Jeff Iannuzzi: Scandals, Scandals, Scandals

The corruption in Washington D.C. never ceases to amaze me. However, like most stories that could hurt the image of liberals, the mainstream media refuses to cover it. What happened to the days where political scandals were actually investigated?

The first scandal has been occurring since April 2001, the first time out of seventeen times the Bush Administration called for reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These two government-sponsored enterprises were seen by many as potential problems for the economy. However, when the Bush Administration proposed to further regulate Fannie and Freddie, liberals, led by Congressman Barney Frank (D – MA), who constantly repeated, “The two government sponsored enterprises we are talking about here, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not in a crisis.”

Now why would liberals, who absolutely love more government control, oppose more government regulation? Look no further than the contributions Fannie and Freddie gave to Democrats. As shown, the top five money receivers are all Democrats. More government control of these enterprises would lose them money from contributions, so instead of doing the right thing, liberals decided to do nothing, wait for the collapse, then give $200B in taxpayer money to bail Fannie and Freddie out. If refusing to help out America in order to get more political contributions isn’t a scandal, then I do not know what is.

In addition to that, Democrats have been busy with the Auto Workers Union. Since 2000, the AWU has given $24M to the Democratic Party compared to less than $200,000 to Republicans. So when General Motors recently declared bankruptcy, it should be no surprise that the AWU received more than the bondholders.

From the bankruptcy, the bondholders of GM received a 10% stake in the new company. In contract, the Auto Workers Union, which holds less debt than the stockholders do, received 17.5% of the new company (along with 55% of Chrysler), in addition to $9B of cash. However, let’s look at the fact that the AWU actually had to give up their paid holiday on Easter Monday. On the other hand, the workers can still miss up to six days without an excuse before they can be considered to be fired.

Economists have said, “Never has an American union done so well at the expense of shareholders and creditors.” As former Speaker Newt Gingrich says, there was a time when we would have called this a scandal.

Jeff Iannuzzi: Pelosi Update

In May, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the CIA of lying to Congress about the use of enhanced interrogation techniques. However, since then, she still has not given any evidence to support this claim. In fact, in that time span, she hasn't even talked about the issue, dismissing any questions pertaining to her claim at her weekly press conferences.

House Minority Leader John Boehner is trying to keep the pressure on Pelosi to answer the questions that come with her assertion:

"She's made this outrageous claim and believes that it's just all going to go away. Well, trust me: It's not going to go away. And I think the silence from Speaker Pelosi is deafening."

At her press conference, Pelosi stated, "I've said what I'm going to say on that subject".

Wait a second: she says the CIA lied to Congress, a federal offense, gives no evidence to support this allegation, and opposes an investigation to determine if what she said is true, but has no more to say? Personally, I would like to hear some evidence, if there is any, or an apology for undermining the CIA. But it’s not like either of those are going to actually happen.

Meanwhile, Pelosi has put fiscal responsibility through cutting waste as a top priority. She states, "Fiscal discipline is one of the key components of how we go forward". Really? For someone that voted for the $3.6 trillion budget, with a record-shattering $1.8 trillion deficit, this is ironic.

Also, let's not forget, in the "Stimulus" bill, Pelosi received $30 million for wetlands restoration in the San Francisco Bay Area to protect the salt marsh harvest mouse. Great example of fiscal discipline, Nancy!

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernake warns that our federal deficit poses a risk to our nation’s fiscal stability. He states that unless we “demonstrate a strong commitment to fiscal sustainability in the longer term, we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth.” And does quadrupling the budget deficit sound sustainable?