(U-WIRE) -Throughout the past several weeks, there seems to have been an epidemic of selective outrage about the alleged ethics violations of U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas.
With all the recent talk of full disclosure
I find it interesting that the most prominent and ethically bankrupt political couple of our time is absent from this spotlight.
Yes, I am speaking about the Clintons. And while I know this might catch some off guard, everyone should be talking about the Clintons right now.
They should be splashed on the front page of every national newspaper, and talking heads on every cable channel should be discussing what I am about to.
Just last Thursday, a fellow by the name of Raymond Reggie pleaded guilty to bank fraud and conspiracy in federal court.
Why is this important?
Not only is Reggie the brother-in-law of Sen. Ted Kennedy, he is a close personal friend to the Clintons. And when he was not busy staying at the White House in 2000 or having lunch with President Clinton last September, he organized several fund-raisers for the Clintons and is pleading guilty for actions he committed while raising money on behalf of the Clintons.
But hold on to those pants. It just gets better.
In a not-so-well-circulated story Friday, The New York Sun revealed, as part of a plea agreement, that Reggie has been working as an undercover informant for the FBI. And for the past three years, Reggie secretly has been taping conversations between himself and other prominent Democratic operatives, gathering information for numerous investigations into Democratic fund raising.
David Rosen, Hillary Clinton's chief political fund-raiser for her 2000 Senate campaign, was one of the individuals secretly taped by Reggie in 2002.
Rosen is set to begin trial Tuesday and is accused of various federal crimes, including falsifying documents to the Federal Election Commission and funneling foreign donations to Democratic political campaigns. All done while working for Clinton.
Reggie is set to testify against Rosen, and it was revealed by The Sun that the taped conversations between the two were focused on a Hollywood fund-raising gala for Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign. Both men were instrumental in organizing the event, and it seems, as with most events associated with the two, there was a bit too much money raised that evening.
So here you have two senior Democratic strategists, one working directly for Sen. Clinton, the other working numerous times on behalf of both Clintons, firmly in the grip of the justice department.
One already has pled guilty; the other most likely will be convicted.
Yet even though guilt by association is the rallying cry against DeLay (for his association with crooked Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff), there barely is a whisper of the connection between these two criminals and the Clintons.
And if we are supposed to examine the seriousness of the charge (as was advanced by Dan Rather in memo-gate), this is as serious as they come.
But if you apply these same rules to the Clintons, it seems, for once, both have been caught with their pants down.
Now, that's what I call full disclosure! 17
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