|
IS “WIRE-GATE” AN EFFORT TO CRIMINALIZE POLITICAL ACTION?
So the alleged extortion claim by Assemblyman Chris “Let’s Make a Deal” Edwards took
a new and, literally, far-reaching turn on Thursday, as Metro detectives,
accompanied by Virginia state troopers, reportedly raided the home/office of
GOP activist Tony Dane in Front
Royal, Virginia.
Dane is the financier of a PAC that has produced mailers and
robo-calls into Mr. Edwards’ district over recent weeks.
Understandably, Metro did not disclose what it was looking
for or if they found it, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that Edwards
may very well have been wearing a wire for several weeks back in December and
January – including during conversations with legislative colleagues.
Awkward.
Until Metro concludes its investigation, only the parties
who may have been recorded really know exactly what was said and if any laws
were broken. But here’s what’s starting
to worry me about this mess…
The key date is January 2, 2015.
Prior to January 2nd, the focus of deal-making
with Edwards reportedly had to do with paying off his campaign debt. Edwards was clearly and openly frantic about
it.
Now, whether Edwards was soliciting donations in exchange
for his caucus leadership vote or whether anyone attempted to bribe him with
donations for his leadership vote will remain unknown until Metro finishes its
investigation and we see if anyone was, in fact, recorded and exactly who said
what.
After January 2nd, however, Edwards was prohibited
by law from accepting any further donations.
And it appears that from that point forward, Edwards’ panic
shifted to stopping the recall effort that had begun to take shape within his
district – especially since it appears his debt problem was resolved thanks to
donations such as Gov. Brian Sandoval’s
$5,000 Christmas gift!
So Mr. Let’s Make a Deal began asking people what it would
take to make the recall disappear.
Indeed, such deal-making conversations continued with recall organizers
in Mesquite as recently as this week.
Now it’s one thing, if true, for someone to offer an elected
official money, in the form of a campaign contribution or otherwise, to change
his vote in a leadership election.
But it’s another thing altogether for citizen activists to
apply political pressure – in this case with a possible recall campaign – to get
a politician to vote a certain way on a certain issue.
In this case, we’re talking about the governor’s proposed
$1.3 billion tax hike. The citizens
organizing the possible recall committee want Edwards to vote against it. Edwards, however, refuses to take a firm
stand and wants to hide his position on it until sometime down the road.
Since the money aspect was removed from this matter on
January 2nd, and the offer of money in exchange for a vote would be
bribery, not extortion, I’m worried that what Edwards is attempting to do with
his alleged extortion accusation is to criminalize hard-ball politics.
Special interests groups, especially organized labor groups
such as the teacher’s union and the AFL-CIO, issue political threats all the
time.
And indeed, Assembly GOP caucus leaders have been
threatening their conservative colleagues with the possible loss of committee assignments
and death of their bills if they don’t get in line and stop rocking the boat.
If that’s now considered “extortion,” we’re gonna need to
build a lot more jails and hire a lot more Metro detectives!
P.S. Happy Birthday,
Ronald Reagan!
You can read this column online, as well as access archives
of past Muth's Truths columns by clicking here... www.MuthsTruths.com
Did someone forward you this copy of Muth's Truths?
Get your own FREE subscription...  |
No comments:
Post a Comment