Congressional jerk of the day
California Democrat Rep. Bob Filner is the new Cynthia McKinney/Jim Moran/Patrick Kennedy/Sheila Jackson Lee:
U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, has entered a plea days before he was set for trial on assault and battery charges over allegations he pushed a United Airlines baggage employee at Dulles International Airport.
At a hearing in Loudoun County, Va., General District Court on Monday Filner entered a so-called Alford plea after prosecutors reduced the charges to trespassing, according to a statement issued through his attorney. That means he did not admit guilt, but acknowledged sufficient evidence exists for a conviction.
He was fined $100.
Filner was accused in the Aug. 19 incident of trying to shove past a female baggage worker into an employee-only area after his bags were delayed. He was set for trial Dec. 4.
The baggage worker, Joanne Kay Kunkel, alleged in a criminal complaint that Filner barged past other customers, screamed at employees and repeatedly pushed her. He yelled “You can’t stop me,” according to her complaint.
Filner apologized in a statement Monday but also denied any physical violence.
“At the time, it wouldn’t have occurred to me that entering an airport office under these circumstances would be considered trespassing. But I understand now that, since I was told to stay out, it can be considered trespass. That’s why I’m entering what I understand is called an Alford plea: I did, in fact, go back there,” Filner said.
“I want to make clear that I did not strike, push, or shove anyone,” he said. “It’s very important to me that the record be clear on this point. Nor did I seek any sort of special treatment because I was a congressman.”
We’ll see, jerk. The House Ethics Committee is apparently investigating.
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Like all Democrats I’m sure he will get a pass on his poor behavior and physical assault of a female airline employee from the House Ethics Committee. The arrogance of some of our Congress critters is interesting to watch. More than likely Filner is in a safe district for re-election, but I would love to see this become an issue hoisting him on his petard back into the private sector.
Don’t you know who he is?
Republicans commit felony offenses related to million dollar graft/corruption/bribery. Democrats yell and push around baggage handlers, an crime for which the punishment is parking ticket level.
There are bad Democrats: any year now Congressman Jefferson might be indicted. But crime by crime, the Republicans outnumber Democrats both in scale and in numbers.
I know him, he’s a nice guy. Even interned with him years ago. He was real respectful and kind to the interns and staff. But yeah, democrat, will for sure get a pass.
Like all these self-important slobs in our government, I find it hard to respect any of them. The few goods ones are tainted by association.
Examples please.
(cough, cough) I am so sorry, as I am reading your post…the name Mary Jo Kopechne keeps poppin’ in my lil’ noodle….
(cough, cough ,cough, ….)
Murtha will be a character witness for this arrogant jerk - what do you expect from a liberal?
Alford plea? Isn’t that a form of “I didn’t do it, Judge! And I’ll never do it again!” ?
DiFi and hubby’s company getting millions steered by her committee. Reid and his nice land deals, Clinton and god what a list that would be. Murtha, ABSCAM, Haditha. Hastings, impeached judge. Pelosi, violated Logan Act, Kennedy, P. drug addict. Want me to go on?
lgm,
Come on… the whole Kennedy clan, Jefferson, etcetera. The truth is that there are plenty of scum bags on both sides of the aisle.
Jim C
What the hell?
Just another Democrat diplaying what an a$$hole he is.
LGM, Take a closer look at Hillary she tips that scale your using heavily with corruption and deceit. You need to pull your head out of the tree trunk.
Its the “all about me” syndrome.
The only thing the House Ethics committee will “investigate” is the best water to have in the pitchers. That will require a subcommittee. Other than that, they will go through the motions, adjourn for lunch, and call it a day. A California democrat has a “pass”, these days.
Libtardocrats NEVER do anything wrong. If they seem to be involved in anything remotely considered as perhaps being bad, it is ALWAYS something or someone else.
Period.
Dot.
Com.
btw…Amy Proctor will be on our BTR this evening at 9PM EST.
http://blogtalkradio.com/anewtone
What the hell is an “Alford plea”?
Why have I never heard of this before. . .is it one of these things they make up for legislators?
I think that comment is a little irresponsible without some numbers. There are bad and really bad apples on both sides.
#3, Do you know who Peter Paul is? Enough said. Hillary will be in the big house and not the White House.
Once again, Democrats showing us little people how to feel ” empowered”…I look forward to the day when judges no longer feel compelled to accept this type of plea bargain from high and mighty politicians.
LGM, try telling your logic to the Lord, He calls sin a sin and no one is without sin and I pretty much believe that Demo sins are not even brought up in the MSM, whereas the GOP sins are front page.
John Ansell:
O! H!
When someone tells you you’re not allowed to enter, when wouldn’t it be considered trespassing?
Y-e-a-h…right!
Time for that ignorant boor to go home. Another shining example of why we need term limits for Congress.
Congressman (or do you prefer Your Highness?) Filner, resign today.
Wow somebody in congress who still flies commercial!
Put that sucker on the endangered species list.
I might be willing to risk a year in prison for every tooth one of these jerks had to pick up off the ground after he tired something like that and I was there to see it. Yeah, he’ll likely get treated with kid gloves because of his party affiliation, but I hope karma is on the side of justice before this guy’s time is up. It amazes me that people like this get into Congress in the first place— totally blows my mind that they keep getting re-elected. It would take a vote from Congress to get term limits in place for all, right? Like that’s ever going to happen.
Of course he didn’t push the airline employee. He’s a Congressman. She must have gotten in the way of his outstretched arms.
Sorry about the misspellings in the above comment. It’s been a long day (and this blog from MM is just the icing on the cake for today).
Term limits are the lazy way out from accountability to hold people responsible for their actions and vote them out of office.
All it would do is shift power to the pool of professional congressional staffers leading new kids by the nose because the lobbiests greased their palms or other types of favors to make them “guide” the newbies in a desired manner.
We have enough issues with embedded civil servants in the Teflon coated no way accountable mass of regulators and and government entities that create mostly dead weight and overhead that frankly produces nothing but a paycheck and retirement benefit for them just to rubber stamp the check boxes to get anything to move faster than a snail run over by an 18 wheeler at Mach 4.7.
Wonder what the security cams show…yeah, right, he didn’t push anybody. I guess there were no witnesses either.
BlameAmericaLast, I believe the security cam footage is in line right behind the Columbia U. security footage for analysis.
Hey, in this guy’s defense, maybe he was worried about a suitcase full of Chinese cash possibly being lost by the airline.
Filmer eh, this guy????
They paid for this by reducing benefits to American vets….
That special payment is medical retirement…..
Now my understanding is that the Filipino’s were promised these benefits by FDR and they were a U.S. territory during WWII which means they deserve them, but by cutting benefits to American vets??? Sounds like Filmer to me…a class a$$hat……
So we have a no name blob who by showing his a$$ has the chance to become a google search term.
Poor boy needs to head for the bunker sooner than later.
CommentGuy:
I agree that term limits only put a bandage on the accountability of our representatives, but short of an all out civil war based on ideology, I can’t think of anything else that would make these career pols feel like they owe their constituents anything. Of course, the problem may well be those constituents (or lack of real voting power by the states). As out of touch as many Senators and Representatives seem to be, I suspect the average voter is even more out of touch. And I realize you don’t always know who you are really sending to Washington until he or she has stopped panning for votes and feels “safe.”
So a combination tort reform and term limits or some kind of better oversight for these folks would be the right way to go? I honestly don’t know. Most of these politicians were raised by a generation of parents who believed in accountability and love of God and country. When and where were they corrupted into being sniveling, self-serving egoists? What the heck is happening to our citizens (or has it always been like this to some degree, and we just notice it more today because of the speed of information)? I sincerely hope that the next generation of leaders is watching what is happening in our government and shaking their heads… they may have some major clean-up work to do down the road.
(D) = PASS
Filner’s district is Chula Vista down to the border…with some pockets of Asian immigrants (including–shocker!–Filipinos) and white non-Hispanic folks, it’s basically Tijuana’s northern suburb. In other words, Filner’s there forever.
My father lamented to me the other day:
It used to be, when someone acted like a jerk, and pushed past people or was otherwise just a jackass, you could pop them one in the nose, and nobody would say anything.
I miss the good old days.
AlohaGuy wrote:
Actually, that’s something Hillary would worry about most, since her husband sold us out to the Chinese during his administration.
David
If he only has to convince the 3 percent of the 20 percent of registered voters in the primary or the 42 percent total in the general to carry water for him, when the registered voters are something less than 40% or whatever of who could vote all they have to do is target the few.
Simply register and vote and get everyone you know to do the same no matter what their side of the issue and you will find that all of a sudden dead ears will open wide because they now have to convince thousands of swings instead of 3 or 4 hundred to keep it real.
CommentGuy:
I see what you’re saying, and I agree. I haven’t missed an election yet, and I stay up with the platforms of as many candidates as possible (and voting records of incumbents). If I had to guess, I’d say only about one out of ten people I know are aware of more than what they hear on ABC News or read in a paper like the Chicago Tribune or USA Today (and most say they just don’t know or care much about politics, but do know that George W. Bush is “the worst president we’ve ever had”; of course, they can’t state why, but they can briefly hit all the talking points to illustrate why they will just vote for the candidate that doesn’t have an ‘R’ next to his or her name). It is frustrating to know that people don’t bother to vote at all, but even more frustrating when people vote with ignorance. All the talk about voter ID’s is fine with me, but I’m of the opinion that we need to go beyond that and have some sort of English only civics test that could be as simple as 10 questions long for national candidates, and half that for local or state candidates. I know it will never happen in my time, because people think they have a Constitutional right to vote… which boggles the mind, considering the first people to cry ‘foul’ are most likely the people who opt not to vote, either because of the inconvenience or as a statement of protest. I do think making it a more prestigious or exclusive event would help better people into leadership positions, but oh, the heck that would be raised if we ever tried to raise the standard of our election process.
I just don’t get it. Republican gets in trouble with law, no matter how minor, he has to step down, loses his job, goes back home in total disgrace. Democrat gets in trouble with law, no matter how major and violent, he keeps job, gets promoted and gets put on more committes, gets re-elected and possibly gets bantered around for a run at the Presidency.
What the hell is going on?
Straight up, no sugar coating.
Veterans, better than 800K of them wait for VA clains to be settled because of his handiwork or lack of it.
Democrats and Career Politicians need a good Public Flogging, cancellation of Pensions and Benefits, Immediately and Public execution if the do not resign and go seek honest work elsewhere.
Just my take on it after 28 years of my adult life in the Army, going anywhere that Foreign Policy fell on it’s Ass`and we came home to a Nation that was less than the one that We Defended.
This guy is an insult to Us!
Filner is a disgrace!
RetFireman said (#42):
This Democrat’s violent offense earned him a parking ticket size fine, for being very rude. Nobody was hurt, despite his supposed violent rage. Compare Republican Senator Vitter, who was spared a felony indictment by the statute of limitations. It might be fun also to follow the legal difficulties of the three person congressional delegation from the state formerly known as Seward’s folly.
LGM, I already told you that Demos sins are not brought out in the MSM and sin is sin anyway. You never hear of Demo sins in the MSM and its usually buried. For instance MSM buries the Clintons crimes such as their finance contributions and selling nuke secrets to Red China.
What a Moron. Yet another SHINING example of California Congress Critter.
How embarrassing. If the California Republican Party would get it’s head, well, vertical maybe we can make some progress on D.R.I.P.ing on these wingnuts! (Don’t Return Incumbent Politicians).
And that’ll be the last we hear about it.
What is it about democrat liberals they act like little demi-gods to the working people they are supposed to care about?
Phooey on all of ‘em.
.
That about sums up his legacy!
He’s just a nobody who thinks he’s important because he’s a congressman. It comes as no surprise that he stormed through the airport screaming “Don’t you know who I am?”