Politicians, Press Cheat Taxpayers

Washington Post columnist David Broder cited New Jersey's freshman Gov. Chris Christie as a role model for Pennsylvania's Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett, who similarly boasts of a platform to limit government and fight crime. But Broder got the Christie story completely backward in his Sept. 2 column. The influential pundit described Corbett, his state's attorney general and also a former U.S. attorney, this way:

His claim to fame is that his investigations of corrupt legislators have so far sent several of them to jail.  In this race, he has modeled himself on Chris Christie, the freshman governor of New Jersey, promising, as Christie did, to oppose new taxes and shrink state government.

Far from limiting government, Christie, right, wasted vast amounts of taxpayer funds to help himself and his cronies. Look no farther than his scheme as U.S. attorney to connive with Solomon Dwek, a big-time bank swindler and brothel operator, to crush political opponents with criminal charges timed to explode at the beginning of the 2009 Christie campaign.

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Fraud Experts Decry Federal Self-Dealing After Ponzi

$3.6 Billion Aftermath

Corporate turn-around expert William Procida and hedge fund founder Thane Ritchie were DC Update guests Sept. 2 on the My Technology Lawyer Radio network as they provided first-hand accounts of federal court irregularities in Minnesota that they claim victimize lenders and investors in one of the largest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history.

During the show, they told co-hosts from the Justice Integrity Project and network founder Scott Draughon about why they’re speaking out against federally orchestrated injustices hurting the fraud victims of Minnesota businessman Thomas J. Petters. The latter’s Ponzi

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Film Alleges Official ‘Fraud’ Against Victims of $3.65 Billion Ponzi Scam

Victims of a massive financial fraud unveiled a documentary Aug. 25 in Minneapolis that portrays federal authorities as helping bankruptcy lawyers and the government feast on dwindling victim assets without adequate protections for fairness.

The Second Fraud, spiked last December from planned showings on four Minnesota TV stations with purchased time, tackles an especially sensitive story in that state: What happened after local financier Thomas Petters caused the estimated $3.65

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Project Shares DOJ Misconduct Revelations & Reform Options With PDA Audience

Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) hosted me Aug. 11 on a nationwide conference call to hear about our recent Justice Integrity Project (JIP) revelations about federal law enforcers. Open to the public, the core of the discussion within PDA’s highly active Accountability and Justice Group involved such familiar names as former

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How Did the Media Report Taint

On DOJ’s ‘Political Purge’ & Torture Probers?

Several bloggers and editors promptly followed up on my report in Nieman Watchdog July 26 about the Justice Department’s apparent whitewash of its probe of U.S. attorney firings under George W. Bush. Harper's legal columnist Scott Horton wrote an online column suggesting the revelations further illustrated a whitewash.

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What's Next After Kagan's Confirmation?

Elena KaganThe Senate confirmed Elena Kagan's for the Supreme Court by a 63-37 margin Aug. 5, thus overcoming opposition by all but five Senate Republicans. The Justice Integrity Project announced opposition June 28. 

Our goals didn't rely on vote results. Instead, we wanted to shift debate away from the party-line hokum and horse-race punditry.

Here's our prediction: With the Kagan appointment, we're now seeing the yet another well-credentialed careerist elevated to a lifetime job. 

She'll likely help shift constitutional power further toward an increasingly unaccountable Executive Branch that's vastly different than the Framers envisioned even as amplified by post-Civil War amendments for a slave-free society. The Constitution-makers emphasized the duties of the Senate and House, and the vital congressional role in checks and balances. 

Kagan, 50, a close friend of President Obama and a former top aide to President Clinton, suggests through her writings and other actions that she's comfortable with these dangerous long-term trends.

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