RenziGate Roundup 3/18

Dick’s crimes not only damaged his clients, his constituents, and the public’s confidence in the political process (such as it is) but the public interest and the private interests served and impacted by the bill which he is accused of subverting for his own pecuniary gain. The Arizona Republic takes a closer look at those interests that Dick brought to a screeching halt with his crimes. Those same public interests seem destined to play a key role in Dick’s defense team’s efforts to justify Dick’s actions to the jury.

Slade Mead points out the "Heckva job, Renzi" moment of AZ GOP spokesman Sean McCaffery as the most sublimely absurd moment of the RenziGate scandal so far.

"When I read a quote like, “Let’s face it: the man’s been a great congressman [Rick “35 count indictment” Renzi].

He’s done a great job,” I have to wonder if Sean remembers how idiotic
our president sounded after saying about incompetent FEMA chief Michael
Brown while the latter was botching the federal response to Hurricane
Katrina: “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.

"No, Renzi is not doing a heck of a job nor even a “great job.”  In
fact, he isn’t even doing his job!  He has stepped down from all his
congressional committees and misses virtually every vote.  If that is
Sean’s idea of a great job, gosh I wonder what adjectives Sean would
use to describe a congressman who actually sat on committees and voted."

Dick had better hope that editorial letter writer Judith Warren of Safford somehow makes it onto his jury: she believes he’s innocent because he has a perfect voting record on the ‘unborn’. I wonder if Ms. Warren realizes that Dick swindled his clients, some of who were right to life organizations, of $400K. Ms. Warren wrote in the Eastern Arizona Courier:

"I believe Congressman Rick Renzi to be a man of honor. He is not the first, nor will he be the last, to be accused falsely. Mr. Renzi has a 100-percent voting record in protecting the unborn child’s right to life, those who are the most defenseless. He has been diligent
in protecting the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman and
in protecting our country.

Because of his beliefs and conservative work he is an enemy of the Liberal establishment."

By Ms. Warren’s logic, Senator Craig could not be a closet homosexual because he’s such a good family man and devout ‘family values’ voter. Governor Spitzer could not possibly be a whore-monger because he so diligently prosecuted prostitution rings. Well, even the ‘virtuous’ succumb to temptation, Ms. Warren. Sorry to burst your bubble.

Plenty have been falsely accused, it’s true, but seldom have such accusations made it through 26,000 man-hours of FBI investigation only to find there was no substance to the charges.