Saturday, April 29, 2006
Dirty Money?
He's also doing a "heckuva" job. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour gets some face time with President Bush. Were they discussing impending scandal investigations? (White House photo)
I used to think the Republicans could be tied to a scandal du jour. Now it seems they can be tied to a scandal du hour.
Having recently survived a storm of nature, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour finds himself on the verge of a storm of controversy. The former RNC Chairman gave the start-up money to a telemarketing firm that is the center of at least two criminal investigations into dirty tricks during the 2002 elections.
As ABC News reports, the firm received over $250,000 thanks to Barbour and the money made him part owner of the company. The dirty tricks involved phone jamming that sidelined the Democratic Party's GOTV efforts. In other words, phone lines that elderly and disabled people would call to arrange rides to the polls were clogged with fake, GOP-generated telephone calls. ABC's Biloxi, Mississippi, affiliate, WLOX-TV has this report.
DNC Chairman Howard Dean, to no one's surprise, is not silent on this matter. He continues to urge current RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman to divulge his role in the illegal phone jamming. Phone records show that calls made by the companies in question were made to Mehlman's former White House office on Election Day.
Knowing Barbour, he'll probably brush this off as the investigation continues. He is, after all, the candidate who wouldn't have his picture removed from the Council of Conservative Citizens website. Lest their name fool you, the CCC proudly proclaim their opposition to "all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called "affirmative action" and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races." In other words, they're racists. They're racists that Barbour doesn't mind being associated with. Why would he let a little election fraud bring him down?
