-establishment parties like the Five Star movement which is promising that if it eventually wins power, it will offer a referendum on retaining the euro. The very idea of another vote sends shivers down the spines of Europe's leaders.

Five Star's leader, the former comedian Beppe Grillo, has spoken of an "era going up in flames." It is a similar sentiment to that expressed by Nigel Farage, UKIP's former leader, who declared after Mr Trump's victory that the "democratic revolution" is only just beginning.

If polls retain any credibility after this year of political shocks then a No vote is expected on Sunday. The financial markets, caught out by both Brexit and Trump, have already factored in a Renzi defeat.

There is no doubt that Italy needs reforming. The tangle of bureaucracy and judicial delays snares investment projects, reforms get diluted or blocked in the two houses of parliament and the Senate, with its 315 members, needs shrinking.

But there are legitimate concerns that Renzi's plan will lead to a centralising of power. The winning party will gain a premium of seats, ensuring an absolute majority. Five Star campaigners argue that the "reforms serve to give more power to those who are already in power."

...The risk is that a No vote and a Renzi resignation would tip Italy into an early election. And that might give the Five Star movement and the anti-establishment Northern League an opportunity of success at the polls.

The prospect of two Eurosceptic parties gaining ground in the eurozone's third-biggest economy might well rattle the markets.

Government ministers will tell you that unemployment is inching down, that the deficit is falling and that labour markets have become more flexible. But the economy is 12% smaller than when the financial crisis began in 2008.

Italy's banks remain weak. The problem of non-performing loans has not been sorted out and the country's debt-to-GDP ratio, at 133%, is second only to Greece's.

The Italian vote is not about Europe or the EU but it will be interpreted as an indicator of the strength of the anti-establishment winds blowing through Europe in the aftermath of Mr Trump's unexpected victory.

Obama has been very supportive of Renzi's referendum and made a big deal about a recent trip to DC which played well in Italian media back home. Trump's not on the same side-- to put it mildly. Meanwhile European socialists met in Prague today to figure out how to deal with the rise of neo-fascism-- they call it populism-- in the western democracies. Jeremy Corbyn had his hands full, admitting "that populists have been successfully identifying many of the problems faced by people across the country, but their solution-- to attack minorities-- was not the answer... It's clear that there is a problem of the alarming rise and acceleration of the populist right all across this continent. Be it UKIP in my country, Donald Trump and the language he used in the presidential election in the United States, or what's happening in Hungary with Jobbik or Marine Le Pen in France, with her National Front. Politics has been shaken across the world. We know why the populist right is gaining ground and it's increasingly hard to get our message heard. It's up to us to give a real political alternative."

The European left-- much like the old and clueless out-of-touch Democrats in DC-- is grappling to effectively frame an alternative explanation for the problems they face and come up with solutions, that include increasing social justice and inclusion. Corbyn should sound familiar on this side of the Atlantic:

"The gap between rich and poor is widening. Living standards are stagnating or falling. People feel left behind by the forces unleashed by globalisation. They feel powerless in the face of deregulated corporate power.

"We have to deal with those issues and we have to deal with them quickly and seriously.

"The populist right do identify many of the problems but their toxic solution is actually a dead end. It's about attacking minorities rather than facing the real issues that many communities face.

"So, unless progressive parties across Europe are prepared to break from the political establishment of the past, which has sought to manage the change of globalisation, then we are going to have problems."

Mr Corbyn went on: "We have to offer a different economic message. It's about convincing the long-term unemployed that the reason there is no work for them is not because of migrants, it's because of an economic programme of deindustrialisation and insecurity.

"We have to make clear that our public services are being run down because of austerity and often very predatory privatisation.

"We cannot and must not abandon socialist principles, because many tell us that is the only way to achieve power.

"We have to put forward a very clear economic message-- one of social justice and inclusion."

Polls show that tomorrow's presidential vote in Austria could well go to the neo-fascist candidate Norbert Hofer, an anti-immigrant gun nut, said it be backed surreptitiously by Putin. Polls show him leading Alexander Van der Bellen, the Green Party-backed independent by double digits. The two mainstream parties were eliminated in the first round. His Freedom Party (FPÖ) was founded by Nazi SS officers in 1956.

[A] win for Mr Hofer would also be a blow to Europe’s political mainstream. It would mark a grim milestone: the continent’s first democratically elected far-right head of state since 1945. It would also present a headache. In the past its neighbours isolated and upbraided Austria for its flirtations with nationalist extremism: like when in 1986 it elected as president Kurt Waldheim, whose wartime Wehrmacht unit had been involved in war crimes; and when, on the formation of the 2000 coalition, other EU member states imposed sanctions. Now, with authoritarian populists on the march in much of the continent (take Viktor Orbán across the border in Hungary), it would be harder to single the country out.

Europe would also be subject to such an election result’s global significance. Mr Hofer may represent an old party, but his political style is somewhat new and part of a bigger trend. Like Donald Trump in America, the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands and Marine Le Pen in France, the FPÖ leadership has sanded off the most overtly racist edges of traditional far-right politics and blended flag-waving, anti-migrant social policies, a redistributionist economic credo and the language and style of anti-establishment insurgence. So notwithstanding the distinctive aspects of Austria’s election, it is the latest test of this formula’s ability to create electoral upsets; perhaps even another omen of a strong showing by Ms Le Pen next spring. These phenomena may have their differences but they are also intertwined: each populist success in one country emboldening, enlightening and maybe even detoxifying counterparts in others. Once Austria was ostracised. Now others are Austrianising.

UPDATE: Good News From Österreich

Despite polls showing neo-fascist Norbert Hofer 10 points ahead, savvy Austrian voters elected independent Green-backed Alexander Van der Bellen president today. There is general rejoicing all over Europe as this is seen to be a set-back for the Putin-backed neo-Nazi revival that has been gaining strength everywhere across the continent (not to mention Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania). Estimates show Van der Bellen besting the Nazi 53-46%. During the campaign, Van der Bellen's comment on Trump's victory was that "his campaign style, the sexist attacks were unacceptable. As regards content he has raised concerns-- let's give him several months."

Former Republican Congressman Rick Renzi Is Finally Headed To Prison On Corruption Charges

You may have noticed that DWT spends a lot of time going after a few especially bad Members of Congress. If you're a regular reader, you see a lot of mentions of shady characters like Darrell Issa, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Buck McKeon, Michele Bachmann, John Barrow, Steve Israel, Louie Gohmert, Steve King, John Boehner, Miss McConnell, Joe Crowley... the worst of the worst from both sides of the aisle. When the blog got started in 2005, our focus was on people we rarely mention these days: Duke Cunningham, Tom DeLay, Mark Foley, John Doolittle, Dick Pombo and Rick Renzi. Cunningham went to prison on corruption charges; DeLay is out on bail while he appeals his convictions; Pombo was kicked out of office by his constituents; Foley resigned in disgrace and is trying to rehabilitate himself; Doolittle resigned in a trade-off with the Feds to stay out of prison (which is I think what Bachmann is up to now). And now-- finally-- Renzi is getting his due.

In 2008, after years of pussyfooting around (including being forced to resign from his committee in disgrace), Renzi was indicted on 35 criminal counts. And Tuesday... well, it depends which version you tune in on. Renzi's version is that the federal jury acquitted him on 15 charges. And that's true. But the jury also found him guilty on 17 counts including wire fraud, conspiracy, extortion, racketeering, money laundering and making false statements to insurance regulators. He turned 55 on Tuesday. He'll be sentenced on August 19.

Prosecutors said wire fraud, extortion, money laundering and racketeering each carry maximum penalties of 20 years in prison while conspiracy carries up to a five-year prison term. Making false statements to insurance regulators carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Renzi, who turned 55 on Tuesday, left the courthouse without commenting.

“We are pleased that the jury acquitted Mr. Renzi on 15 counts,” his defense attorney, Chris Niewoehner, said in a statement. “We are disappointed by every guilty verdict. We will continue to fight these charges, including on appeal.”

Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman said Renzi must now face the consequences of his actions.

“Former Congressman Renzi’s streak of criminal activity was a betrayal of the public trust and abuse of the political process,” Raman said in a statement. “After years of misconduct as a businessman, political candidate and member of Congress, Mr. Renzi now faces the consequences for breaking the laws that he took an oath to support and defend.”

The indictment charged that Renzi, while in office in 2005, held hostage possible parcel swaps involving public land proposed as the site for an Arizona copper mine unless it included purchasing private land owned by a former Renzi business associate, James Sandlin.

According to the indictment, an investment group agreed to pay $4.6 million for the associate’s land, and he then paid Renzi $733,000 for his help.

Renzi had been named Congress' most corrupt Member by CREW 4 times. Between 1989 and 2012 he raised $5,947,867 from campaign donors, primarily from the Real Estate, Insurance and Gambling industries. One of the counts he was found guilty of was looting a family insurance business to help pay for his 2002 campaign. Over all, he was convicted for using his office for personal gain, something that almost all Republicans and too many Democrats are also guilty of.

Rick Renzi's Going To Spend A Lot Of Time In Prison-- But What About Jerry Lewis?

Last year, after months and months of bickering and posturing and half measures, the Republican House leadership finally forced serial criminal Rick Renzi (R-AZ)-- the R is for "racketeer"-- to retire from politics. He was replaced by a quasi-Democrat who votes with the GOP more frequently, at least on important substantive issues, than she votes with the Democrats. (Her ProgressivePunch score is a dismal 32.61.) Today the Justice Department announced that it has expanded its case against Renzi, adding 5 new corruption charges against the former key John McCain ally and campaign operative.

Prosecutors added insurance fraud and racketeering accusations in a second superseding indictment filed in late September. It is the second time the government has added charges to the original indictment, first filed in February 2008.

The government added a conspiracy to commit insurance fraud charge to the indictment. Explaining the charge, the government argued that Renzi, co-defendant Dwayne Lequire and others willfully embezzled funds and premiums from a risk retention company called Spirit Mountain to pay Renzi’s “substantial personal expenses.” Lequire helped conceal the embezzlement by transferring other funds into accounts of Renzi’s insurance company, Patriot Insurance, including proceeds from a line of credit and the real estate deal at the heart of the corruption case against him, the prosecutors allege.

Renzi is accused of telling executives for Resolution Copper Mining that he would not support a land swap bill unless they bought his former business partner’s property. Another company agreed to the deal, and Renzi pocketed more than $700,000 from it, according to the indictment.

The trial has been postponed while the judge deals with a barrage of Renzi motions to get the charges dismissed, to get evidence suppressed and to disqualify the prosecution team, etc. So far all of the obstructionist motions that have been ruled on have been denied. That got him to just file more. Meanwhile, the remnants of the most corrupt regime to have ever infested the nation's capital took a failed stab at forcing Charlie Rangel step down from his Ways and Means Committee chair. "To allow Mr. Rangel to continue to serve," says GOP hatchetman John Carter (R-TX), "as Chairman of the very committee with IRS oversight, without paying a nickel in penalties, and with no end in sight to his ethics investigation, sends a clear message to the American public that this government refuses to abide by the same laws they impose on the working people of this country."

It kind of makes you wonder what message the right-wing fringe loon Carter and his partisan cohorts thought was being sent to the American public while California Congressman Jerry Lewis was the head of the Appropriations Committee-- spending a million dollars a year fending off a halfhearted Bush Justice Dept. investigation while arranging for earmarks for every campaign donor he's ever had. And he's still up to his old tricks, just this week putting in for a $3 million earmark for Goldman Sachs, Pegasus Partners and Resource Capital Funds. In Lewis' case, Karl Rove was able to get rid of not one, but two-- Carol Lam and Debra Yang-- Justice Department attorneys sniffing around a little too close for comfort.

I don't doubt that Rangel has played fast and loose with rules governing ethical conduct-- and possibly criminal conduct; he is, after all, a politician. The Ethics Committee is investigating him, and I'll be interested in seeing what they come up with. Meanwhile, if Rangel set out to rip off the taxpayers of America and worked really hard at it, he might catch up with Rick Renzi before the next Republican wins the White House-- but he'll never catch up with Jerry Lewis.

Which brings us to a simple question: Why hasn't the new Administration staffed up the Justice Department? The answer, of course, is pure Republican obstructionism. They are simply holding up confirmations for months and months over their unrelated series of manufactured hissy fits. After senseless months of bottling up the nomination of Tom Perez to head the civil rights division, when it came to a vote yesterday Perez was confirmed 72-22, only the worst and most blatant obstructionists-- like Sam Brownback (KS), Miss McConnell (KY), Jeff Sessions (KKK), Jim DeMint (SC), John Ensign (NV), David Diapers Vitter (LA) and John Thune (SD)-- voting no. Confirm US Attorneys who will investigate criminal activities of members of Congress? I don't think so.

Coincidentally, People For the American Way president Michael Keegan was highlighting the obstructionist aspect of this problem today as well, pointing out Republicans' refusal to confirm Dawn Johnsen to her Justice Department post.

“For months now, Senate Republicans have been blocking the confirmation of President Obama's nominees to key positions in the federal government. Dawn Johnsen, the President's eminently qualified nominee to head the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department, has been waiting longer than almost anyone else–nearly eight months!
 
“But they can’t play politics with justice forever. People are getting fed up with the constant obstruction. The logjam will be broken soon, and it couldn’t happen quickly enough.
 
“Dawn Johnsen enjoys the support of former OLC heads from Republican and Democratic administrations. Republican Senator Richard Lugar, her home state Senator, has endorsed her. She served with distinction as acting head of OLC during the Clinton administration. Legal scholars and current and former colleagues have attested to her legal acumen and integrity.
 
“Simply put, Dawn Johnsen is anything but a controversial nominee. But she and other highly qualified nominees are being held hostage in a game of petty politics. Americans want the best possible people in charge of government, and it’s time for Senate Republican leaders to call off their blockade.”

Rick Renzi (R-AZ), A Disgrace To The GOP And To The Entire House, Gets Some More Charges

Think way back to last February when a federal grand jury handed down a 35-count indictment against Republican Congressman Rick Renzi. He was charged with conspiracy, fraud, extortion, and money-laundering. He resigned from his committee positions and from his role as a co-chair of the McCain for President campaign and announced he wouldn't run for re-election and has since been replaced with a dull Democratic Party hack pushed forward by the DCCC. Renzi was not kicked out of the House or brought before the cruel joke known as the Ethics Committee.

Yesterday a federal grand jury added 8 more charges to Renzi's case, including falsifying his tax returns and... racketeering. Basically he has been charged with funding his political career with money he embezzled and then used his position in Congress for extortion. He's still voting in the House of Representatives. And people wonder why the American public holds that body in such low esteem? It was ironic that all during the campaign, while McCain was denouncing the Bridge to Nowhere and Alaska political crooks Ted Stevens and Don Young, he never once mentioned his indicted Arizona ally Rick Renzi. Politicians are good at that kind of thing.

According to the new indictments, Renzi "embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from insurance premiums paid to his company to fund his campaign and other personal expenses. His company specialized in providing coverage to nonprofit groups, and stealing the premiums led to a lapse in coverage or some groups for several months, according to the indictment."

Mr. Renzi also is accused of telling two companies he would use his position in Congress to help them if they purchased land from James W. Sandlin, who is also under indictment.

But the companies didn't know Mr. Sandlin owed Mr. Renzi $700,000, which was paid after the sale of the properties to the two companies, which are not named in the indictment.

Mr. Renzi didn't include that money on his congressional financial disclosure forms, according to the indictment. Part of that money was used to pay back the money he stole from the customers of his insurance agency, the indictment states.

Last month, Mr. Renzi's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss on the constitutional grounds known as the "speech and debate clause," which protects members of Congress from prosecution for carrying out acts related to their office.

His attorneys also argued that prosecutors improperly recorded phone conversations between Mr. Renzi and his attorneys in violation of attorney/client privilege protections.

Prosecutors have filed a motion opposing dismissal, and a judge has not yet ruled.

This year voters dealt appropriately with two other outrageously corrupt House members, Tom Feeney (R-FL) and Virgil Goode (R-VA) but returned most to office, including Don Young (R-AK), Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Gary Miller (R-CA), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Tim Murphy (R-PA) and several of the worst Culture of Corruption congressmen, like Renzi, are retiring-- John Doolittle (R-CA), Vito Fossella (R-CA), and Duncan Hunter (R-CA). William Jefferson (D-LA) will face voters again in a run-off next month.

John Shadegg's And Rick Renzi's Game Of Telephone-- The FBI Was Listening In

Arizona extremist John Shadegg has a hearing problem

The last time I posted a big story about extremist Arizona Republican kook John Shadegg I was immediately called by his attorneys threatening to sue me if I didn't take down a page from the book, Below The Beltway which accused him of bonking the then wife of then-Congressman Jon Christensen, Meredith Stewart Maxfield. The lawyers said they have sworn affidavits from the publisher, author and from poor Christenson claiming it never happened. I hope I don't hear from them again but it looks like Shadegg could be in trouble again.



He and recently indicted GOP congressman Rick Renzi have been engaging in some interesting phone connversations. And their game of telephone hasn't ended yet. I don't know what they were gabbing about but whatever it is the FBI haven't released the transcripts of the wiretaps yet.

Renzi, Shadegg's fellow Arizona Congressman, is accused of promising to support legislation authorizing a land deal that netted him more than $700,000. He was indicted in February on 35 criminal counts. He is not running for reelection and Blue America has endorsed progressive conservation activist Howard Shanker as his replacement.

Whatever Shadegg and Renzi chatted about, we know they weren't debating who would pay for a pork pizza after a hard day's "work"-- smoking cigars with the oil industry, Jack Abramoff and other lobbyists, corrupt land developers and money launderers.

We may never know now that Renzi is trying to toss 50 of the wiretapped phone conversation transcripts out of court. It's unknown who all the wiretaps covered, except that they covered Shadegg, who admitted to receiving an FBI wiretap notice as part of the Renzi investigation earlier this year.

Shadegg is the only member of Congress (so far) to admit being wiretapped by the FBI, a valiant effort to showboat innocence, but those walls of PR Jericho came tumbling down last week when The Hill reported that Renzi wants to exclude those phone calls from the trial.

What could be so important in that conversation to possibly exclude it from trial?

Perhaps Shadegg told Renzi not to worry, that he had been through similar ordeals; he was just better at masking them:

• He funneled money through his own Political Action Committee to get around campaign contribution limits and is facing a pending FEC complaint
• He funneled tens of thousands of dollars into his campaign from convicted money launderer Thomas Stewart and never gave it back
• He accepted campaign "donations" from SunCor and Steven Betts, a company and its owner, who has raised more than $100,000 for the McCain campaign in exchange for an Arizona land swap.
• He took $400,000 from the oil, gas, and energy sector in campaign "contributions" and blindly supports their corrupt agenda in Congress

Maybe Shadegg was involved in some business operations with Renzi? No idea. Maybe they were planning a fundraiser in Jack Abramoff's house? Who knows?

Oh yeah, the FBI knows and has a transcript. And Renzi is trying to exclude it from his trial. During an election year when Shadegg is facing a tough challenge from Democrat Bob Lord.

There may be even more to this tale.

On Feb. 12, 2008, Shadegg announced his retirement-- that he would not run for re-election.

On February 15th, he paid thousands of dollars to a researcher, Red Sky Group. It is common to pay researchers after receipt of the research. This was likely research on himself. He likely saw something in there that he did not want to face during re-election, which may explain the retirement just 72 hours before.

On February 20th, Shadegg was still retired, and he returned over $20,000 to some of his fat cat donors.

But then on February 22nd, he gets back into the race, after staging a dramatic charade attempting to make it appear that he was being dragged back into it by concerned citizens and colleagues.

So what did he find? Shady connections to Renzi? Something horrible connected to the money he returned quietly while he was retired? Another scandal like the one he threatened to sue me over if I mention again?

It could well be all of these, but none of it will matter. He's so out of touch with his own district and clearly not wanting to serve. Stick a fork in Shadegg. He's done. And what about McCain? He was asked to turn over documents regarding some of these shady land swaps in Arizona too. Marcy has the details at Emptywheel today.

ARIZONA REPUBLICAN KEN BENNETT DEFIES McCAIN-- PASSES ON CHANCE TO RUN ON THE McCAIN TICKET IN ARIZONA

Gee, all it took was a little reminder that the residents of AZ-01 are still pissed off that Ken Bennett, then the president of the Arizona state Senate, used his influence to get his son off the hook after 40 incidents of raping young boys with broomsticks and flashlights, and whooooosh... Bennett disappeared from electoral politics again. Well, actually, that isn't exactly accurate. First Bennett tried mounting a defense by likening the rape incidents to-- his own word-- "goosing." And that was the end of the Ken Bennett For Congress campaign.

So even though McCain-- who detests the other Republican who had been favored-- demanded Bennett run, and he told the old curmudgeon that he would, he just declared today-- once again-- that he's out and not getting back in. Meanwhile, the woman who was the object of McCain's wrath, Kris Mayes, has also left the field, after McCain demanded that the local GOP not support her. Originally they had looked at her as a godsend who would save them from the aftermath of the Renzi scandal and the prospect of having to run far right extremist Sydney Hay, widely viewed as a lunatic fringe candidate with no real chance of winning.

There is now a clear path to Congress for progressive grassroots candidate Howard Shanker-- unless the Inside the Beltway types can persuade enough Arizonans to vote for their corporate careerist shill, Ann Kirkpatrick, someone who stands for nothing whatsoever (Rahm Emanuel's favorite kind of candidate). This would be a good day to donate to Howard's campaign, right here at the Blue America Act Blue page. The first 5 people who donate $25 or more today get an autographed copy of The Truth by Al Franken.

RENZI'S REVENGE ON THE GOP?

Arizona Republican Rick Renzi isn't thrilled with the lack of support he's gotten from the Republican Party since a Grand Jury announced his astounding 35 criminal indictments on everything from bribery and money laundering all the way up to extortion. His party left him hanging in the wind to die... slowly. They look away his committee positions, planted news stories in his district indicating he should resign and eventually even his ally John McCain kicked him off the Double Talk Express. (He had been co-chairman of McCain's campaign but McCain can only have unindicted crooks on his campaign, not indicted ones.)

There is nothing that Republican Party wants more than to lull voters into forgetting they have been the party of systemic corruption for years. Renzi isn't helping that at all. His trial was scheduled to begin this month and would surely have been over long before McCain and Republican incumbents have to face the voters in November. But after Renzi asked for a delay, a federal court announced today that the potentially explosive trial will begin October 14, smack in the middle of the election campaign.

Complicating the matter further, is that McCain, in a pique of typically hysterical vindictive pigheadedness, forced the local AZ-01 Republican Party to jettison their favorite candidate to try to hold Renzi's seat, Kris Mayes (who McCain holds a grudge against because she once worked for the Arizona Republic), in favor of a McCain crony, Ken Bennett. The problem with Bennett isn't that he's a McCain crony but that he is widely hated in AZ-01 for using his influence to free his son from punishment after the younger Bennett was convicted of using broomsticks and flashlights in 40 incidents of rape against 18 young boys, many repeatedly.

SHOULD McCAIN'S VIOLENT TEMPER DISQUALIFY HIM FROM THE PRESIDENCY?

In general I'd say yes. But some of the specifics are less than convincing. So what if he routinely humiliates women as a matter of normal operating procedure? Some women love being humiliated. You know that whole flap about calling his wife Cindy a "trollop and a cunt" for pointing out his thinning hair in front of some newspaper reporters? Maybe she deserved that and maybe she should be happy he didn't slug her. After all, he does slug people. I mean when he really flies off the handle, like when someone points out his age-- which he's apparently even more sensitive about than his baldness. But here, too, I'm not all that concerned. I mean... so he and Rick Renzi slapped each other a few times. So? Rick Renzi is a pompous dick and he certainly deserves to be beaten up. McCain should have punched him around every day.

In fact the only part of this story I don't understand, is why McCain and Renzi got so close. I mean as Renzi distinguished himself as one of the half dozen most corrupt members of Congress, McCain actually became closer and closer with him and eventually-- on the eve of his indictment-- made him co-chair of the McCain presidential campaign. What I know I can count on, however, is Cliff Schecter explaining the bizarre nature of the Republican candidate for president. He's been doing it online and now he's doing it in his hot new book, The Real McCain, which I just pre-ordered. After all, I want to understand a man who flies off the handle-- he said he had had a stressful day-- and calls his wife a "cunt" in front of a roomful (or busful) of people and expects to be elected president of the United States. As for having a punch-out with Congressman Renzi... well, that's easier to understand, even if it isn't the kind of behavior we expect from a U.S. Senator, let alone a president.

RAUL GRIJALVA BUCKS WASHINGTON INSIDERS AND ENDORSES HOWARD SHANKER

AZ-01 is bigger than whole states and it has been represented in Congress by an extraordinarily corrupt Bush rubber stamp, Rick Renzi. Renzi, a close ally of John McCain-- and, until after he was indicted on 35 charges, co-chair of McCain's presidential campaign-- agreed to stop running for public office. He was also forced to give up his committee positions. It's one of the Democrats' best opportunities to change a red district blue and there is a grassroots progressive, Howard Shanker, running for the seat. Inside Dems and the DCCC have been trying ton push their whole inevitability shtick about a clueless shill they would like to get into the seat, Ann Kirkpatrick.

Kirkpatrick is the least knowledgeable candidate I've ever seen and doesn't open her mouth until the DCCC tells her exactly what to say. Who wants to trade in a pathetic Republican hack for a pathetic Democratic one? Not Rep. Raul Grijalva, far and away the best congressman in Arizona. Grijalva's voting record is breathtaking, a model for true progressives concerned with the well-being on working and middle class Americans, not lobbyists and special interests.

Raul just broke with the DCCC and the Washington Insiders and endorsed Howard. As a member of two crucial committees for Arizonans, the Natural Resources Committee and the Committee on Education and Labor, Grijalva knows what a difference it makes when his colleagues work for the people rather than for the special interests. He's been talking with Democrats in AZ-01 and telling them why Howard is the best choice in the Democratic primary. “Howard Shanker is a champion for the people” and that Shanker has “a proven track record.” Raul reiterated the fact that Howard Shanker “has been a stalwart fighter for protection of Arizona’s environmental and cultural legacies.”

Both men have been working hard-- one in DC and one in Arizona-- to protect the state's unique environment and quality of life. As we mentioned when Blue America endorsed Howard, he has successfully fought to save the Grand Canyon from a land exchange that would have promoted large scale commercial development that would have negatively impacted the canyon, as well as the economies of Flagstaff, Tusayon, and Williams and created precedent for the protection of desert washes. Howard is also one of the attorneys on the case that recently kept the Desert Nesting Bald Eagle from being taken off of the endangered species list and is loved by AZ-01 residents because of his work advocating for the protection of the Verde River, the San Pedro River, and Oak Creek.

McCAIN FORCES ARIZONA GOP TO THROW CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE KRIS MAYES UNDER THE BUS

One of the many red seats the GOP is desperately trying to hold onto is that of indicted criminal Rick Renzi (R-AZ) who is retiring from Congress-- and public life-- and is likely to be facing as many as 30 years in prison for too many charges to list here. He has already stepped down as co-chairman of the Double Talk Express. Howard Shanker, the Blue America-endorsed candidate for the seat Renzi is abandoning is doing very well and my contacts in Arizona tell me that McCain has gone ape-shit and demanded the local GOP deep six their weak and hopeless candidate, Kris Mayes, and stick in a GOP good ole boy in her place.

The local GOP didn't have much to chose from; it was either Hayes, who is an Arizona Corporation Commissioner with little to offer but who hasn't been arrested or involved in any major criminal activities, or a certifiably insane wingnut-- and political semi-enemy of McCain's-- Sydney Hay. McCain's infamous volatile temper exploded and he started screaming he doesn't want any Hays or Mayes running for that seat and he demanded that local Republicans get former state Senate President, Ken Bennett, into the race. Bennett, like Hay, is a fanatic right wing kook but he has worse problems that have kept him out of the race. His son Clifton "confessed to police that he... sodomized the 11 to 14-year-old boys with broomsticks and flashlights in at least 40 incidents, court documents show." Rumors have been rampant that his father, the then would-be congressman, got him off the hook. McCain says no one gives a damn about the broomsticks and demands Bennett get back into the race. McCain's pal, Jim Click, a Tucson car dealer who is the Daddy Warbucks of the Arizona GOP, is also pushing for Bennett. Click and McCain may not care about "broomsticks" but the victims and their families are still furious. Zachary Motcheck, 13, the first to report the assaults to authorities, was angry when Bennett's kid got off with a slap on the wrist. "I think it's pretty stupid. "It's unfair, and it's just because Bennett's dad is a senator... What they did was wrong, and they both deserved more jail time." Although the county prosecutors had asked for 3 months in jail for the assault, the judge overruled them and gave Bennett's kid 30 days.

McCain, who has his own set of lobbyist and corruption problems to deal with, is unconcerned with Bennett's ethical problems. In 2004, Bennett sponsored legislation that would have allowed his family’s oil firm, Bennett Oil, to claim money from the State Assurance Fund for the cleanup of underground fuel leaks. The state had already paid Bennett Oil Co. $336,000 from the State Assurance Fund to help with cleanups. The fund was fed by a penny tax on every gallon of gas sold in Arizona. The bill would have required that the state pay even if the cleanup was covered by the oil company’s insurance. The bill would have reversed a court decision against Bennett’s company and ordered the state to pay instead.

Meanwhile, former Arizona Congressman Matt Salmon and Malcolm Barrett, chairman of the National Propane Gas Association, and a Prescott native like Mayes, have pledged their support for Mayes' run. Barrett will serve as her finance chairman. This puts them at major loggerheads with McCain-- who likes to think of himself as the king of Arizona Republicans.

Howard Shanker, who was endorsed yesterday by Arizona's most progressive and most admired member of Congress, Raúl Grijalva, is non-plused by the Republican in-fighting. "It doesn’t really matter who the Republicans run for the seat. Whoever it is, we get another rubber stamp Republican politician pushing for the continuation of policies that have been proven not to work over the past seven years. I am running to represent the people of this District, not some platform that is out of touch with what the people need or want. I will protect working families, champion alternative energy development, defend a women’s right to reproductive choice, and move to end the war in Iraq. No matter who the Republicans run for this seat, the best they can do is business as usual, and we know that the status quo is not acceptable.”

Please consider giving Howard a hand in banishing these Republican losers in another district ripe for change. The Blue America page is open... 24/7, and even contributions of $5 and $10 are very much appreciated.


UPDATE: O!M!G!

Last night I was reading David Brock's Free Ride and... wow!!! The vindictive and vicious old man, who has a long-running feud with the Arizona Republic actually had a reason for making the local GOP throw Kris Mayes under the bus. In 2000 Kris was a political reporter for the Republic and McCain wouldn't even let her on the bus. Brock reported on how national reporters-- who were all up McCain's ass and basically just passing along the p.r. line that was fed to them every day-- were surprised when Kris' little rental car followed the "Straight Talk Express" around the country. Eventually even McCain was too embarrassed and he relented. Apparently, though, he's still holding a grudge, one of the character traits the national media ignores but the Arizona media knows all too well.

RENZI REFUSES TO STEP DOWN DESPITE THE DESPERATE DEMANDS OF GOP LEADERS

GOP leaders inside the Beltway, embarrassed by the never ending exposure of Culture of Corruption Republicans, have been aggressively pressuring indicted congressman Rick Renzi (R-AZ) to resign. Considering that the loudest requests for him to resign are coming from John Boehner, a low grade criminal who was handing out Big Tobacco lobbyist checks on the floor of the House not too many years ago, Renzi hasn't been taking their bleating all that seriously. Today's Tucson Citizen echoed the words of Minority Leader John Boehner when they called for Renzi to step down:

It is impossible to imagine that U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi can continue to effectively represent his constituents in Arizona's huge 1st Congressional District.

The best he can do now is to resign.

Renzi has already resigned from his committee positions and has announced he wouldn't be running for re-election but today he announced he's not going to step down and "take on the cloak of guilt." He did however resign as the co-chairman of John McCain For President. Some say he was unceremoniously pushed off the Double Talk Express by the lobbyists driving it while McCain was shedding crocodile tears for his family in public. Today's Congressional Quarterly paints a sordid picture of one of McCain's closest allies, another of his so-called "Men of Honor" he has chosen to surround himself with.

Prosecutors said Renzi, as a member of the Natural Resources Committee in 2005 and 2006, conditioned his support for approval of a federal lands exchange on whether the deal would include property Sandlin owned in Cochise County, Ariz.

The indictment quoted Renzi as saying, “No Sandlin property, no bill.” Renzi later directed a second group of investors to purchase the property and include it in their land exchange proposal, resulting in a $733,000 payment to Renzi from Sandlin in 2005, according to the indictment.

Because Renzi, 49, was facing financial troubles in 2005, he needed a “substantial infusion of funds” to keep his insurance business afloat and “maintain his personal lifestyle,” according to the 26-page indictment.

The Justice Department also has charged that Renzi and Beardall embezzled more than $400,000 in insurance premiums from the trust account of the Patriot Insurance Agency, Inc., a Renzi family-owned business and said the money helped fund Renzi’s first congressional campaign.

You want four more years of this? John McCain's your man.


UPDATE: SENATE REPUBLICAN LEADERS HAVE BEEN NO LESS SUCCESSFUL IN GETTING LARRY CRAIG TO GO AWAY

With the Republican Convention scheduled to be held in Minneapolis this year, almost every delegate will pass through the airport where Larry Craig was caught soliciting sex from a handsome young police officer in a public toilet, a public toilet that has since become a tourist attraction. Mitch McConnell, is has a very vested interest in getting people to stop thinking about hypocritical Republican closet queens, tried to get his home-girl to resign-- but with no success. Well... there were a lot of promises, of course, but Craig is still sashaying around the Senate, even if, as rumored, he's finally given up haunting the Union Station rest rooms. Meanwhile, the man who first brought Craig's bizarre hypocrisy to the attention of the public, Mike Rogers, sent me a job application today-- to work as a summer intern for... Larry Craig. Anyone interested? Suggestion: for safety's sake, only women should apply.

McCAIN HAS FINISHED ANSWERING QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS CHARACTER-- TIME TO MOVE ON TO... PARROTING HIS PR AGAIN?

Culture of Corruption

McCain said he's finished talking about his character now; no more questions about that. This guy has always been an A-hole and has always insisted on playing by his own rules, which is why he crashed up so many planes when he was a naval flier. I guess we'll just have to keep replaying that moment over and over in our minds about him telling us what honorable men his campaign team are. "These people have honorable records, and they're honorable people, and I'm proud to have them as part of my team."

And, despite what everyone is saying, not all of his team are lobbyists. One of his co-chairmen is close buddy Rick Renzi. And although Renzi was indicted on 35 criminal counts today including mindboggling extortion and money laundering charges that look to me like at least 20 years in the slammer.

Adam Putnam is demanding that the other Republican House leaders force him to resign... now. Boehner doesn't like this kind of confrontation-- and would rather go play golf in Florida-- but he's let it be known to his colleagues that Renzi is a persona non grata in the GOP caucus. Boehner:

“I have made it clear that I will hold our members to the highest standards of ethical conduct. The charges contained in this indictment are completely unacceptable for a member of Congress, and I strongly urge Rep. Renzi to seriously consider whether he can continue to effectively represent his constituents under these circumstances. I expect to meet with Rep. Renzi at the earliest possible opportunity to discuss this situation and the best option for his constituents, our Conference, and the American people.

Renzi still says he's innocent (they always do-- until they start plea-bargaining and turning on their colleagues).

It is being reported that some of the lobbyists running McCain's campaign are pushing Renzi off the Double Talk Express. He's too embarrassing even for this lot! But while McCain's lobbyists are dumping Renzi, McCain is trying to stay above the fray and focus on how concerned he is for Renzi's family. "I'm sorry. I feel for the family; as you know, he has 12 children. But I don't know enough of the details to make a judgment. These kinds of things are always very unfortunate... I rely on our Department of Justice and system of justice to make the right outcome."

Are you getting the idea that McCain is the most cynical man to ever come out of the Beltway? He's had a very shabby personal life and an even shabbier career but the media has allowed him to define himself in terms of pure PR. Its as though he were the product of a corporation and the only information available was from the corporation and their paid shills. One thing this whole lobbyist scandal will do is end that free ride and help introduce more people into just who the Real McCain is.

McCAIN LOSES A MEMBER OF HIS LEADERSHIP TEAM: REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN RICK RENZI INDICTED ON 35 CRIMINAL COUNTS

Wave bye-bye, boys

Though certainly not for the first time-- and, I assure you, not for the last-- it was only yesterday that I was asking why the dozens of Republican senators and congressman who were taking bribes from convicted lobbyists, contractors, war profiteers, and money-grubbers like Jack Abramoff and Brent Wilkes are still roaming around free. Reuters just reported that one of them soon won't be.

A federal grand jury has indicted Republican U.S. Rep. Richard Renzi of Arizona on 35 criminal counts including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and official extortion, according to court papers unsealed on Friday.

The indictment stems from plan by Renzi and an associate to benefit from a land-exchange plan in order to receive Renzi's support for necessary federal legislation, court documents said.
"It was an object of the conspiracy for Renzi to enrich (his associate) and personally benefit himself," the indictment said.
It also accuses Renzi of embezzling premiums from clients of an insurance business to fund his congressional campaign.

Renzi is a close ally of McCain's, of course-- birds of a feather-- and is part of the McCain campaign leadership team. As soon as the long-anticipated indictment was handed down, McCain immediately took down the website page that mentions Renzi being on the team. Aren't you glad we saved it for you? Between Renzi and Shadegg, the Arizona GOP is starting to fray very badly around the edges. Does this mean we're going to have another special election? Keep in mind, please, that Blue America has endorsed grassroots progressive Howard Shanker for Renzi's seat. (Insider Democrats have some hack politician with no policy positions they're working hard to slip into the nomination.)

No statement yet from McCain about how he feels about his campaign's co-chairman being indicted-- especially in light of all the ethics discussion swirling around McCain himself. Will he throw his old bud under the bus. It seems like only yesterday when McCain was claiming it was safe enough to stroll around Baghdad's neighborhoods and when he was mocked and dismissed as a clown he gathered up some of his most loyal hacks-- and several hundred heavily armed U.S. troopers with attack helicopters hovering-- and made a quickie PR trip to a market (later blown up). This picture shows McCain lying about how safe Baghdad is, from the safety of the heavily fortified Green Zone, with Mike Pence (R-IN) and Renzi looking on. Lindsey Graham, also on the trip was unavailable for the photo op since he was out haggling of some Iraqi carpets he later bought.


UPDATE: STATEMENT FROM HOWARD SHANKER ON THE RENZI INDICTMENT

Today, the announcement was made that Republican Representative Rick Renzi has been indicted for extortion, wire fraud, money laundering, and other charges. It is unfortunate that Mr. Renzi has had to go through this protracted criminal investigation culminating to date in his federal indictment. It is, however, even more unfortunate that the people of Congressional District 1 have had to live in the shadow of Mr. Renzi’s asserted dirty dealings for so long. Mr. Renzi, who previously withdrew from his committee assignments, has not been focused on helping his constituents, our Congressional District, or our Country, for almost a year. It is unfortunate that we can hold so little faith or trust in our elected representatives. It is time to fix this problem. It is time for Mr. Renzi to step down, so that his seat can be filled by a public servant who is dedicated to the honest and effective representation of the people of Congressional District 1 and this great Nation. We need to reintroduce the concepts of fiscal restraint, accountability, sustainability, respect, and common sense to a governing body that seems to have lost its way. I bear no ill will toward Mr. Renzi. It is, however, time for Mr. Renzi to pass the mantle of leadership and justice to a stronger and more capable arm.

BLUE AMERICA WELCOMES HOWARD SHANKER, OUR FIRST ARIZONA CANDIDATE

Blue America is never eager to step into primaries unless it's a case of an exceptionally bad reactionary-- a Lieberman or a Jim Marshall-- against a surefire progressive. After Rahm Emanuel's term as DCCC Chairman ended I was under the impression that the bad old days of the DCCC getting their right-of-center, insider candidates in at the expense of grassroots progressives had ended. Alas, from every part of the country I'm starting to hear that the bad old days were just sleeping, not dead. And that's the other thing that gets us to jump into a primary. The race in Arizona's first CD is a slightly Democratic-leaning district where Republicans have done well. It offers a unique opportunity in 2008. Before we meet an exceptional candidate, Howard Shanker, let's take a look at the district.

It's the largest district in the whole country that isn't an entire state (Alaska, Wyoming and Montana)-- as big as Illinois, which has 19 congressional districts. It's mostly rural and includes Flagstaff, Prescott, Sedona, Casa Grande and the Navajo Nation. The district is almost a quarter Native American. Since 2002, it's been represented by Rick Renzi, who is under investigation for a variety of criminal activities by a variety of law enforcement agencies, and who is too occupied with figuring out how to stay out of prison to run for re-election again. The Republicans are trying to decide between far right-wing mining lobbyist Sydney Hay, a self-financer, and the guy with all the McDonald's franchises in the area, a local right-wing legislator named Bill Konopnicki, who is favored by the GOP Establishment but can't make up his mind about running.

The Democratic primary has drawn three candidates so far and could attract more. Mary Kim Titla is a former TV anchor who is outspokenly anti-choice. Ann Kirkpatrick is a former state legislator who seems to be the choice of the Insiders-- including the ones Inside the Beltway. At a closed door meeting last month of Democratic precinct committee members she was asked to explain her positions on the most consequential issues of the day. Her response-- regarding things like the occupation of Iraq and women's choice-- was that she had "people" working on position statements for her and that she would get back to them. And then there's our guest today, Howard Shanker; there isn't anyone working on position papers for him. Take two and a half minutes and watch this video of Howard making his own case. It's compelling:



When we spoke last week he had just gotten back from serving as the Grand Marshall of the Western Navajo Fair and Parade in Tuba City. He does a lot of work with the Navajo. They voted for Renzi in the past. They're firmly committed to Howard now. He has a masters degree in public administration and a law degree from Georgetown. At one time he worked for the Department of Justice and more recently President Clinton appointed him to serve on the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council Enforcement Subcommittee. His law firm specializes in civil rights, natural resources and environmental work and he's an adjunct professor at ASU Law School where he teaches courses on environmental justice and environmental litigation.

"You need someone qualified-- someone who understands the intended and unintended ramifications of legislation that's being drafted," he told me. "My vision for Arizona, a place that should be the solar and wind power capital of the country, plus a healthy sense of outrage over what has been going on in the past 7 years, influenced me to run... I've had a tremendous impact on this district as a private person, probably more so than any elected official-- at least in regard to preserving the quality of life and the environment."

Before you surf over to FDL to chat with Howard, and just to give you an idea of where he stands on the issues that are important to this community, the first one he brought up was the occupation of Iraq. "It was unjustified to begin with and we have no business being there. We need to get our troops out of there as quickly as possible-- obviously in a reasonable manner but the status quo is unacceptable. They should begin withdrawing the troops as soon as possible, tomorrow if they could."

Howard's is a people's, grassroots campaign. If you like what you hear today, please consider helping him out at his Blue America ActBlue page.

RENZI THROWIN' IN THE TOWEL. ANYONE SURPRISED?

You shouldn't be. Speculation has been raging for months and very few incumbents relish the idea of running a campaign from a prison cell. And Rick Renzi (R-AZ) is most likely headed for one before the '08 election. He would have resigned already-- after the FBI and IRS raided his place and seized his papers-- but the Republicans begged him to stick it out because they're too broke to fight for his-- or Doolittle's-- seats in special elections now.

Yesterday's Washington Post carried a statement from Renzi calling it quits:

"I will not be seeking re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008," Renzi said in a brief statement released by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The Arizona Daily Star has the local angle and Roll Call fleshed it out a bit: "I will not be seeking re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008. I am honored and thankful to serve Arizona's first district and appreciate all that we have accomplished together over the past 6 years."

The Republicans, of course, are better off without him, and in that hot sun down there, plenty of easily brainwashed Republican voters will forget in a year and a half that Republicans are the party of organized crime. There are a few Democrats who have already jumped into the race. The Insider Establishment is rallying around State Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, who I've heard nothing but crap about from my Arizona friends. The woman who ran last time (and held Renzi to a 51% share of the vote), Ellen Simon, told me on the phone she wasn't going to run again-- a real shame. The progressive who is taking up the challenge, however, Howard Shanker, sounds like a great guy.

I found an interview with Shanker in a local paper. The last question and his answer revealed a lot:

Democrats took hold of Congress in 2006 with the winds of change at their backs. How do you think they have performed, so far, and how difficult to you think it will be to actually change the entrenched business of politics once you're a House member?

Democrats took control of Congress but they still cannot override a Presidential veto. The Democrats have done some good (and some not so good) already. The impression I have is that some Democrats feel like they have to somehow pander to the right on various issues in order to stay in office. There is validity to the proposition that an elected official has to represent all of his or her constituents. There should, however, also be a number of issues that are important to any elected official (why else would they run) on which they take a specific and well enunciated stand that doesn't change unless presented with compelling facts that justify a change in position. I think that many of our Representatives may be missing, or sacrificing, some of this passion or commitment on issues like the war, the environment, alternative energy, fiscal responsibility, in exchange for political expediency. Compromise in Congress is essential, but like anything else, there has to be a good reason warranting any particular compromise or decision. It will likely be difficult to change the entrenched "politics as usual" once I am in office -- but not impossible and we need to start somewhere. As I discussed in response to one of your earlier questions, I represent environmental, Native American, civil rights, and community groups in litigation against the federal and state government on a regular basis. In other words, my chosen career path can be compared to banging your head against a wall for a living. I strongly believe that if you bang your head against a wall long enough, eventually the wall is going to break. Realistically, as a junior Congressman I could likely begin to chip away at "politics as usual" from the outside. Given enough grass roots support and a little time, however, I have no doubt that the wall will break.

The Republicans are likely to nominate someone even further to the right than Renzi, perhaps even an out and out maniac like Ken Bennett, a Mormon fanatic with a very bizarre history of family problems. Bennett's son Clifton "confessed to police that he and Wheeler sodomized the 11- to 14-year-old boys with broomsticks and flashlights in at least 40 incidents, court documents show." Rumors have been rampant that his father the would-be congressman got him off the hook.

IT GETS MORE DIRE FOR THE REPUBLICANS BY THE HOUR-- EVERYWHERE

Earlier today we reported on the dire response Republican candidates are getting in New Hampshire-- no volunteers, no contributions, no one to come to their boring events-- while Democratic candidates are generating lots of enthusiasm, excitement, donations, etc. Today's right-wing Moonie Times reports that New Hampshire isn't the only trouble spot for the thoroughly discredited Republican Party.

While a clearly psychotic Bush pounds on his chest and screeches embarrassingly that he's the boss, the Republican National Committee, hit by a grass-roots donors' rebellion over his immigration policy, has fired all 65 of its telephone solicitors last week.

Faced with an estimated 40 percent fall-off in small-donor contributions and aging phone-bank equipment that the RNC said would cost too much to update, Anne Hathaway, the committee's chief of staff, summoned the solicitations staff last week and told them they were out of work, effective immediately, the fired staffers told the [Moonie] Times...

There has been a sharp decline in contributions from RNC phone solicitations, another fired staffer said, reporting that many former donors flatly refuse to give more money to the national party if Mr. Bush and the Senate Republicans insist on supporting what these angry contributors call "amnesty" for illegal aliens.

"Everyone donor in 50 states we reached has been angry, especially in the last month and a half, and for 99 percent of them immigration is the No. 1 issue," said the former employee.

And one of the craziest of the wingnut bloggers, a kook who appropriately named himself or herself Hot Air paints a none-too-rosy picture for wingnuttia in Arizona, their ancestral home. "The illegal immigration fight is tearing the Arizona Republican Party apart, to the point that its members and staff wonder if it can even compete." GOP activists had already written off McCain as part of the problem and now they've added Jon Kyle to that garbage heap of disdain. With crooked Republican congressman Rick Renzi negotiating with the Feds for favorable plea bargaining terms, and with Democrats and independent moderates uniting around progressive Winslow Mayor Allan Affeldt, it looks like Republicans are about to lose a third House seat.

REPUBLICAN VULTURES DIVIDING UP RICK RENZI'S BELONGINGS-- AND HE ISN'T EVEN IN PRISON YET!

Gee, a few weeks ago Arizona Rep. Rick Renzi was strolling around Baghdad, basking in the glow of senile old John McCain's celebrity, getting shopping tips from a mad queen from South Carolina and even looking relatively sane standing next to Mike Pence (R-IN). Now he's bargaining with the feds for how long he'll have to serve in prison. Even a lowlife like Minority Leader John Boehner-- best known for handing out semi-legal bribes from tobacco lobbyists on the floor of the House-- couldn't tolerate the degree of Renzi's corruption and forced him to resign all of his committee positions. Then he kicked him out of the GOP incumbent protection plan.

Yesterday, Howdy Doody (R-FL), Chairman of the House Republican Conference started handing out Renzi's committee positions to his loving colleagues. Michigan mama's boy Thaddeus McCotter grabbed a potentially lucrative seat on the Financial Services Committee and the single most extremist wingnut in the GOP caucus, Kevin McCarthy (tied with lunatic fringe maniac Tim Walberg) gobbled up Renzi's base of criminal operations on the Natural Resources Committee. Earlier Boehner had given Renzi's seat on the House Intelligence Committee to Elton Gallegly (R-CA).

Howdy Doody and Boehner made another, far more bizarre move today while they were shuffling seats on the deck of their own personal Titanic. The Hill reported at the end of the day that "The House Republican Steering Committee appointed Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) to fill an open Appropriations Committee seat that has been vacated by embattled Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.)." The Appropriations Committee, which has been used by a dozen GOP congressmen to get themselves into prison or serious trouble, doesn't exactly seem like a proper place for Calvert, especially considering that he's being investigated by the FBI for shoving earmarks through Congress to serve his own personal financial interests.

RICK RENZI, CROOKED ARIZONA CONGRESSMAN-- WILL HE STAY OR WILL HE GO?

yes, yes, boys; plenty for everybody

Last week, one could have made a great deal of money betting against the prevailing sentiment that Rick Renzi was resigning from his House seat amid an FBI raid and a cascade of allegations of bribery and scandal. Everyone jumped to the conclusion that just because the Feds are readying a prison cell for him, he was about to resign. There's virtually no chance of that. His House Republican colleagues have kicked him off all his committees and dumped him from their re-election program but there are a couple of major advantages to going through his trials and tribulations as Congressman Rick Renzi rather than as Rick Renzi, another disgraced ex-Republicrook. Two of his buddies now residing in federal penitentiaries, Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Bob Ney, uused resignation as a bargaining chip when they eventually-- as Renzi will-- plead guilty and begged for short prison sentences. And, perhaps more important, non-congressmen "must pay lawyers out of their own pockets or turn for help to a public defender, but members of Congress can use campaign funds to hire a dream team of defense attorneys. As of March 31, Renzi has only $80,561 on hand. Given his legal predicament, he'll burn through that in a couple of months. From a fiscal (if not moral) standpoint, he'd be wise to stick around and see what other funds he can raise." He need only turn to 3 former GOP congressmen currently embroiled in costly legal battles to stay out of prison, each using gigantic amounts of campaign dollars for their defsense: child molesters Mark Foley (R-FL) and Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) and pay-for-play daddy Curt Weldon (R-PA).

So Kolbe has announced he plans to "tough it out" and keep his seat, even though the local Republican-oriented media back in his district is pointing out that his effectiveness in representing Arizona is shot to hell. "Renzi appears to be quickly losing his ability to serve his constituents as his Washington colleagues withdraw their support and prominent Democrats and Republicans begin lining up to run in a special election if he does step down."

The news from back home has been all pretty bad for Renzi. Today's Arizona Republic brings up a damaging new wrinkle in his tale of corruption and gross malfeasance. "Renzi paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes while settling charges that his businesses improperly financed his first campaign for office, according to documents released Tuesday by federal regulators. The Arizona Republican already faces a federal corruption inquiry over allegations that he tried to use legislation for land swaps in Arizona to help a former business partner. He also is facing a growing political crisis, which could include interest by the House ethics committee. Tuesday's disclosure by the Federal Election Commission threatens to revive the older scandal over whether Renzi broke campaign finance laws when first elected in 2002."

And he's not getting any solace from his adopted home Inside the Beltway. Yesterday's Hill was pretty devastating too:

Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) took out a $500,000 second mortgage on his Flagstaff home in January after paying more than $300,000 in tax arrears discovered by a Federal Election Commission (FEC) investigation.

The mortgage loan, revealed by Renzi in a document filed with Coconino County, Ariz., is worth the highest possible listed value of his house, and suggests the embattled lawmaker may have faced a substantial cash squeeze at the end of the last Congress... The half-million dollar loan on the Renzi residence at 2063 Raintree Road came on top of a $100,000-$250,000 mortgage he took out on the same property in 2005.

It may also cast light on $200,000 that came to Renzi two years ago from a business partner. The money exchange has raised eyebrows and suggestions of impropriety.

Around the time Renzi accepted the payment, the FEC launched an investigation of his campaign finances, forcing the lawmaker and his wife to pay an extra $324,000 in federal and state taxes.

The FEC launched its investigation in May 2005 and informed two businesses linked to Renzi of the probe later that month. That same month, James Sandlin, a former business partner, gave Renzi $200,000, a payment now being investigated by the FBI, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Is it just the Justice Department or the entire federal government that the Bush regime has turned into "the political arm of the White House"?

"Charges are being made that the Department of Justice was the political arm of the White House."
--Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, this past week on Fox News Sunday

Say what you like about Senator Specter (and I've had some choice things to say about him here), one thing he's not is a dummy. Although the most-quoted comment from his recent Fox News Sunday appearance was, "The attorney general's testimony was very, very damaging to his own credibility," he did make clear that at least in some manner he gets what's being alleged when he noted that "charges are being made that the Department of Justice was the political arm of the White House."

Senator Specter seems to have been referring specifically to the "Purge-Gate" firings of the eight U.S. attorneys, but in fact, the more we learn about the way the Department of Justice has functioned in the Bush regime, the clearer it becomes that "the political arm of the White House" is an exact description of what it has become.

Now that we have a pretty good idea that Paul Charlton, the ousted U.S. attorney in Phoenix, was shitcanned to protect Republicrook Rep. Rick Renzi, then locked in a deadly struggle to hold onto his House seat, from a richly deserved trip to the slammer (see Howie's recap below), we need: (a) a more complete accounting of the investigations that Purge-Gate was designed to derail and, perhaps more important, (b) some accounting of the investigations that have been launched or suppressed for partisan political reasons by all the U.S. attorneys who weren't fired.

As Paul Krugman asked so pointedly, what did those "left behind" U.S. attorneys do to hold onto their jobs? Remember, the best estimate we have is that 80 percent of all prosecutions launched by Bush-regime federal prosecutors have been against Democrats. I'm no probabilities expert, but the chance that this falls anywhere remotely near the bounds of probability for impartial administration of justice seems to me zilch.

While the punditocracy obsesses over the question of whether "Idiot Al" Gonzales should be fired, it's clear that the real problem goes way beyond the cuddly li'l "Torture Guy." When "Idiot Al" tells the world that, rather like Manuel in Fawlty Towers, he knows nothing about what was going on inside the department he was ostensibly running, he is telling us that he was installed as attorney general expressly to serve as a caretaker-stooge presiding over an apparatus that is quite aptly described as "the political arm of the White House."

And not just the DoJ. Already we know about the famous "Let's Go, GOP" pep rally at the General Services Administration in January, presided over by Karl Rove henchman J. Scott Jennings, which has drawn the attention of the Office of Special Counsel for possible Hatch Act violations in attempting to coerce political activity from government employees.

Now it appears that "other shoes" are dropping all over the damned place. In today's Washington Post, R. Jeffrey Smith reports:

White House officials conducted 20 private briefings on Republican electoral prospects in the last midterm election for senior officials in at least 15 government agencies covered by federal restrictions on partisan political activity, a White House spokesman and other administration officials said yesterday.

The previously undisclosed briefings were part of what now appears to be a regular effort in which the White House sent senior political officials to brief top appointees in government agencies on which seats Republican candidates might win or lose, and how the election outcomes could affect the success of administration policies, the officials said.

The White House defense seems to be that the briefings were for the benefit of the various agencies' political appointees, who presumably don't need any stinkin' Hatch Act protections.

Once again as we dig into the muck of the Bush regime, Rep. Henry A. Waxman, in his capacity as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, appears to be on the job. In connection with the GSA briefing he said: "Politicization of departments and agencies is a serious issue. We need to know more about these and other briefings."

We do indeed. What's being charged now is that, as Senator Specter might put it, the entire federal government has been made to function as the political arm of the White House.

Back in the days of Watergate, when John Dean, then Richard Nixon's White House counsel, was young and still a true-blue Nixonite, as evidence solidified of White House involvement in the break-in and especially the ensuing cover-up, he famously warned his boss--who was famously unfriendly to unfriendly news--that there was "a cancer on the presidency." If there's anyone in the White House today who's in contact with reality, that person might warn, well, anyone who would listen that this presidency is a cancer.


UPDATE FROM HOWIE: WILL YOU BE SURPRISED TO KNOW THAT ROVE & GONZO TRIED TO SAVE RENZI BY FIRING A (REPUBLICAN) U.S. ATTORNEY INVESTIGATING HIS RAMPANT CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES?

It may surprise Washington Post readers, but DWT readers can't possibly be surprised to find out that there was a "questionable" connection between Renzi and the firing of U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton.

The top aide to Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) called the office of Arizona's U.S. attorney about six weeks before the prosecutor was fired, inquiring about a federal probe into the congressman's role in a land deal that benefited a former business partner and political patron.
The former U.S. attorney, Paul K. Charlton, told House investigators this week that his office alerted the Justice Department's headquarters about the call from Renzi's chief of staff, Brian Murray, because he considered it potentially improper, according to congressional sources who spoke about the probe on the condition of anonymity. Justice rules require prosecutors to report contacts from members of Congress seeking information about investigations.

Doesn't this sound very much like a pattern? Pete "Sneaky Pete" Domenici and his protege stooge, Heather Wilson in New Mexico; "Doc Hastings in Washington; Jerry Lewis in California...

Anyone who thought the Republican Culture of Corruption would disappear with the indictments of key criminal leaders like Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff and Bob Ney, underestimated the influence of political inertia... and of Karl Rove and the degree to which the Bush Regime has politicized the entire machinary of government.


MINI-UPDATE: BYE-BYE RENZI

Rumors of Renzi's resignation from Congress-- now that he's been kicked off all his committees and from the GOP re-election mechanism-- are sweeping the Arizona blogosphere-- and the mainstream media. Tomorrow may be the day. What about Doolittle? Sneaky Pete? Feeney? Jerry Lewis? Abu Gonzo? Heather Wilson?