The Saga of A Congressman’s Lie – Interlude (aka “Randy Evans Owes Tom Price A Big Wet Kiss”)
by Bill Simon
If it wasn’t for this ongoing (and, multi-dimensional in the degree of lying going on) story with 6th District Congressman Tom Price deliberately blowing-off and lying about what his campaign said to whom and when, I would be devoting scads of post space to rip Randy Evans’ latest devotional to his boss, Dennis Hastert, and Hastert’s feeble attempts to declare the legislative offices of House Members to be off-limits from FBI warrants.
I do not have enough time to, for instance, cover the absolute absurdity of Hastert’s Minister of Propaganda (i.e., Randy Evans) defense of the Hastert/Pelosi letter demanding immunity from (of all things) an FBI warrant to uncover how much more bribe money is stuffed inside someone’s desk drawer (OR, perhaps in the case of Hastert, how much animal porn is stored on his legislative office computers).
I will, however, just present two of the examples from Evans’ column that attempts to defend Denny and The Jets:
Why should anyone care about a Saturday night FBI search of a Congressional office on Capitol Hill of a Congressman that most people think is probably guilty of accepting bribes? Really, you shouldn’t care unless…
…you are a constituent who has written a letter criticizing the FBI or the Department of Justice. Notably, there is no discrimination between seized correspondence related to the criminal investigation and unrelated correspondence from average Americans complaining about something or someone. Instead, all of the correspondence in the Congressional Office is subject to seizure and review by the FBI and Department of Justice. While there is an expectation of confidentiality and privacy by those sending the letters, there is no such protection when a wholesale seizure is permitted.
…you are a whistle blower who is cooperating with the Congress in the investigation of corruption or abuse in the FBI or the Department of Justice. The very investigators or prosecutors who you have identified in connection with a Congressional investigation could be the investigator or prosecutor seizing and reviewing documents revealing your identity and charges. Without any kind of filtering or review by someone outside of the FBI or the Department of Justice, there is no protection for Americans aiding the Congress in the investigation of corruption and abuse in the Executive Branch.
This was my e-mailed response to Randy:
Scare tactics, Randy? Or, just protecting your boss from looking like the complete damn fool that he looks like?
Don’t give me this crap about people who write to their congressperson being “worried” that their letter isn’t “confidential.” I dub that paragraph of your’s BullCrap, Hokey Argument #1.
Your 2nd Paragraph is about a “whistle-blower’s cover being possibly blown” by an investigation into (possible) malfeasance by the Justice Department.
Puh-leeze. If that [information] is out in the open, in a Congress member’s desk or office, then THAT is a procedural problem that had better be corrected from within the House Rules on Top-Secret Data Management.
But, again, I don’t have the time to spend inviscerating any more of Randy’s Ridiculous Assertions and Propaganda Spreading on the Rights of Members of Congress To Be Exempt from Following The Laws That Voters Are Subject To.
I have Tom Price to fry.
Technorati Tags: Congressman Tom Price, Dennis Hastert, Hastert’s Minister of Propaganda
June 5th, 2006 at 7:04 am
In fairness to Randy Evans, he is Dennis Hastert’s lawyer. He has an obligation to advocate for his client, even if he were to disagree with his client’s message (though I don’t know whether that is the case).
June 5th, 2006 at 8:53 am
Is he Hastert’s lawyer, or the Speaker of The House’s lawyer?
As far as I know, Hastert, as Speaker, has not been subjected to an FBI warrant to search his offices. So, if Randy’s client has not been attacked in a “legal” sense, perhaps Randy would be wise to keep his trap shut and only act to advise his client, not act as his client’s personal advocate in a PR matter.