The New Jersey delegation clearly likes to travel . . . on someone else’s tab. Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) is reportedly under grand jury investigation for those trips to the Dominican Republic. WIth or without prostitutes, as we discussed earlier, the trips are highly problematic. Now, there is an ethics investigation of Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) who once vowed to “drain the swamp” of corruption in the House. It appears that Andrews needed to get out of the swamp for expensive trips that were allegedly paid for by campaign funds.
In 2012, the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) charged Andrews with tapping tens of thousands of dollars in campaign funds to pay for a 2011 trip to a wedding in Scotland and multiple trips to Los Angeles with his daughters. Andrews adopted the same cynical excuse by other swamp dwellers and said that the trips were political because the groom and his daughter were volunteer campaign aides. It is the type of argument that is too clever by half and most of us would be ashamed to even make in defense of raiding a campaign for personal purposes.
As we have been discussing, former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) has pleaded guilty to using $750,000 in campaign funds to pay for living expenses. Jackson received a sentence of 46 to 57 months in prison.
Andrews is also accused of using more than $10,000 to host a party at his home celebrating his congressional service and his daughter’s graduation. That is on top of his $9000 trip to Scotland. His campaign also gave a $12,500 donation to a local theater gala, where his daughter was performing at the time. I am not sure what irritates me the most: Andrews’ using the money like a personal piggy bank or his insulting rationalizations for such corruption.
True to swamp form, Andrews repeated the equally time-worn defense that the charges by the bipartisan committee were “politically motivated.” Unless these allegations are entirely untrue and no campaign funds were used, Andrews should resign. If not, he should be sanctioned by the House and put under criminal investigation. The latter action is undermined by the still permissive rules on campaign fund use — a law filled with holes knowingly maintained by the members of Congress for themselves. However, there appears to be enough here that, if proven, could be used as the basis for a criminal investigation.
He is a lawyer and graduated from Cornell Law School. On his website, Andrews states that he has worked to “prevent wasting millions of taxpayer dollars” in dollars. In his defense, he did not promise not to waste campaign dollars on personal pleasures and distractions.
Source: The Hill
AY,
First of all, assuming you are being serious, maybe you’ve noticed that NPR
rarely challenges..except for liberal ideas, and the “authorities” they interview are mouthpieces for corporate and rightwing think tank views.
In short, NPR is simply a taxpayer-funded mouthpiece for the same goals as other MSM outlets, only presented to appeal to an audience of people who consider themselves superior to the Joe and Mary
Sixpacks that constitute the vast majority of our country’s population.
Reblogged this on NJ Gun Rights Blog.
Bill,
As a conservative democrat in thinking and practice….. How is NPR like the other MSM…. I was unaware that they NPR…had canned questions that could only be asked…. Unlike MSM agrees to….
This type of activity will not stop as long as people vote for one of the two wings of the Property party. NPR is simply a taxpayer-funded mouthpiece for the same goals as other MSM outlets, only presented to appeal to an audience of people who consider themselves superior to the Joe and Mary
Sixpacks that constitute the vast majority of our country’s population.
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Reblogged this on euzicasa and commented:
Way to go Bobby, another demoncrat!
Campaign fund raiser in Scotland eh? So can we then consider the event to be full of foreign donors, which is illegal under federal law? Which is is, illegal campaign fund usage or foreign donor violation?
Hopefully, he will be added to this list eventually:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_federal_politicians_convicted_of_crimes
These guys should be kicked out of congress with nothing but their clothes. Of course they reelected Marion Berry,
Dog, Why did Menendez go to Hondouras? Maybe it should of opened with Jesse Jackon Jr. another great democrat
What raff said.
This type of activity will not end unless we get the money out of politics.
A few years ago I stopped donating to a candidate who used some of his campaign funds for personal purchases. The next year I stopped donating to a candidate who loaned some of his campaign funds to another candidate’s campaign.
Why? Does the story open with reference to Menendez and his trip to Hondouras with the Prostitutes? When: we know the part about the prostitutes was Trumped up by some Donald? We know that the so called Escort was paid to lie about the trist. Menendez was already defamed several times and now it is part of a thread if any politician gets cited for traveling on the public dime.
The truth is this. People should not travel on the public dime. Period.
People who pork other people should not have to pay them for the sex. But, dear fellow, what is marriage anyhow? Is it not some sanctioned way of porking with the church and society’s blessing because the purported purpose is to have kids? All within the Sanctity of marriage. It all keeps the flock together so that the preacher or priest, when he is not porkin a child, can fleece the flock. So, all of this sanctimony about some guy who pays per visit is a lot of malarky. Which gets us back to Ireland.
In journalism, this would be styled a cheap shot against Menendez.
That’s my money…. And besides its my birthday gift…..I’m entitled right….
The never ending script about the holy party and the evil party. They step out of character so often it becomes difficult over a century of history to tell one from the other.
Time for another script methinks.
If one wants to learn how to drain a swamp, the fens and bogs of Scotland offer many a learning opportunity. Especially the manicured and contained ones on the many golf courses there.
I hear his travel agent Pete Moss strongly encouraged his visit.
This guy is right on par for his political handicap….which is ethics.
Perhaps next election his supporters will not vote for this Bogie.
( Double Bogie?)
I should have put the word ethical in quotation marks at the end of P2 there. “Ethical” as in, ‘its not really but given the rules of the game we all agree we will say it is’
Maybe it was only campaign donation money from the Mob he skimmed. That would be different, right?
I guess I have a hard time getting as excited as you do when it is only contributions & not tax money being misused. Had he simply said he was holding a campaign fund raiser in LA he would be in the clear. Same with the graduation party.
The simple fact is that most elected officials in DC spend more time fund raising than anything else, maybe even more than everything else put together. A lot of this money grubbing is done with money previously grubbed and that is ethical.
Had Monsanto or BP or CitiBank paid for his trips (with a few rounds of golf thrown in) that would have also been ‘ethical’. To me that is a lot more grievous than this clowns abuse.
BTW – I don’t recall seeing this here after the story about hookers in the DR. The police investigation says the hookers were paid to lie about Sen. Menedez. Gee who would suspect that an outfit with such a long history of honest reporting such as Dimbart has would not have seen that coming?