Re: Family Valuse

["Petem" <petem001@xxxxxxxxx>]

Robert why don't you post this type of thing is Comp.home .automation?

aren't you tired of being a jerk in this NG?

"Robert L Bass" <robertbass1@xxxxxxxxxxx> a écrit dans le message de news:
Ef2dnRY1P-fOhK7YnZ2dnUVZ_qydnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> WASHINGTON - Ohio Republican Representative Bob Ney, the only member of
> Congress to be criminally charged in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal,
> pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington, Friday morning, to bribery
> charges stemming from that influence-peddling investigation
>
> Ney now joins the rare ranks of members of Congress who have been
> convicted of felonies. He is expected to serve 27 months in prison based
> on a Justice Department recommendation.
>
> Ney, who is not seeking re-election, said, in a statement released after
> today's court action, "I will be resigning from Congress. This will be
> done in the next few weeks."
>
> 'I accept responsibility'
> Ney agreed to the Justice Department's offer to plead guilty to two
> counts, conspiracy to commit fraud and to making false statements. He
> admitted in court papers that he accepted tens of thousands of dollars
> worth of trips and other perks from disgraced lobbyist Abramoff and an
> international businessman.
>
> Ney, who did not speak to reporters as he left the courthouse, apologized
> for his actions in the written statement, "I accept responsibility for my
> actions and I am prepared to face the consequences of what I have done...
> I have made mistakes of judgment and acted in ways that I am not proud of.
> I never intended my career in public service to end this way, and I am
> ashamed that it has. I never acted to enrich myself or get things I
> shouldn't, but over time, I allowed myself to get too comfortable with the
> way things have been done in Washington, D.C. for too long."
>
> Ney acknowledged in court that he has been enrolled for the past thirty
> days in an alcohol treatment program.  Ney's lawyer, Mark Touhey, asked
> Judge Ellen S. Huvelle to consider sentencing Ney to a facility that has
> an alcohol rehabilitation program.
>
> Resign or be expelled
> Touhey told the judge the congressman would resign from office before
> sentencing on Jan. 19. Ney's term in Congress expires before then, though,
> at noon on Jan 3.
>
> Ney does not automatically lose his House seat upon conviction of a
> felony.  The Constitution does not disqualify him from being a member of
> Congress, other than under the Fourteenth Amendment for certain treasonous
> conduct. But once a member of the House is convicted of a felony, certain
> potential consequences can affect their status as a member including
> censure and expulsion, according to a recent Congressional Research
> Service report titled, "Status of a Member of the House Who Has Been
> Indicted for or Convicted of a Felony."
>
>
>
>
> House leaders called for Ney to leave Congress immediately.  In a
> statement, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader John Boehner
> he should be punished for the criminal actions he has acknowledged, "He
> betrayed his oath of office and violated the trust of those he represented
> in the House.  There is no place for him in this Congress.  If he chooses
> not to resign his office, we will move to expel him immediately as our
> first order of business when Congress resumes its legislative work in
> November."
>
> Investigation continuing
> Early this year Ney stepped down as chairman of the powerful House
> Administration committee. That committee announced just last week that it
> is investigating a wireless license agreement that Ney approved in 2002
> for a company represented by Abramoff.
>
> Salley Collins, spokeswoman for the committee, told NBC, "There are issues
> with the license agreement and they are being reviewed by the committee."
> But she said that until the investigation is resolved, there would be no
> comment on the specifics.
>
> The agreement allowed Foxcom Wireless, a firm then based in Israel, to win
> a multimillion-dollar contract from cell phone providers to outfit House
> office buildings with wireless receivers.
>
> Foxcom Wireless now operates as MobileAccess Networks based in Vienna, Va.
>
> In the plea agreement with the Justice Department that Ney signed Sept.
> 13, he acknowledged that he supported the license application of
> Abramoff's client "from April 2001 through November 2002." That is one of
> the official acts Ney admitted he made to benefit Abramoff and his
> lobbying partners, while receiving a string of things of value from them,
> including trips and a golf junket to Scotland in Aug. 2002.
>
> Until his sentencing, Ney will be allowed to travel domestically if he
> informs the court's probation office. The judge has scheduled a January
> 19th, 2007 sentencing hearing.
>
> Change of direction
> Ney had consistently denied any wrongdoing in the investigation, an
> insistence that he maintained even after his former chief of staff pleaded
> guilty in May. The aide, Neil Volz, confessed to conspiring to corrupt the
> congressman and others with trips and other aid. Volz became a business
> partner of Abramoff after leaving the congressional payroll.
>
> Ney had a unique power perch in the House when the year dawned, as
> chairman of the committee with jurisdiction over the internal workings of
> the 435-member House. Speaker Dennis Hastert pressured Ney into
> surrendering his committee chairmanship earlier this year as concern
> rippled through the GOP ranks about the Abramoff scandal.
>
> Still, as recently as early summer, Ney said he intended to seek
> re-election in the sprawling, rural district in eastern Ohio he has
> represented since 1994. He changed his mind at the prodding of party
> leaders who feared the loss of his seat in November if he remained on the
> ballot.
>
> Abramoff convenient incarceration
> Just after the mid-term elections, on Nov. 15, disgraced lobbyist Jack
> Abramoff will report to federal prison on his own guilty pleas relating to
> the Florida based SunCruz casino scandal.
>
> Prosecutors and Abramoff's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, in a joint motion, have
> asked a federal judge to recommend that Abramoff serve his 70-month
> sentence at the federal correctional facility in Cumberland, Maryland.
>
> The request to Judge Paul Huck says that Abramoff's cooperation in the
> pay-to-play, influence peddling investigation is still crucial and, "will
> continue after he is incarcerated," according to the motion filed
> yesterday.
>
> Abramoff and his partner Adam Kidan pleaded guilty to defrauding lenders
> of more than $60 million in the SunCruz gambling casino scandal in
> Florida. Abramoff, who has been sentenced to more than five-years in
> prison for his SunCruz plea is awaiting sentencing in the Washington
> influence peddling scandal. He will serve both sentences concurrently.
>
> The court filing states that Cumberland facility is within driving
> distance of Washington and Mr. Abramoff's incarceration there, "will
> facilitate the government's access to him and, therefore, the ongoing
> investigation." The motion also suggests that the proximity to Washington
> would help prosecutors reduce costs and travel time.
>
> Weeks ago in another court filing, prosecutors and Abramoff's lawyer,
> asked a Judge Huck to delay Abramoff's prison term for three-months saying
> reporting to jail earlier, "would significantly impede on-going
> investigations in which his participation is critical." The judge
> expressed at a hearing exasperation with the slow pace of the Washington
> investigation and advised attorneys not to expect any further extensions.
>
> If there is a problem accommodation Abramoff in the Cumberland facility,
> an alternative was suggested in the filing, the federal correctional
> facility in Morgantown, West Virginia, which, "is also within driving
> distance of Washington, D.C.," according to the court papers.
>
>
>
> Other confessions
> While Ney became the first member of Congress to plead guilty in the
> probe, a second lawmaker, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., is at the center
> of a separate investigation involving alleged bribery. He has not been
> charged and denies all wrongdoing.
>
> In addition to Abramoff and Volz, the scandal has produced guilty pleas by
> two former congressional aides to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
> DeLay resigned from Congress earlier in the year. He has not been charged
> in the federal investigation, but is under indictment on state charges in
> Texas in a different case. He denied all wrongdoing.
>
> Prosecutors also won a conviction in the Abramoff case against former
> White House official David Safavian, formerly the Bush administration's
> top procurement official.
>
>
> At Safavian's recent trial, prosecutors introduced a photograph of Ney and
> Abramoff standing next to a private jet that whisked them and other
> members to a golf outing in Scotland. Also in the photo were two of Ney's
> aides who went on the weeklong Abramoff-organized junket.
>
> String of alleged favors
> When Volz pleaded guilty in May, he listed 16 actions he said his old boss
> had taken on behalf of Abramoff's clients from January 2000 through April
> 2004. During that period, Abramoff and his lobbying team showered Ney with
> campaign donations, trips, meals at Abramoff's restaurant and tickets to
> sporting events and concerts.
>
> In 2000, Ney read remarks into the Congressional Record helpful to
> Abramoff, who was trying to acquire a Florida casino cruise-ship company.
>
> In 2002, Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, a former DeLay aide who has pleaded
> guilty in the scandal, promised an Indian tribe that Ney would champion
> legislation to reopen a tribal casino. When evidence surfaced that
> Abramoff had bilked the Indian tribe, Ney said, "How did I know what they
> were charging their clients?"
>
> Ney said he supported the provision to help the Tigua Indian tribe of
> Texas reopen its casino after Abramoff told him that Sen. Christopher J.
> Dodd, D-Conn., supported the effort, which Dodd said he had no knowledge
> of. Ney said the Scotland golf trip had nothing to do with the tribal
> legislation.
>
> Ney also met with Abramoff about a wireless contract for House office
> buildings, then awarded the contract to the company the lobbyist
> represented. The congressman said the award was based on merit through
> open competition.
>
> Ney said he had been duped into helping Abramoff on both the tribal casino
> and the Florida deal, and that he was duped again about who paid for the
> Scotland trip. Abramoff denied misleading Ney.
>
> NBC's Joels Seidman contributed to this report.
>
> © 2006 The Associated Press.
>
>