Each committee chair exchange is cause for celebration in these quarters; the combined effect is more glee than I can handle in a single post.
Henry Waxman, from California's 30th Congressional District has supplanted Virginia's Tom Davis as chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Even as the ranking member he was a thorn in the side of military contractors taking advantage of government largesse, from exposing or documenting the no-bid contracts for Halliburton to the excessive charges by Parsons for shoddy and delayed work. Now he's got sub-poena power.And there are lots of details:
(May 2005-present)
(Feb 2004-May 2005)
(Apr 2003-Feb 2004)
(Mar & Apr 2003)
3 comments:
You are not kidding about what a crook Tom Davis is. He bankrupted the country letting contractors steal from soldiers in Iraq, hurricane victims in the Gulf and citizens in terrorism target areas, with the waste and corruption he encouraged. If they donated to him or his wife, they got a free pass. In fact, his (second) wife has raised over $500,000 just this cycle from him and his donors for her own little race in Northern Virginia. As a couple they raise over $4 million to run ads that lie about their opponents every cycle, and have leftovers to help the neo-cons continue in their own offices. The whole country needs to get behind their opponents and get them out of office. PLEASE donate to the honest one running against her this year, Chap Petersen.
Hey B.P.,
Thanks for dropping by. In fact I was fairly ignorant about Tom Davis except to know that he had been chair of this Committee, and hence had to have acquiesced to his party's refusal to look at the legitimate dirt that Waxman has so relentlessly uncovered. It makes the change especially sweet to learn that the deposed chair was not only an enabler but also up to his eyeballs in debt to the very crooks whose theft from the U.S. Treasury Waxman has been exposing. Good job over at beltway progressive keeping tabs on him. Too bad he wasn't deposed entirely by the voters, and still sits as the ranking minority member. Let's hope he is substantially defanged and further exposed. What's the makeup of his district?
Thanks for coming by! The District, in Northern VA, is going bluer. In fact, Davis only kept his job because his 2-year $3.5 million in donations, which he usually spreads around to corrupt incumbents in exchange for other favors, stayed home this cycle. He spent it against a really exciting challenger in Andy Hurst. With no money from PACS or the National Dems Hurst raised $300,000 and drove Davis crazy in debates. Davis knows he is in real trouble next cycle in VA's 11th and is hoping John Warner will retire because he'll have better luck in a statewide Senate race. But by 2008, Abramoff's cooperation will have produced his list of co-conspirators. Davis is expected to be on it.
Post a Comment