Comments (36)

Anonymous wrote on April 24, 2007 6:41 PM:

Who is representing Renzi?

PKDU wrote on April 24, 2007 7:19 PM:

Former AZ Atty General Grant Woods

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/24/AR2006102401715.html

Rusty Austin wrote on April 24, 2007 7:22 PM:

If he was innocent, he wouldn't resign.

TCinLA wrote on April 24, 2007 7:26 PM:

He's toast. Next week he resigns his seat. Where there's smoke there's soon a forest fire in Arizona, it being as dry as it is these days.

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on April 24, 2007 7:35 PM:

Thanks, PKDU. Based on a search of news about Grant Woods, I'd say he knows how to get his name in the news. For one, Woods has or had his own radio show after he left AZ AG's office.

Here is a little blurb about his 50th birthday party:

Arizona Republic
By Adam Klawonn, Edythe Jensen and Alia Rau
5/2/7/04

WOODS CELEBRATES HIS 50-YEAR MARK WITH A FEW SONGS

Apparently, the place to be Saturday night was former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods' 50th birthday party.

Tempe Mayor Neil Giuliano described it as the political party of the month, with a great mix of the state's moderate political leaders, Democrat and Republican.

To get him back for a roast earlier this month, Giuliano declared it Grant Woods Rainbow Pride Day in Tempe.

"It was in honor of him now being in his 51st year of life, although he wants to call it his 50th birthday," Giuliano said. Giuliano's gift to Woods was five bottles of vitamins, including energy boosters and mood enhancers.

"He's 50 now," Giuliano said. "He's going to need them."

Woods got back at his guests by singing, with the help of a live band, an entire CD of songs that he wrote about his experiences in politics and on various missions.

"What was neat was that he was really into it," was all Giuliano would say about Woods' singing abilities.

unpoetaloco wrote on April 24, 2007 7:40 PM:

C'mon, guys. Give the guy a break. He's gotta make money somehow to support his 13 (thirteen) children. That $4 million will barely put all of them through private school and college.

daCascadian wrote on April 24, 2007 7:45 PM:

unpoetaloco >"...That $4 million will barely put all of them through private school and college."

I say they all apply for student loans like most average citizens. No special treatment. Nothing personal, I`m sure his offspring are nice people.

code = crush (as crush out the sleeze)

"...economics runs around trying to figure out how people rationalized what they just did." - Stirling Newberry

StephenH wrote on April 24, 2007 7:52 PM:

Quitting the committees after the bribes are in the freezer? Didn't they used to call this closing the barn door after the cow got out?

Austin Cooper wrote on April 24, 2007 7:54 PM:

(Snark / Parody alert)

"For several weeks," Renzi said to waiting reporters, "I have been the subject of stories, conjecture, cartoons, bar jokes [ 'Knock, knock at the RNC' 'Who's there? says the RNC.' 'Rick Renzi!' 'Who??' 'Rick RENZI!!' 'Who??' ], obscene graffiti, and people staring at me -- I MEAN YOU!! ALL OF YOU, STOP IT!!

"Sorry. These are false attacks about a land exchange. Though there is much I am unable to recall, none of these attacks presently bear any markedly complete resemblance to the truth as I am best able to understand it after reviewing the documents.

"So that no one can question the motivation behind the land exchange, I decided to bare my conscience and tell all, between 12:00 noon and 12:05 PM yesterday. If you didn't get the word, I'm terribly sorry. I will continue to focus on important district work and issues critical to my constituents in between consultations with my psychoanalyst, my defense -- uh, my attorney; and my bartender ."

r€nato wrote on April 24, 2007 8:01 PM:

Too bad this didn't break before the election. There were rumors about Renzi having some crooked dealings but nothing big happened before November.

r€nato wrote on April 24, 2007 8:03 PM:

for what it's worth, Renzi's attorney - Grant Woods - is a moderate Republican and authored an opinion piece that was published a couple Sundays ago in the Arizona Republic, saying that the GOP has lost its way and needs to return to being a 'big tent' party.

Good luck with that, Grant.

pre-amerikkkan wrote on April 24, 2007 8:07 PM:

These guys must cook this stuff up around cocktails or something!

"Okay, you can have that contract, i'll take this project, those indian casinos are a latter day goldmine, stupid troglodytes!"

"Don't forget, we've got to kickback to KKKarls shop for the campaign chest."

"oh, right, how much we talking?"

"No less than a mill, is that a problem?"

"No, no, not a problem, the amurkin public has deep pockets, ha ha."

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on April 24, 2007 8:12 PM:

OT - An interesting story about former AZ USA Paul Charlton's refusal to prosecute public corruption.

Arizona Republic
By Dennis Wagner
7/8/06

FBI INFORMERS' HOTEL ORGY LED U.S. PROSECUTOR TO SHELVE CASES

U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton refused to prosecute a major Arizona corruption case after learning that FBI informers sexually abused an unconscious prostitute during a Las Vegas hotel orgy, according to a letter sent by Charlton to the bureau's top Arizona agent at the time.

There are no allegations that FBI personnel participated in the orgy. However, Charlton's letter complained that agents did not mention the incident in official reports nor did they advise prosecutors of possible crimes committed in the hotel room, including knowledge that "one of the women in the suite may have been raped."

Charlton's conclusion: "Our office will not prosecute any additional cases involving any of these individuals (informers) until the circumstances of the Oct. 16, 2002, incidents in Las Vegas are fully investigated."

Seventy-one U.S. military personnel, prison guards and law enforcement workers have been convicted in the sting known as Operation Lively Green, which involved undercover operatives and agents posing as Mexican narcotics traffickers. The government employees were bribed to haul cocaine from southern Arizona to Phoenix and Las Vegas, sometimes wearing uniforms and using military vehicles.

Charlton's letter of March 29, 2004, to Charlene Thornton, then-FBI special agent in charge for Arizona, suggests that crimes by informers and questionable conduct by agents were so troubling that he backed away from the case entirely.

Thornton said in an interview that she recalls the letter and Charlton's decision to drop the case. She said Charlton sought an investigation by the Inspector General's Office. After that request was declined, she said, the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility reviewed the allegations and exonerated all agents.

Charlton declined to comment.

Deb McCarley, a bureau spokeswoman in Phoenix, describes Lively Green as "one of the most successful public-corruption cases in the FBI's history" but said she could not comment further because prosecutions still are pending.

The Justice Department's Office of Public Integrity wound up pressing charges, allowing each defendant to plead guilty to a single felony with no public trials or disclosures in U.S. District Court.

Charlton's letter to Thornton spells out the Nevada events of Oct. 16, 2002, in detail: Eleven suspects had just delivered 132 pounds of cocaine from southern Arizona to Las Vegas. FBI agents rented the presidential suite at the MGM Grand Hotel for three informers who invited a half-dozen targets to join them. That night, five prostitutes were hired to participate in an orgy with the men.

The letter says one of the prostitutes fell unconscious because of drug or alcohol consumption and was draped naked over a chair. It says she may have been sodomized by informers and suspects, who also posed for pictures with the woman.

Disclosure papers from a military court previously revealed that the photographic evidence was destroyed after an FBI agent told one of the informers he "did not want to see them again."

Charlton said in his letter that, under Justice Department rules, he felt obliged to tell state or county prosecutors in Las Vegas about the suspected criminal conduct of FBI informers.

Clark County, Nev., District Attorney David Roger said he never was contacted about the MGM Grand incident by the U.S. Attorney's Office or the FBI. Police in Las Vegas said they never were asked to investigate.

Thornton said Charlton's letter contained "some conclusions that wouldn't be supported by the facts," but she declined to elaborate.

She also disputed a disclosure report in military court that says a key FBI agent was removed from Operation Lively Green as a result of the Office of Professional Responsibility inquiry.

"There was no misconduct found," Thornton said, "so there was no action taken as a result of the internal investigation."

Five months after Charlton wrote the letter, Thornton was appointed by FBI Director Robert Mueller as assistant director at the bureau's Inspection Division, in charge of internal investigations and professional conduct. She said she had no part in reviewing behavior by agents in Lively Green.

According to the military court disclosure, there was no surveillance on the hotel suite during the night in question. It is unclear why FBI agents, amid a major sting operation, would not have set up eavesdropping devices in a room rented for informers.

McCarley, the Phoenix FBI spokeswoman, said Lively Green "underscores the FBI's commitment to fighting public corruption at all levels of government. ... (When) all remaining prosecutive activity is complete, the FBI will be in a position to offer comment on this investigation.

djcrow22 wrote on April 24, 2007 8:16 PM:

A coincidence that all of these FBI raids are happening at once? Fredos' way of deflecting charges of political favoritism? Surely you jest...

r€nato wrote on April 24, 2007 8:16 PM:

Why don't I get invited to any parties like that one?

Hadn't Charlton heard? "What happens in Vegas... stays in Vegas"???

security code: 'book', as in throw the book at corrupt Goopers.

za wrote on April 24, 2007 8:20 PM:

thank the lord he quit his Natural Resources seat. Resolution Copper was still trying to push legislation through his committee. And he looked like he was going to stay anyway.

Ass.

fatkat wrote on April 24, 2007 8:24 PM:

ok he's done it...

http://kucinich.house.gov/UploadedFiles/int3.pdf

the artical's of impeachment are in...

DF wrote on April 24, 2007 8:35 PM:

Start posting Jerry Lewis’s face on some of these stories again. He presided over this culture of corruption in the appropriations committee, and he should be given credit at every opportunity. Lewis made an appearance at the Iraq war funding bill conference committee meeting. Senators Patty Murray and Daniel Inouye wouldn’t even look at the snake. Time to spend another 100G on that legal team.

djcrow22 wrote on April 24, 2007 8:36 PM:

Mrs.P; Incredible story, what tangled webs...

Joseph Combs wrote on April 24, 2007 8:55 PM:

Renzi's House website still has his Cttee "assignments" dutifully listed. Perhaps the typography should be changed to strikethroughs!
--
Or, "Here are the cttees I used to be assigned to."

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on April 24, 2007 9:05 PM:

djcrow22@April 24, 2007 08:36 PM

So true. On a slightly different note, I had some fun today when I called a high-level Bush fundraiser, Beth Sturgeon, to ask her about a shady $46k US Treasury grant awarded to the Hispanic Alliance For Progress (HAP)(link below).

Who knew Rove's top lieutenants were so accessible?

HAP and its affiliate, the Hispanic Alliance For Progress Institute (HAPI) served no other purpose between 2004 and 2005 other than to funnel corporate money to Beth Sturgeon and provide a $144k GOP slush fund during a presidential election campaign.

But apparently HAP is now going to be certified under the US Treasury's Community Development Fund Initiative program which in some way provides financial services to economically disadvantaged citizens.

I don't how the CDFI program works yet but I know for sure that HAP is in no way qualified to provide financial services to anyone. HAP's CPA can't add three numbers correctly, for pete's sakes. Not only that, the HAP board of directors is inactive and HAP has no employees.

The reason I called Beth Sturgeon about HAP's $46k grant is that the books are listed as in her care, according to the HAP 990s. The IRS requires the person who has the books in his or her care to provide an address and a telephone number so that person can be contacted for information.

In all fairness, I told Beth Sturgeon when I called that I posted in the TPM Cafe but she had never heard of it nor Josh Marshall and Talking Points Memo. I told her to google her own name for a link to my TPM Cafe thread about her but I don't know if she did it.

I think the real purpose behind HAP becoming CDFI certified is to hand out free money to the Hispanic community during next year's presidential campaign. Old-fashioned vote buying is what it is.

bigcat wrote on April 24, 2007 9:34 PM:

Mrs. Panstreppon,

You provide a valuable service to your country. I'm constantly amazed by what you are able to dig up. I wish I had the time to participate more here. But, rest assured, you have one huge fan for all the work you do.

CW: Screw. As in, screw these lying, cheating bastards.

kevin wrote on April 24, 2007 9:44 PM:

13 kids!

me wrote on April 24, 2007 10:39 PM:

Will the last honest republican please turn off the lights?

Security Code: QUEEN Song: Another one Bites The Dust.

Chuck wrote on April 24, 2007 10:48 PM:

Ya know, makes you wish we'd collected a security and cleaning deposit from folks like these when they took office so we could ask for its forfeiture when they leave the place a mess. It might also help them remember that they don't really own the place and they can be asked to vacate the premises.

eddie wrote on April 24, 2007 11:26 PM:

Tom Feeney should be next to drop his committee seat. Former Staff Aide, Mark Zachares has plead guilty to his role in the Abramoff scandal, one of the things he did was take Abramoff's golf trip to St. Andrews in 2003, along with Tom Feeney, Zachares pleaded guilty for lying on his disclosure form that the Golf trip cost $5,643, which Feeney has stated as well, and shows that Feeney was knowlinlgy lying about the costs and the trip itself. He may not in the same camp as Ney, but he is screwed...

Feeney also went on a trip that Doolittle went on that was sponsored by the Korean American Friendship Council or whatever that was tied to the Delay linked Alexander Strategy Group.

so in this Congress the checklist that who will likely get indicted should be...

Doolittle
Miller (r-ca)
Renzi
Feeney
Lewis
Jefferson

possibly ...
Calvert (r-ca)

PeeJ wrote on April 24, 2007 11:31 PM:

Just watched Jon Stewart with John McCain. Man! God bless Jon Stewart! What a patriot! What a "fake?" news show? I'm sorry, the Daily show is the only real news. Thank you Jon!

Peace!
PJ

Monkey++ wrote on April 24, 2007 11:41 PM:

Given DoJ's hiding of the contact between Renzi's office and the USA's office, and the USA's subsequent notification of Main Justice, it's time for Congress to send in the US Marshals and start locking down Main Justice offices and seizing papers and computers.

J Smith wrote on April 25, 2007 12:28 AM:

Thanks for all your great work on the Congressional/Abramoff Indictments Scandal.

I look foward to more coming out to reveal Doolittle's crimes. We know intuitively that they are all tied together - Bush, Cheney, Rove, Gonzales, Abramoff, Delay, Cunningham, Ney, Renzi, Doolittle et al!

Thank God for Kucinich.

Anonymous wrote on April 25, 2007 12:55 AM:

Dude looks like a used car salesman. Scumbag.

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on April 25, 2007 7:31 AM:

bigcat@April 24, 2007 09:34 PM

Thank you. That's the way I like to look at what I do, too.

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