Thursday, March 07, 2013

Tuesday Wasn't a Good Day For John Boehner

The National Journal wrote Disgraced Ex-Congressman Attacks John Boehner in New Book. "For a man who says he has found inner peace through meditation and study under the Dalai Lama, former Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio has an awful lot of anger. The once-powerful House chairman, who was forced out of office by scandal in 2006 and spent 11 months in federal prison, now has given powerful voice to that anger in a memoir coming out this week."

"Ney’s most dramatic accusations are against his fellow Ohioan John Boehner, the man he once saw as his biggest rival to someday being speaker. He describes Boehner as “a bit lazy” and “a man who was all about winning and money. He was a chain-smoking, relentless wine drinker who was more interested in the high life--golf, women, cigarettes, fun, and alcohol.” He said Boehner “spent almost all of his time on fundraising, not policy.” He “golfed, drank constantly, and took the easy way legislatively.” Ney recalled Boehner handing out checks on the House floor and said his ties with a tobacco company were so tight that lawmakers could get free cigarettes from Boehner’s office. His golfing, Ney said, was “nonstop” and “paid for by lobbyists.”

Ney wrote: “If the Justice Department were ever to make John produce receipts for his addiction to golf just for the years from 1995 to 2004, he would be hard-pressed to comply. John got away with more than any other Member on the Hill.”

The most inflammatory accusation against Boehner in the book is Ney’s contention that he ended his reelection campaign after winning the primary in 2006 only after Boehner, then the majority leader, summoned the cash-strapped and embattled congressman to his office and told him if he quit the race, Boehner would take care of him. “If you resign the next day, I will personally guarantee you a job comparable to what you are making, and raise legal defense money for you that should bury all this Justice Department problem for you,” Boehner said, according to Ney. He said he pressed Boehner, repeating the terms and getting assurance that the offer was “ironclad.” When Ney called back the next day to accept the deal, he wrote that he again repeated the terms to Boehner, who agreed. “Because of Boehner’s promise, I stepped aside,” he wrote. But Ney said Boehner did not keep his word. “I had been lied to and ditched,” Ney said."

There's also this story, John Boehner Connected Super PAC Accused of Taking $2.5 Million in Illegal Donations. Most articles I've seen just mention that Chevron made the donation as if that's the revelation but it's more confusing. The donation was publicly disclosed last October and remember that Citizens United lets corporations donate to campaigns. So what's the issue? The group Public Citizen is saying the donation was illegal because of a law that makes it illegal for government contractors to donate to elections and Chevron is a government contractor. So they're saying Chevron broke the law for making the donation, and the Congressional Leadership Fund broke it for accepting the donation.

"The Chevron donations mattered because they accounted for 22% of the entire total raised by the Congressional Leadership Fund in 2012. Of the $11.3 million the super PAC raised, $9.4 million was spent attacking 14 House Democratic candidates. It is not a stretch to say that Boehner might be leading a smaller House majority today if not for Chevron’s $2.5 million contribution during the last month of the 2012 campaign."

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