MADISON – Republicans in Washington are planning to bring their culture of corruption to Wisconsin next week when the scandal-plagued Ohio Congressman Bob Ney holds a campaign rally in Milwaukee for Wisconsin Congressman Mark Green.
An article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today reports that Green has asked Ney to bring his U.S. House Administration Committee to Milwaukee to study alleged voter fraud. The hearing’s line-up is full of Republicans and no Democrats, and smacks of partisan politics. Ney’s committee scheduled the hearing at a time when they knew the committee’s three Democrats would be unable to attend. And only after Democrats raised questions about the partisan line-up did the committee invite Democrat Congresswoman Gwen Moore to participate.
Although the hearing focuses on the election process in Milwaukee, no one from Milwaukee was invited to testify. And while the GOP-proposed voter ID “remedy” would disenfranchise seniors and the disabled, no representatives from those groups or independent groups like the League of Women Voters were invited either.
“Monday’s event is nothing more than a sham hearing that is really a campaign road show for Mark Green,” said Joe Wineke, Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. “It’s bad enough that Republicans are bringing Washington corruption to Wisconsin to try to teach us about clean elections. What’s even worse is that Bob Ney – one of Jack Abramoff’s lieutenants who is under federal investigation – is leading the show.”
It’s no surprise that Green has requested that Ney bring his congressional committee to Wisconsin to help out his campaign for Governor, Wineke said. Green has a close relationship with Ney’s political patron – the indicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay – and has taken more than $30,000 in tainted money from DeLay to use in his bid for governor. Although he could get rid of the DeLay money today if he wanted to, Green has refused to do so, coming up with excuse after excuse. Ney has also taken almost $25,000 from DeLay, and both Ney and Green vote with DeLay more than 90 percent of the time.
Green’s campaign manager Mark Graul also has close ties to the indicted Washington lobbyist Abramoff. As Green’s Washington chief of staff, Graul repeatedly took skybox ticket freebies from Abramoff’s firm, and when asked about it, tried to cover it up.
Ney is not only a close associate of DeLay, but also of Abramoff. Ney accepted many favors from Abramoff, including campaign contributions, dinners at the lobbyist’s D.C. restaurant, skybox fundraisers, and a golfing junket to Scotland in 2002, according to the Washington Post. Ney is under investigation by Florida federal prosecutors who are looking into Abramoff’s acquisition of a Florida casino boat company. Abramoff is facing fraud charges in that case. [Washington Post, 10/18/2005].
“You can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep,” Wineke said. “By keeping company with the likes of Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, and Bob Ney in Washington, Mark Green has shown the people of Wisconsin his true colors.”
http://wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=46789
Great Press Release, Joe!
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