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Thread: Nepotism Reigns Supreme in Washington

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    Nepotism Reigns Supreme in Washington

    For House members, it's a 'Family Affair'
    Majority have used funds to benefit kin


    By Jerry Zremski

    NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF

    Updated: March 24, 2012, 12:23 PM

    WASHINGTON -- More than half of the nation's House members have used their office budget, campaign funds or official position to benefit their family members or themselves -- but Western New York's four federal lawmakers aren't among them.

    The names of Reps. Brian Higgins, Louise M. Slaughter, Kathleen C. Hochul and Tom Reed are conspicuously absent from a 347-page report released this week by Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington. The report finds that 248 of the nation's 435 House members have, to varying degrees, turned serving in Congress into a family business.

    Most commonly -- in 90 instances -- lawmakers used their congressional, campaign or political action committee funds to pay a family business, employer or affiliated nonprofit.

    Meanwhile, 82 lawmakers paid a relative a salary, while other House members have family members working as lobbyists or have otherwise found creative ways to aid their family members.

    To Melanie Sloan, executive director of the good-government group that did the "Family Affair" study, it's all rather disgusting.

    "This report shows lawmakers still haven't learned it is wrong to trade on their positions as elected leaders to benefit themselves and their families," Sloan said.

    It's no surprise, really, that Western New York's lawmakers are missing from the list of House members who use their office for private gain.

    A 26-year House veteran, Slaughter led the charge for new ethics rules when Democrats took control of Congress in 2007. And just this week, Slaughter, D-Fairport, won her six-year fight to ban insider trading among members of Congress.

    No serious ethics questions have ever arisen, either, about Higgins, a Buffalo Democrat first elected in 2004.

    Hochul, D-Amherst, and Reed, R-Corning, are much newer to Washington, having been elected in 2011 and 2010, respectively.

    And the only family tie that's ever been questioned about either of them involves the fact that Hochul gets more campaign money from lawyers than from any other special interest -- while she is married to William J. Hochul Jr., the U.S. attorney for Western New York.

    But that's a far cry from the kind of direct family profiteering outlined in the report, which tars big-name Democrats and Republicans alike.

    Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat who's the target of a House Ethics Committee probe, paid her daughter and grandson a combined $495,650. Her daughter, Karen Waters-Titus, runs a public relations firm that did work for Waters' re-election campaign; meanwhile, Waters' grandson, serves as her congressional chief of staff.

    On the Republican side, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas -- a frequent presidential candidate -- paid more than $300,000 in salaries or fees to his daughter, brother, grandson, daughter's mother-in-law, granddaughter and grandson-in-law.

    And that's just the tip of the sludge pile. Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J., used campaign funds to take his family to a wedding at a luxury resort in Scotland.

    Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., reimbursed himself out of his campaign fund to the tune of $150,000, including $30,000 for hotel stays at places as far-flung as Miami and Athens, Greece.

    The first-of-its kind comprehensive report is likely to do nothing to bolster the reputation of Congress, which suffers from public approval ratings far south of 20 percent.

    "Conduct like this reinforces the widely held view that members of Congress are more interested in enriching themselves than in public service," Sloan said.

    This conduct happens among lawmakers from other parts of New York State, too. Some 14 of the state's 29 House members are named in the report as among those that have used their position to benefit their families or themselves.

    Most of the findings regarding New York lawmakers are comparatively minor, but some stand out.

    Rep. Tim Bishop, D-Southampton, paid his daughter's consulting firm $250,000 for work in the 2008 and 2010 elections.

    And Rep. Pete King, the Seaford Republican who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has a daughter and a sister working as lobbyists. King also has a son who serves as a public affairs consultant for foreign entities such as the Taipai, Taipei Taiwan, economic and cultural office in the U.S. and Somalia's mission to the United Nations.

    The other New York lawmakers cited in the report are:

    Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-Queens.
    Rep. Anne Marie Buerkle, R-Onondaga Hill.
    Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, D-Brooklyn.
    Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-Queens.
    Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley.
    Rep. Steve Israel, D-Huntington.
    Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, D-Queens.
    Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-Manhattan.
    Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh.
    Rep. Charles Rangel, D-Manhattan.
    Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-Brooklyn.
    Rep. Nydia M. Velazquez, D-Brooklyn.

    The full report can be found at http://www.citizensforethics.org.

    jzremski@buffnews.com

    BuffaloNews.com
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nickdfresh View Post
    On the Republican side, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas -- a frequent presidential candidate -- paid more than $300,000 in salaries or fees to his daughter, brother, grandson, daughter's mother-in-law, granddaughter and grandson-in-law.
    Hmmm... I'm going to look for more information on this.
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    here's the text:

    RON PAUL (R-TX) is a twelve-term member of Congress, representing Texas’ 14th
    congressional district.

    He is the chairman of the Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology
    Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee, as well as a member of the House
    Foreign Affairs Committee.

    Rep. Paul’s campaign committee, Committee to Re-elect Ron Paul,

    paid salaries to his
    daughter, his grandson, his daughter’s mother-in-law, his granddaughter, his grandson-in-law,
    and another relative. In addition, his campaign committee reimbursed the congressman and
    several other relatives and paid his brother’s accounting firm. Finally, Rep. Paul’s leadership
    political action committee (PAC), Liberty PAC,

    reimbursed the congressman, paid his brother’s
    accounting firm, and paid his daughter a salary.
    Ron Paul (self):
    • During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee reimbursed Rep. Paul
    $4,466 for travel, gift and food expenses.

    • During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s leadership PAC reimbursed Rep. Paul $437
    for travel expenses.

    • During the 2010 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee reimbursed Rep. Paul
    $6,676 for flags, meals, and unspecified expenses.

    • During the 2010 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s leadership PAC reimbursed Rep. Paul $1,001
    for unspecified expenses.

    Carol Paul (wife):

    • During the 2010 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee reimbursed Ms. Paul
    $1,356 for unspecified expenses.

    Lori Pyeatt (daughter):

    • During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee paid Ms. Pyeatt
    $56,666 in salary.

    • During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee reimbursed Ms. Pyeatt
    $4,878 for gas, food and travel expenses.

    • During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s leadership PAC paid Ms. Pyeatt $2,542 in
    salary.

    • During the 2010 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee paid Ms. Pyeatt
    $42,590 in salary.

    • During the 2010 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee reimbursed Ms. Pyeatt
    $4,478 for telephone, mileage and framing expenses.

    • During the 2010 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s leadership PAC paid Ms. Pyeatt $24,334 in
    salary.

    • During the 2010 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s leadership PAC reimbursed Ms. Pyeatt $917
    for travel expenses.

    Wayne A. Paul (brother):

    • Mr. Paul is the owner of Paul, Phipps & Co. an accounting firm.

    During the 2008
    election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee paid the firm $48,065 for accounting
    services and $608 in payroll taxes and postage expenses.

    • During the 2010 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s leadership PAC paid Paul, Phipps & Co.
    $677 for accounting services.

    Rand Paul (son):

    • During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee reimbursed Mr. Paul
    $346 for unspecified expenses.

    Robert Paul (son):

    • During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee reimbursed Mr. Paul
    $375 for unspecified expenses.

    Matthew Pyeatt (grandson):

    • During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee paid Mr. Pyeatt $2,838
    in salary.

    • During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee reimbursed Mr. Pyeatt
    $408 for travel and mileage expenses.

    Nora LeBlanc (daughter’s mother-in-law):

    • During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee paid Ms. Leblanc
    $50,104 in salary.

    • During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee reimbursed Ms.
    Leblanc $1,868 for travel expenses.

    • During the 2010 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee paid Ms. LeBlanc
    $12,775 in salary.

    Laura Paul (granddaughter):

    • During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee paid Ms. Paul $5,751 in
    salary.

    • During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee reimbursed Ms. Paul
    $780 in mileage and travel expenses.

    Peggy Paul (daughter-in-law):

    • During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee reimbursed Ms. Paul
    $1,555 for travel expenses.


    Valori Benton (granddaughter):

    • During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee paid Ms. Benton
    $49,096 in salary.

    • During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee reimbursed Ms. Benton
    $6,960 for travel, mileage and phone expenses.

    • During the 2010 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee paid Ms. Benton
    $30,093 in salary.

    • During the 2010 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee reimbursed Ms. Benton
    $1,558 for office supplies and unspecified expenses.


    Jesse Benton (grandson-in-law):

    • During the 2010 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee paid Mr. Benton
    $27,810 in salary and political consulting fees.
    45
    • During the 2010 election cycle, Rep. Paul’s campaign committee reimbursed Mr. Benton
    $21,942 for travel and mileage expenses

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    This report is a little frustratingly vague with information... if someone is being accused of nepotism/wrong-doing I'd want to know exactly how funds were misused.

    For example: RP paid his brother's accounting firm for "accounting services" - Okay ... if his brother weren't an accountant I'd say that it was wrong (and dumb). I'm hiring my own brother-in-law to do my taxes this year and he's an accountant too. It's hard to say there's anything "wrong" there, unless he overpaid ... but there's not enough information here to indicate he was overpaid?

    There's a lot of reimbursements that on the face don't seem egregious, but again, no details...

    There's a lot of salaries being paid by his re-election campaign. I'm not sure if this is out of the norm or not? I would kind of expect a campaign to compensate fairly for time spent out on the campaign trail (especially for presidential campaigns) for anyone - staff and family alike. I wouldn't expect these people to quit their jobs and work full/part time for a campaign without any compensation.

    It would be a big problem for me if they were over-compensated, but again ... no details. I don't even know how long they worked based on this report. RP paid his grandson less than $2500 of salary. Was that for 1 day? 1 week? 1 month? I have no idea and the citations don't give that info.


    I'll be the first one to be disappointed by my preferred candidate if he has abused his ethical obligations, especially given how he campaigns as someone that is genuine and ethical in comparison to the rest.

    But before I can get disappointed I need enough context to make a judgement on if he actually did something wrong. All I can tell from this is that his family is involved in his election campaigns (which is to be expected), they got reimbursed for a lot of seemingly understandable expenses, and some of them were paid salaries for undisclosed positions in the campaign, for undisclosed amounts of time, with undisclosed duties and with undisclosed qualifications.

    So ... I'm not sure there's really a story here...

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    I'm not buying into this either.......if you hire a family member who's qualified to do the job, where's the crime?

    I've used family for various jobs in my life and will again.....who wouldn't want to give family a shot at making some money first.

    Tons of candidates have used family to run their campaigns or have hired family members after being elected.......unless it's flat out embezzlement or fraud, again, where's the crime?
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    Family can either be your best friend or your worst enemy. Maybe you might want to hire family and maybe they would be the last people on earth you would want to hire.

    I mean if people want to complain about hiring family then point the finger at JFK. He made his brother attorney general. Nobody beats the Kennedy's for nepotism and for the most part people didn't seem to care. That nepotism seemed to do a good job of avoiding World War III during the cuban missle crises. Maybe we are still here due to a bit of nepotism.
    Last edited by Nitro Express; 03-24-2012 at 05:40 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nitro Express View Post
    Nobody beats the Kennedy's for nepotism and for the most part people didn't seem to care.
    How was it nepotism, by definition ??
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    Being president and putting your brother in a key position in the government. At least Bobby was competent. At least Carter didn't make his brother Billy secretary of interior. LOL!

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    If the person is competent, it's not nepotism...

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    Quote Originally Posted by ELVIS View Post
    If the person is competent, it's not nepotism...
    No, by definition, it IS nepotism, as the President did hire his brother as Attorney General. Bobby just happened to be good at the job.

    Frankly though, I'm more concerned with the psuedo-nepotism of the BCE administrations. They may not be actually blood relatives of Poppy, Chimpy, or Jeb, but having this parade of fascist goons (Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz/Kissinger/Powell/Armitige/etc/) back in power every time one of them manages to swindle their way back into the White House has proven to have far worse consequences over the last 50 years.
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    Nepotism is favoritism towards family members regardless of merit... if they you hire an attorney that's a family member to give you legal advice, or if you hire an accountant that's your family member to do your taxes, that's not nepotism.

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    Fuck off FORD!

    Nobody in the real world believes the liberal bullshit...

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Love View Post
    Nepotism is favoritism towards family members regardless of merit... if they you hire an attorney that's a family member to give you legal advice, or if you hire an accountant that's your family member to do your taxes, that's not nepotism.
    Dude,

    How 'bout you stop trying to take the high road with these motherfuckers and post how you really feel ??

    The truth will set you free! No matter how these stupid fucktards react to it...




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    Quote Originally Posted by ELVIS View Post
    Fuck off FORD!

    Nobody in the real world believes the liberal bullshit...
    I believe it, Gregory. For verily I say unto you, that I am the original Liberal.
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    Quote Originally Posted by kwame k View Post
    I'm not buying into this either.......if you hire a family member who's qualified to do the job, where's the crime?

    I've used family for various jobs in my life....
    You don't work for the gov't funded on the taxpayer dole! Secondly, most municipal institutions have restrictions against nepotism...

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    Quote Originally Posted by ELVIS View Post
    Fuck off FORD!

    Nobody in the real world believes the liberal bullshit...
    You're such a complete idiot...

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    My grandpa owned a Chevrolet dealership & I worked there. My mom owned a Hallmark store & I worked there. if my Dad was a senator I would hope I could work for him....

    if I was qualified for the job

    if I was paid a commensurate salary with others in the same position


    I don't see a real problem with that. But a lot of the shit these politicians do is way beyond just getting their son or daughter a decent job because they are qualified to do it. They abuse their positions. but since when is that something new?
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    Quote Originally Posted by sadaist View Post
    My grandpa owned a Chevrolet dealership & I worked there. My mom owned a Hallmark store & I worked there. if my Dad was a senator I would hope I could work for him....

    if I was qualified for the job

    if I was paid a commensurate salary with others in the same position


    I don't see a real problem with that. But a lot of the shit these politicians do is way beyond just getting their son or daughter a decent job because they are qualified to do it. They abuse their positions. but since when is that something new?
    Was your dealership funded by taxpayer dollar$?

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    Quote Originally Posted by sadaist View Post
    if my Dad was a senator I would hope I could work for him....
    you couldn't. they actually have rules against employing family members in official offices. that's why so many work for the campaigns. and, i agree with you about the, "it's not inherently a big deal."

    first of all, there's not enough context. did ron paul pay 6 family members a total of $300,000 over a 10 year period, or over 2 months? huge difference. did he pay his brother a large sum of $100,000 for a 4 months of advice, although similar advisers charge $400,000? i need the context.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nickdfresh View Post
    You don't work for the gov't funded on the taxpayer dole! Secondly, most municipal institutions have restrictions against nepotism...
    Of course there's restrictions but if they work for the campaign of the family member there are no restrictions......not government funded.

    Like everyone is saying.....what's the context of the money for services.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nickdfresh View Post
    Was your dealership funded by taxpayer dollar$?

    LOL...it would have been had he owned it recently. Kinda anyways.. But no, he sold it in 1989 sadly. I miss that place. In the back lot there were 2 electric golf carts. 1 for shuttling customers and 1 for the mechanics to get to the parts dept & stuff. Anyways, the back lot was closed & abandoned on Sundays. the dealership was right next to the mall. Me & friends would ride bikes to the mall & always stop at the dealership, go in back & race the golf carts.

    Until the gas pedal stuck one time & I crashed into a camaro that was in a bay for repairs. Grandpa tanned my fucking hide.



    Totally worth it though.

  26. #23
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    This is an article on the study, the best thing to do is to get the actual study from this "watchdog" group for context...

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    I did... that's where I pulled the data for Ron Paul on. The study has citations, for some claims, not for others, but the citations themselves are fairly vague on the details we would want. As far as the study goes, all they can say is "Congressmen hire family members to work on their campaigns" (and from what I can tell can't even say whether it's inappropriate or not)

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    The NY Times’ bizarre framing of Ron Paul as the poster boy of Congressional nepotism
    By PATRICK MCEWEN | Published: MARCH 24, 2012

    In the NY Times editorial board’s editorial on a Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics report on members of the House of Representatives paying their families starts off with a number of, frankly, bizarre comments and insinuations about Ron Paul and the family members that have received some form of compensation from any of his political activities.

    First off, for a document that contains a wide variety of allegations of nepotism:

    Eighty-two lawmakers paid family members through their office payrolls, campaign committees and political-action funds, according to the 346-page report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, an independent watchdog group in Washington. Forty-four had relatives who lobbied or worked in government affairs. Twenty members dipped into their campaign coffers to help a relative who ran for office, and 14 made sure they charged interest when they were reimbursed for personal loans that they advanced to their own campaign committees.

    The decision to make the Paul the only member of the House mentioned by name is curious considering that he was only included in the list for hiring family members to work for his campaign and political-action fund.

    The obvious rationale is that he paid the most family members to work for his campaign with 6 on various payrolls. However, the total of $300,000 that he paid those 6 family members was only the forth most. When compared to some of the members of the House who paid their wives or girlfriends over half a million dollars to work for their campaigns, Ron Paul’s campaigns hardly seem like the stunning examples of ethics violations and personal enrichment.

    In fact, on the list of members of the House who paid the most to family members, Ron Paul’s expenses are the only ones that look reasonable:

    Top five representatives paying the most money in salaries or fees to family members:
    • Rep. Alcee Hastings, (D-FL) paid his girlfriend $622,574.
    • Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) paid his wife $512,293.
    • Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) paid her daughter and grandson a combined $495,650.
    • Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) paid six different relatives a combined $304,599.
    • Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) paid his wife $238,438.

    More importantly, the NY Times editorial board did’t mention a couple of very important qualifiers on the $300,000 number they cited. First that Ron Paul was the only current member of the House to run for President in 2008 and raised close to $30 million dollars in that effort. By comparison, in the most expensive House race of 2010, Michele Bachmann only spent $8.7 million.

    He also has a large number of family members who could possibly work for the campaign among his siblings, 5 children and 18 grandchildren plus their spouses and immediate family members. Considering that they included his daughter’s mother-in-law, the total number of eligible family members that they would have included probably numbers well over 100 by the time you include the immediate family members of any of Ron Paul’s descendant’s spouses.

    They also failed to include the very important qualification that all of them were paid quite reasonable salaries with none making more than $60,000 dollars from any single campaign. For a full time job

    In context, the fact that Ron Paul paid 6 family members about $300,000 out of the tens of millions spent by his campaigns seems very reasonable. If those decisions were about funneling money to his family, spending 1% of campaign expenses doing so would be a pretty terrible job.

    The opening sentence of the editorial frames the revelation about Ron Paul’s campaign very curiously as well:

    Representative Ron Paul’s signature libertarianism takes on a whole new meaning with the disclosure that he has paid more than $300,000 in salaries and fees…

    I’m not sure if I just don’t understand what they are trying to imply about libertarianism or if they just don’t understand libertarianism, but either way the way they turn it into an issue of libertarianism strikes me as rather bizarre.

    Perhaps they are implying that Ron Paul is using government for personal financial gain, but I don’t think any of the evidence indicates he was doing that. For how many campaign appearance on his behalf his wife makes, they could easily justify paying her a salary, but she didn’t receive one. More importantly, opposing government for personal gain at the expense of others is in many ways the essence of modern libertarianism in America. Perhaps they were trying to imply he is a hypocrite?

    In fact, I would argue that because all of the money that his campaign paid to his family members proves why libertarianism is such a great political philosophy. By some standards, people might consider such an action unethical. However, because all of the contributions that ultimately funded those salaries were completely voluntary. If someone is paying family members through tax dollars, it’s an important issue to discuss because that money is being taken from all of us. In this case, all money that exchanges hands is done so voluntarily.

    If I choose to give Ron Paul money that he then turns around and gives to his daughter, I’m not really sure why the NY Times editorial board cares. In a system of voluntary transactions, there is no need to enforce some kind of universal ethical standard. I can choose to participate in transactions with people who live up to my ethical expectations and if the Times editorial board disagrees, they can choose to give money to those people. When it comes to taxpayer financed expenditures, no such system is possible.
    http://www.capitalfreepress.com/5024...congressional/

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