Tom Reynolds Won’t Seek Re-Election
The Albany Project reports that the guy who gave Christopher Ward carte blanche to (allegedly) steal from the NRCC, Tom Reynolds, has announced he will not run for re-election. I’m just guessing, mind you, but I predict this means that the investigation into the NRCC finance scandal is finding what is already readily apparent–that while Tom Reynolds was Chair, the NRCC organized itself in such a way to make it very easy for the Treasurer for all these committtees to either launder or steal money.
If I’m right, it also suggests just how incendiary the NRCC might become. After all, Reynolds was intimately involved in attempts to cover up Mark Foley’s pursuit of former male pages.
News reports indicate that a former Foley chief of staff, by all indications Fordham, tried to broker a deal with ABC News’ Brian Ross. According to Howard Kurtz’s column in the The Washington Post yesterday, Ross had asked to interview the Florida Republican after obtaining dozens of instant messages that Foley sent to teenage House pages. Foley’s former chief of staff told Ross on Friday that the congressman was quitting and that Ross could have that information exclusively if he agreed not to publish the raw, sexually explicit messages. [Washington Post, 10/2/06]
Some Questions About Reynolds’s Involvement:
1. Why did Congressman Reynolds authorize his own chief of staff to negotiate on behalf of disgraced Congressman Mark Foley? Did Reynolds know about the lewd IM conversations when he let Fordham advise Foley, and if so, when was he informed? Did Fordham share the IMs with Reynolds?
2. Instead of dispatching his chief-of-staff to keep ABC News from breaking the story, why didn’t Reynolds put the children first and go to authorities? Was Reynolds more worried about a political scandal than the safety of the children serving as Congressional pages?
3. What other assistance did Reynolds provide to help Foley avoid the scandal and the disgrace and possible criminal prosecution that would result?
4. Why is the NRCC refusing to return $100,000 from Foley, given that Reynolds knew of this disturbing behavior when the money was given in July of this year?
That was a scandal that contributed greatly to the GOP defeat. Yet Reynolds showed no remorse for his role in that scandal and stayed in the race.
Which raises the question–what about the NRCC scandal makes it worse then covering up the solicitation of minors?
There is a very good chance that, between Jon Powers, Eric Massa, Dan Maffei,
and of course Louise Slaughter, western New York will go entirely Democratic
in the fall.
Not bad for a bunch of FDHs.
And a very big thumbs up from this Southern Tier voter for THAT.
Hi Allan. The ALbany Project is doing a great job. Keep it up
I think these bozos thought they could get away with this crap because they were use to getting away with it, and also getting their way due to their lofty status.
How about this? The money was never really embezzled, but merely diverted into a “black” account, where it could be used without the prying eyes of the FEC or the press? Are the Republicans smart enough to pull that off?
The Shadow knows!
good question EW .. what could they have been doing with the money that was worse than child endangerment .. ??
ummm ..buying cocaine cheap in columbia and then reselling it on the streets and using the profit for dirty campaigning ??
no i’m not serious there .. i’m just trying to establish some frsame of reference ..
how ’bout outright raw theft of funds and conversion to personal usage .. what’s worse than child molesting and endangerment …
sticky wicket there …
Well, one simple thing they could have done is turn corporate donations into hard money for campaigns.
Another thing they could have done is set up a vehicle for cooperation between the Swift Boats–and their almost unlimited cash–and the NRCC.
Another thing they could have done is pay for things like dubious push polls and other dirty tricks outo f some black account.
There’s a lot they could have done.a
Ahem. And probably DID do.
I’m thinking EW has hit it right on. With the embezzeling, the feds are going to be looking into where all the money went. They will likely find some has been misused.
Will this give the feds the power to investigate money links between the swiftboaters and the RNCC? That could be VERY interesting.
Boxturtle (The search for a scapegoat will now begin)
I hope John Kerry gets involved…
sort of, but not really OT… i don’t know who i’m more sick of, all these corrupt political scumbags or all the corrupt corporate asshats (i know they are
pretty muchjoined at the hip) that seem to have made careers out of figuring creative new ways to keep $5 and $10-ing me and everybody else in the country/world to death. wtf is wrong with these people, did their mommies and daddies not spend enough time with them while they were growing up? will any of them ever learn the concept of ENOUGH? i guess i just wish karma worked a lot faster than it seems to…end of rant.on a more positive note, i’m am truly grateful for the explanations, insight, and just plain general wisdom/education to be found here among EW’s posts and the commentary in general. i’ve become a big fan of bmaz, lhp and the other legal types that are so great at turning things into plain english and simple coherent thoughts. i could not even pretend to be able to follow most of this stuff without you guys. thank you guys, all of you, seriously.
What if the two scandals — missing NRCC money and the Foley-pages — are really the same scandal?
What if some — not all — of the money went to purchasing silence on the part of pages or those in the know about pages?
Wow? You think they took a page out of the priest pedophile scandals? Just wow!
“Off the record, on the QT and very, hush, hush.”
LHP — I really think the money went walkabout to campaigns, but the timing of certain activities certainly seems suspect.
Why would Reynolds throw in the towel now, why not earlier? why not later? certainly smells.
Why did certain sources behind the Foley page scandal just “disappear” — turning up in new jobs so quickly and out of sight? Seems all so easy.
Why didn’t the press pay closer attention? Well, this might be pure incompetence, but still begs the question whether they had help looking the other way.
Including: What the hell ever happened to Denny Hastert post-page scandal? I’m with you, something smells funny here.
As EW implies, the “lost” money at the NRCC may lead somewhere more foul than sexual abuse of minors.
This is a presidential election year, not Congress-only, but it doesn’t explain walking away from a Congressional seat. Neither does the sex; it’s virtually a pre-requisite to be governor and sex w/ minors has almost been relegated to talk show fodder.
Embezzlement is weak tea. If that were all it was, they would call the cops, arrest the bugger and try to get some of it back. Having even an honest FBI troll through campaign records might reveal names and amounts, and shoddy bookkeeping, which could result in revelations of minor campaign violations. But Karl, who counts voters one at a time, doesn’t seem likely to agree that that’s harmful enough to give up a Congressional seat.
My question is is there dirty laundry in where the money came from as well as where it went? Who had their hands on it and what did they do with it?
This story is a real page turner….