Republican Florida Rep. Trey Radel has been charged with misdemeanor cocaine possession in Washington, D.C. A newly elected Tea Party Republican, Radel issued a contrite statement that he has struggled with alcohol and that his alcoholism led to “an extremely irresponsible choice.” UPDATE: Radel has pleaded guilty and received a one year probation sentence.
Radel is a former television reporter and conservative radio host.
This is not his first controversy in a relatively short political career. During the campaign, it was discovered that his campaign committee “Friends of Trey Radel, Inc.” had purchased his opponents’ domain names. Radel first denied playing a role in the subterfuge and blamed staff. He then later admitted it was his doing. His campaign then created misleading websites to highlight negative aspects of his opponents’ voting records. He is described as a Tea Party favorite and was endorsed by both Connie Mack and Rudy Giuliani.
The criminal charge is relatively minor with a potential for 180 days of imprisonment and/or a fine of $1,000. Do you think that Radel’s position should be considered in the sentence? Any jail time for the tough-on-crime Tea Party candidate would come at a heavy personal and political cost.
Radel recently called for President Obama’s impeachment, stressing that his actions must have consequences: ““It is one of those times in our history, we are at this breaking point. We have completely lost our checks and balances in this country, the Congress needs to hold the president accountable for the decisions that he’s making right now, and that why again, I would say that all options should be on the table.”
The question is what the “breaking point” may be for the Tea Party and its supporters in Florida.
randy,
I caught that about the card as well, but you beat me to the punch. People who lie are so easy to catch if you are (1) paying attention, and (2) understand how the system works.
Graci, Gene.
DavidM, You continue to impress me w/ your class and dignity. Carry on, indeed.
Freed one of those comments for you, gbk.
As to why the filter took exception? It’s a mystery.
Bron,
“I never said I read it.”
Then why are you taking exception?
How then can you claim that you are, “not disagreeing with his premise,” when you have not read his work? Are you arguing from spite now, Bron?
Does anything I write here set off a Pavlovian response, or are your responses to be taken seriously?
“I am quite certain our government does a good many bad things.”
Could you DeMorgan that for me?
“And let us also not forget Gary Webb, whose death from two gunshots to the head was decreed by the Sacramento County (CA) coroner as to be a suicide. Whose said original material was published by the San Jose Mercury News, then rescinded, then Webb being fired, then found dead.” -gbk
It bears repeating….
Two identical comments back to Bron, please free one.
Randyjet,
I do not recall…..
RTC,
You sure he’s not both…..
gbk:
I am quite certain our government does a good many bad things.
gbk:
I never said I read it.
You should read it. Most folks in aviation in our neck of the woods knew about the drug smuggling that was rampant with the Contras and Reagan. The main base was out of Mena, AR and guess who was Guv at the time. That is how his brother got into the coke business and got nabbed. The CIA thugs were immune from prosecution and brought in tons of the stuff. The radar was fully functional at the border at the time too, and the FAA, Customs, etc.. all knew about this going on. To say the US government knew nothing about this is absurd. It may be that Ronnie did not know the particulars, but he sure as hell did not and would not stop it if he did know.
DavidM is not a drug dealer. He’s a slumlord.
That’s how he comes into contact with all these murders, rapists, thieves, fraudsters, lowlifes, and scumbags.
DavidM,
I agree, Weiner’s dissembling and Radel’s drug habit are nothing alike. Nobody died as a result of Weiner’s indiscretions. Radel was helping to support a violent, bloody, and corrosive black market that has impacted Florida probably more than any other state in the union. No comparison.
Mind you, if a low level drug dealer was able to finger this guy, it means Radel was using regularly; often enough to, first, become known to the dealer, and regularly enough that the dealer could be reasonably certain Radel would be holding when it counted.
But you would only give him a week in jail. Why couldn’t you be a judge when I needed it twenty years ago.
I do agree with you, sincerely, that certain drugs simply should not be legal, like cocaine.
And, as Juliet points out, there is no appreciable fraud in SNAP, much less any significant connection between SNAP recipients and drug use. Testing is actually a redistribution of wealth from the taxpayer to the owners of the private labs that carry out the tests. Those are the facts for your Tea Baggin’ ass.
Speaking of facts, I recommended, in another thread, that you check out “Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein. First you said, “No, she’s Canadian, so what does she know”, which was a relief, because as I was reading, I thought you were going to say you didn’t want to read it because she’s Jewish, and that would have been…well, that just wouldn’t have been right.
Then apparently, you read a review on Amazon and discovered that her expose’ covers the last 35 years or so of economic history and decided that such a study wouldn’t be valid unless it covered a hundred years or more of free market history.
That’s surprising coming from a guy who studied intensively at university for nine years. One would think you would’ve learned the value of a study focused on a particular topic, like, the objective observations of the results of the neoconservative, Chicago School free market “reforms”. (And I use “reform” the same way Pol Pot used “reeducation”.)
The truth about you, and I say this knowing you’re a guy who hates truth, is that you don’t want to encounter facts that contradict your beliefs. “Shock Doctrine” is thoroughly researched and massively fact checked. The most incredible thing about the book, given the powerful people it documents and the damning information concerning them, is that no one has ever filed a lawsuit over it.
You should read the book, if only to get an idea of the standard for writing the book you’re working on.
Unless you’re writing the story of your life, so as not to exploit anyone. Then, by all means, carry on.
Bron,
“I am not disagreeing with his premise, I can believe that Contras were selling cocaine.”
If you think that is an accurate summation of Webb’s work then you have not read it.
The silence from the Tea Party and the GOP is DEAFENING since I hear nothing about them asking this crook to resign. :Let us contrast the reaction from Pelosi, and other Democratic leaders who called for his head over a thing that was NOT criminal. I guess as long as a GOPer does not go to jail for too long, they can keep their seats and all their perks. I hope that this crook will enjoy the taxpayer bought drug and alcohol rehab he will be getting for free! I see that NO Tea Party hack has anything at all to say about the taxpayer picking up the tab for his rehab in his socialized medicine. If he goes to Walter Reed, THAT is REAL socialized medicine by the way.
Randyjet,
You beat me to it…. Sorry…. Much simpler than mine….
gbk:
I am not disagreeing with his premise, I can believe that Contras were selling cocaine.
I was in college and had an Iranian TA for soils, he told me his brother was in the Iranian military and came regularly to Norfolk, Virginia to pick up weapons. He even told me sailors were writing death to America on the boxes. This was about 1-2 years before the hearings.
Wow DavidM…. What kind of business are you in that people ask you all the time to buy these food stamp cards…. For less than full face value…. First of all… It’s a crime to buy them…. Then again…. Some of them have pictures of the folks on the cards, names and oh you have to enter the four digit pin…. It’d be simpler if they just went and drew off the cash value of the card and sold you 100 for 60…. That just makes no logical sence….. Maybe to you…. But I think you’re smoking more than crack….l
Anon wrote: “What kind of business are you in that people ask you all the time to buy these food stamp cards…”
I have mentioned that I help the poor on a regular basis. I have never taken them up on the offer because it is illegal, but they try all the time. Many times they buy groceries and then sell the groceries to a neighbor to get their drug money. Sometimes they take someone shopping with them to get it. Sometimes they just outright give them the card and pin, then the card is returned to them after they go shop with it. Sometimes they just outright sell the card. There are many ways to abuse the system, and these methods are rarely detected as fraud. The people who administer SNAP want to claim that there is no fraud. Their livelihood depends upon a program doing a good service in the community. This is why they advertise to attract new customers (they even advertise in Mexico), and why they always defend the program without a critical eye.
I support the idea of food assistance, but I also support doing it in a responsible way. I think local governments could do it better and the federal government should not be involved except perhaps in an advisory or organizational way.
By the way, here is an interesting fact about someone I am helping right now who receives $166 a month from SNAP. She does not work. All her income comes from the government, yet her entitlements enable her to own free and clear a Mercedes-Benz car. That is the kind of car she puts fuel into and drives around. This is not as bad as the thousands of lottery winners who continue to receive public assistance, but it is a reminder that our default image of people who require assistance is not always accurate.
“yet her entitlements enable her to own free and clear a Mercedes-Benz car.”
DavidM,
What year Mercedes was that? You are lying by not providing the whole story, or maybe you are just lying. I could go out today and buy a Mercedes Benz for $500 on the used car market.
Mike Spindell wrote: “You are lying by not providing the whole story, or maybe you are just lying.”
Lying by not telling the whole story? Really? I don’t see it that way. What do you want me to do, ask her to give me her registration and scan it in for you? We are just relaying our experiences here, not trying to prove anecdotes. I often leave out a lot of details because most people complain that my posts are too long.
As you assume, her car is not a new model, but it is a Mercedes-Benz, which is considered a luxury car. If I remember right, it even has leather seats. I’m certain it cost more than $500. I don’t know the year of it or what it cost her when she bought it. I do know that she also has $13,000 sitting in the bank that she does not want to touch. I found out about that because she was complaining about having to dip into it for a car repair bill last week that was about $500. Believe what you want to, but I do not lie.
I went to Edmunds here is a 1995 Mercedes Benz C Class sedan in average condition w/250,000 miles: http://www.edmunds.com/mercedes-benz/c-class/1995/tmv-appraise-results.html . $718 book value. I wonder what it would be if it was a 1994. BTW, up until 2 years ago I owned a 1972 Chrysler LeBaron convertible, in mint condition with an original 60,000 miles. Got me 24 mpg on the road. I sold it for $300.
Without the details your story is simply not believable.
Bron,
Before you go off half-cocked, read the man’s work in historical context. Or is it your wont to always comment out of ignorance?
gbk:
I always thought Reagan sold arms to the Iranians to fund the Contras. You can make a lot more money selling a couple of f-16’s than humping cocaine all over the country side.
I would guess it was done but it wasnt a main sorce of funding.
gbk:
did he miss with the first shot? I have read that it can happen.
Multiple gunshot suicides are rare, but possible. In one study of 138 gunshot suicides, 5 (3.6%) involved two shots to the head, the first of which missed the brain.[1] A suicide with 4 gunshots to the head has been reported.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_gunshot_suicide