Re: Family Valuse

[Bif <sample@xxxxxxx>]

Petem wrote:
> 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.
>>
>>
>
>
soon to be a dead jerk.