The Chinagate/Buddhist temple cash skeletons in Gary Locke’s closet
Is it possible for Barack Obama to pick a Commerce Secretary nominee who’ll actually make it past first base? Bill Richardson withdrew in the midst of a pay-for-play scandal. Judd Gregg withdrew in the midst of a humiliating power play over the Census and porkulus bill.
Now, former Democrat Gov. Gary Locke — a lawyer for international firm Davis, Wright, and Tremaine who specializes in China — is rumored to be the next nominee for the post. The MSM is pulling for him. WaPo writes: “Locke is regarded as a safe choice by senior officials in the Obama administration given his long history in public life, his strait-laced reputation and his bipartisan governing credentials.” Wishful thinking? Willful cluelessness? Probably a bit of both.
I covered Gary Locke when I worked at the Seattle Times. I dealt with his campaign and gubernatorial staffs. “Strait-laced” is not the adjective I’d use for my dealings with him and his people.
In response to my columns pressing Locke on his close ties to campaign finance crook John Huang, the governor’s office first stonewalled. His standard Democrat smokescreen? Play the race card and play the victim.
From June 1999:
When I asked what the governor had to say about Huang’s guilty plea, Locke’s spokesman, Keith Love, responded tersely: “He has no comment and no interest.”
This is a most peculiar stonewall of silence.
Though Huang and his wife gave token personal donations to Locke totaling a mere $1,000, Huang is no casual acquaintance of Locke or his out-of-state fund-raising staff. As reported here previously, Huang helped organize May 1996 galas involving Locke at the Mayflower Hotel and Sheraton Carlton in Washington, D.C.; three fund-raisers at restaurants in Los Angeles, and an extravaganza at the Universal City, Calif., Hilton in October 1996 that raised upwards of $30,000.
In the Washington Post, Boston Globe and Dallas Morning News, Locke steadfastly defended his Huang-linked funds. He persistently invoked the race card to deflect criticism and castigated the national media for aggressively investigating those who benefited from the fund-raising of the then-presumed-innocent-now-self-confessed-felon Huang.
At a gathering of Asian-American journalists, Locke recently lamented: “The fund-raising scandal will have repercussions for several years. It will make our efforts doubly hard to get Asian Americans appointed to top-level positions across the United States. If they have any connection to John Huang, those individuals will face greater scrutiny and their lives will be completely opened up and examined – perhaps more than usual.”
And deservedly so. The Huang donation was the tip of the iceberg. In August 1998, I reported:
Gov. Gary Locke’s 1996 campaign treasure chest is like a box of chocolates left out in the sun: You never know what kind of sticky mess you’re gonna get.
News broke over the weekend that the Internal Revenue Service wants to examine Locke’s donor list. That’s in addition to a fresh congressional inquiry and three separate probes by the state Public Disclosure Commission (two prompted by this column).
Locke’s loyalists imply that scrutiny of his contributors is racist. The claim is as desperate as it is deceitful. Locke himself crowed that his campaign was being watched closely at the highest levels of the Chinese government. Locke himself called for a thorough investigation of charges of illegal influence-peddling and money-laundering in the Democratic Party by suspected foreign agents.
Locke complains that all yellow- and brown-skinned donors are being targeted unfairly. But the handful of contributors in question are not ordinary citizens; some may not be U.S. citizens at all. They are Buddhist monks who have left the country, Beijing-linked tycoons and family members, professional fund-raisers, and trade experts alleged to have compromised national security. The only colors at issue here are green and red: the color of campaign cash and the possible shadow of overseas communist meddling in the most trade-dependent state in the union.
The Los Angeles Times and Newsweek reported last year that in 1995, the FBI intercepted communications in which Chinese officials detailed a covert operation to counter pro-Taiwan political influence in the U.S. by funneling at least $2 million to federal, state and local races. New revelations of fishy foreign fingerprints on Locke’s campaign coffers come from the Far Eastern Economic Review, a respected Hong Kong-based publication. The Aug. 13 issue reports that Locke received $5,400 in campaign contributions from family and political operatives of Indonesian businessman Ted Sioeng.
The FBI suspects Sioeng, a real estate and tobacco baron, of supplying Chinese government money to American candidates; a Senate report says he drew some of the campaign cash from Hong Kong bank accounts. The Democratic National Committee and California’s GOP state treasurer Matt Fong returned hefty donations made by Sioeng’s daughter, Jessica Elnitiarta, after she refused to verify their source.
The magazine article about the Locke-Sioeng connection has yet to hit these shores. But it forced Locke to admit preemptively that he had given a secret July deposition about the donations to the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee (to be made public this week). Locke also revealed that he returned a maximum $1,100 contribution from a Sioeng associate after learning it was likely reimbursed illegally by Sioeng’s daughter. Yet, Locke’s spokesman insists in one breath that “We’re not saying it was improper” and “we didn’t want anything to do with it.”
If bank records from congressional lawyers indicating an immediate illegal reimbursement aren’t unequivocal evidence of impropriety, what is?
Given Locke’s high threshold for proof of wrongdoing, it’s no wonder he still refuses to return tens of thousands of dollars raised for his campaign by John Huang – the former DNC fund-raiser, ex-Commerce Department official, ex-V.P. of the infamous Indonesian Lippo Group, suspected Chinese agent, and close friend of the Sioengs (daughter Jessica refers to him as “Uncle Huang” in one internal Democratic document, according to the L.A. Times).
Huang and his wife gave token personal donations to Locke; staffers have emphasized that his finance role was minimal. Past news articles reported that Huang raised “a total of $19,000″ for Locke. But last year, the campaign described to me no less than eight occasions on which Huang “coordinated,” “attended,” “organized” or “co-sponsored” political events attended by Locke. These include May 1996 galas at the Mayflower Hotel and Sheraton Carlton in D.C. (where Locke hobnobbed with Sioeng and President Clinton); three summer 1996 fund-raisers at Chinese restaurants in L.A.; and a cash-soaked California bash at the Universal City Hilton in October 1996 that raised upwards of $30,000.
Checks to Locke’s campaign poured in from prominent Huang and Sioeng associates across the country, including: Maeley Tom, a Sacramento lobbyist who worked as a Lippo consultant; Hoyt Zia, a Commerce Department counsel, who stated in a sworn deposition that Huang had access to virtually any classified document through him; Melinda Yee, another Commerce Department official, who made routine phone calls to Lippo and is under investigation by the Justice Department for destroying notes she took on a China trade mission; Ginger Lew, who allegedly helped pilfer classified intelligence documents when she left Commerce last summer; Praitun Kanchanalak, mother of indicted Thai influence-peddler Pauline; Kent La, exclusive distributor of Sioeng’s Chinese cigarettes in the U.S.; and Sioeng’s wife and son-in-law.
Most of these individuals are targets of federal investigations. None of their contributions has been returned by Locke. Ostensibly, Locke doesn’t want to offend his donors. But what about the embarrassment his indiscriminate fund raising has caused the citizens of Washington state?
Locke finally returned the money to Huang in June 1999.
But it wasn’t the end of his funny money troubles. In March 1997, I reported on Locke’s Chinatown fund-raisers out-of-state that raised thousands of dollars of cash that the campaign failed to disclose in violation of state campaign finance laws. One of those events was held at NYC’s Harmony Palace restaurant, co-owned by Chinese street gang thugs.
In September 1997, I broke the story of Locke’s suspicious trips to the Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple in Redmond — where the governor pulled an Al Gore and raised thousands of dollars from monks and nuns who barely spoke English, couldn’t recall donating to Locke, or were out of the country and could never be located:
Already under investigation by the Public Disclosure Commission for mishandling cash contributions, Gov. Gary Locke’s gubernatorial campaign must now contend with new revelations concerning two trips to a Buddhist temple last summer where campaign dollars changed hands.
On two separate occasions, Locke visited the Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple in Redmond at the invitation of the temple’s founder, Grand Master Sheng-Yen Lu. Grand Master Lu, his wife, his son and several people self-described as church administrators and priests gave Locke about $13,100 in contributions.
Of the known temple donors identified by the Locke campaign, five gave $1,000 each on July 22, 1996. Two priests gave $1,000 and $1,100 respectively on Aug. 8, 1996. Three other temple adherents – Lin Wan Liu of Redmond, and Moon Chuen Lo and Shek Shuk Yee Lo of Renton – also gave $1,000 contributions on Aug. 8.
Internal campaign records show that two other temple disciples donated $2,000 and $1,000 respectively on other dates.
The money involved is considerably less than the amount connected to Vice President Al Gore’s fund-raiser at an unrelated Southern California Buddhist temple last spring (about $45,000). But Locke’s visits raise intriguing questions about whether similar, if smaller-scale, improprieties involving monks and nuns took place in our own backyard:
– Did the temple violate federal tax law?
The Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple in Redmond, like the Hsi Lai temple in Los Angeles which Gore visited last spring, is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization. The Internal Revenue Service has long forbidden such places of worship from campaigning for or against a specific candidate, endorsing or opposing a candidate in writing or in speech, or raising money for a candidate.
Yet, at one of the two events, Grand Master Lu expressed his unabashed wishes that Locke be elected governor, then senator, vice president and, someday, president. Moreover, as an internal Locke campaign memo states, “The funds in question were all received at the temple. . . .”
– Did the donors and the Locke campaign comply with public disclosure rules?
The Public Disclosure Commission requires individual donors to list their residence and employer. But several of the temple donors failed to list their occupation. Others reported their address as that of the temple.
The Rev. Shi Lian Ning, a temple spokesman, acknowledged to Locke staffer John Stonham that the information was incorrect and that some of the temple donors were merely volunteers, according to an internal campaign memo from Stonham to campaign-finance chairman Bill Marler dated Feb. 20, 1997. PDC records have not yet been amended with the accurate data.
– Did the donors use their own money to make their contributions?
State law expressly forbids individuals from making contributions on behalf of another person or entity. Yet Grand Master Lu presented Locke with a donation “on behalf of everyone,” according to a feature article by the ethnic newspaper International Examiner, which covered one of the special temple events.
How much was that original donation? Did it violate the state’s legal limit for individual contributions? Was it then funneled, as in the case of the Hsi Lai fund-raiser, through straw donors?
What about the donors’ checks? Were they written from one account or many? In the same handwriting or not? Bill Marler (who was not involved in arranging the temple events) confirmed last week that the campaign possessed copies of the temple donors’ checks.
However, Marler said late last week that the campaign had decided not to provide The Times with copies of the checks or any further details about the temple events.
Those involved directly in the temple fund-raiser are reluctant to answer questions about the donations. The governor’s office did not return a phone call seeking comment. Phone calls to Locke staffers Stonham and Dia Hujar – both of whom attended at least one of the temple events – were not returned. Hand-delivered written questions to temple donors were unanswered. Rev. Ning refused to discuss the fund-raisers and declined to schedule an interview with Grand Master Lu.
According to the Feb. 20 internal campaign memo, Rev. Ning told Locke campaign staffer Stonham that all the donors had the financial wherewithal to make their contributions. But the lack of accurate information about donors’ occupations and whereabouts makes it difficult to validate Ning’s assertion.
I did track down temple donor Siu Wai Wong, a bald, robed 40-year-old priest who lives in a modest Redmond condo not far from the temple.
Wong could not remember when or by what means he had given a $1,000 contribution to Locke. He also refused to say whether he was a U.S. citizen, explaining in perfect English that his “English is not so good.”
The last question is pertinent because under campaign-finance law only U.S. citizens and legal permanent aliens can make individual contributions to local, state and federal campaigns. Wong referred all other questions to a woman he said was his niece. She wasn’t at home and has yet to respond to requests for information.
I also located Kwok Lung Chan, another $1,000 donor listed as a temple priest. Chan was genuinely unable to communicate in English and seemed perplexed at the name “Gary Locke.” She, too, referred questions to a relative who was not at home and has not responded.
At the address listed for Shu-Chuan Chen, a $2,000 donor, a young man who identified himself as Chen’s cousin said “she hasn’t lived here for three years. I’ve seen her, but I don’t know where she lives.” Calls to Chen’s reported employer, T.D. Investments of Tukwila, were not returned.
In a telephone interview, $1,000 donor Moon Chuen Lo insisted that it was his money – but could not recall when he had given the donation and whether he had given cash or a check to the campaign. Nor could he recall whether he had sent his donation to Locke by mail or handed it to the candidate at the temple.
Attempts to track down Xiao-Guang Shen of Redmond, who contributed the maximum $1,100 on July 30, 1996, failed. A search of Washington state tax-assessor records, deed-transfer records, voter-registration rolls, phone books and a state driver’s-license database turned up empty.
Locke staffer Stonham noted in his memo that he himself “was unable to locate all of the individuals” associated with the temple who had donated to the campaign.
Why did Locke and his campaign staff collect money at the temple not once, but twice? Paul Hendrie of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Responsive Politics says the law is “absolutely clear” that tax-exempt temples cannot hold fund-raising events or make in-kind contributions to campaigns.
“But legality aside,” Hendrie observes, “it’s unseemly in the first place to be collecting money at any house of worship. It rubs against the whole notion of separation of church and state. Common sense says this is something campaigns just shouldn’t do.”
Although an inept state campaign-finance panel absolved Locke and his campaign of any wrongdoing, the extensive public record clearly shows that the Locke campaign used Buddhist monks as conduits for laundered money.
I uploaded all the original documents I obtained in my reporting on the scandal here, including these cashier’s checks:
And this spreadsheet of temple donors:
It’s illegal to funnel campaign contributions through straw donors. It’s illegal for tax-exempt churches to hold campaign fund-raisers. It’s illegal to accept money from foreign citizens who are not permanent residents of this country. It’s illegal to file false public disclosure forms (four years after the temple fundraisers, PDC records were not amended with the Buddhist monks’ correct addresses and occupations). It’s illegal to commit perjury to cover up a political money-laundering scheme.
In a trade-dependent state such as Washington state, the incentive to engage in quid pro quos is high. At Commerce, it’s even higher. Locke’s campaign finance scandal-tainted past raise sserious issues about his judgment. His cozy relations with the Chinese government and favor-currying add even more doubt.
Locke and his cronies escaped public accountability in their home state, where the media demonstrated systemic incompetence and indifference to the law-breaking and ethical improprieties. Looks like Team Obama is betting on similar largesse from the national media.
And they know they can always fall back on the race card.
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- [VIDEO]: Bobby Jindal’s Big Night « JoHNBRoDiGaNDoTCoM
- Hot Air » Blog Archive » Locke a lock for Commerce? Update: Tip of the scandal iceberg
- GOPMOM Note: The wheels on the bus go bump, bump, bump
- Suitably Flip
- The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Another Bust for Commerce?
- Dem Gary Locke Commerce Secretary nominee close ties to campaign finance crook John Huang | Citizen-Right
- Public Secrets
- Will Locke’s Nomination Spontaneously Combust? « No Compromise When it Comes to Being Right!
- Michelle Malkin » And yet more reasons Gary Locke is another Obama mispick
- Michelle Malkin » And yet more reasons Gary Locke is another Obama mispick
- Pursuing Holiness
- B. Hussein Obama’s rumored next cabinet pick: Gary Locke has quite a few skeletons in his closet. Aka he’s perfect! | Fire Andrea Mitchell!
- Michelle Malkin » Har: Firm offers “mental stimulus” to forgetful corruptocrats
- Jeremiah Fims
- Cheat Seeking Missiles » Another Commerce Secretary Bites The Dust?
- Commerce Secretary nominee, third try - INGunOwners
- BizzyBlog » Lucid Links of the Day (022509)
- BlogWonks » Blog Archive » More ethical problems for Gary Locke
- Michelle Malkin » New York Times whitewashes Gary Locke’s ethics/campaign finance scandals
- Will The Third Time Be The Charm For Commerce? « Beltway Snark
- GayPatriot » President: Business, not Government Engine of Growth
- Watcher of Weasels » Shorting Obama
- Surprise: Yet Another Obama Nominee Played Fast and Loose with the Law | The Sundries Shack
- Cheat Seeking Missiles » Wednesday Reading - “Live With Your Vote”
- Locke Looking Like Less Of A Lock « Evynn’s Weblog
- Notes Of Curmudgeonliness « 36 Chambers - The Legendary Journeys: Execution to the max!
- Bookworm Room » What I’m reading right now
- Michelle Malkin » The whitewashing of Gary Locke — and why Tucker Carlson deserved to be booed
- Watcher of Weasels » Islamic Rage Boy Meets Political Correctness
- Rhymes With Right
- Bookworm Room » Watcher of Weasels results
- Gazzer’s Gabfest » Blog Archive » I think it means he hasn’t been caught yet.
- Public Secrets
- Cheat Seeking Missiles » Locke Promises Clean Census - But No China Questions?
- Michelle Malkin » Chinagate-tainted Gary Locke “sails through” confirmation hearing
- Cheat Seeking Missiles » Our New Commerce Sec., Mr. China
- Lucky For Us, Our New Commerce Secretary Has Ties To China « Vets On The Watch
- Jules Crittenden » All The Known Gaffes Of The Obama World
- Barack Obama Gives New Meaning To The Term ‘Bungler’…
- The U.S.A. at a tipping point :Conservative Nation
- Michelle Malkin » Unshocked by Gary Locke
- Cap and Trade Shocker: Will Americans Be Forced by Commerce Sec. Gary Locke & Democrats to Pay for China’s Global Warming Emissions? « Frugal Café Blog Zone
- Rush Limbaugh Explains, Again, His “I Want Obama’s Agenda to Fail” Comments, Sean Hannity Show « Frugal Café Blog Zone
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Categories: Campaign finance, Corruption, Gary Locke
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I am sure all of that acurate and detailed reporting is somehow racist and/or hate mongering.
Good job Michelle Malkin!!!
Those dollars went to Las Vegas–don’t use the colour white & remove the seat number ‘4′ from all betting tables.
Hmmmmm. A series of cashier’s checks all for the same amount, all signed by the same perp. We are not as stupid as the Dems appear!
But legality aside,” Hendrie observes, “it’s unseemly in the first place to be collecting money at any house of worship. It rubs against the whole notion of separation of church and state. Common sense says this is something campaigns just shouldn’t do.”
—————————————
But this was not a conservative Christian or Catholic Church, and the cause was not, say, pro-life or pro Prop 8. So, I guess the above principle does not apply.
Sarc/
Not all of our media was that bad, Michelle… but then you left.
We miss your local touch out here.
BTW, I especially love the consecutive numbers on the Cashier’s Check. They must have all ridden in the same cab…
Well goodie, right up Obama’s alley. He and Hillary ought to understand each other quite nicely. Looks like the Administration is a perfect reflection of the President.
P.S.: Happy “Fat Tuesday”, all!
Here in Soulard, MO, we have a Mardi Gras par-tay second only to New Orleans.
I don’t envy those whose job it will be to clean up come tomorrow morning!
I just called my husband over to the computer to look at those cashier’s checks. Unlike me, he is pretty “fair and balanced”, but he was astonished at the unbelievable stupidity of issuing those checks all at the same time, with consecutive numbering, different names but signed by the same person. This man must be so arrogant, he thinks he can’t won’t have to answer for this. And he did get away with it for 13 years. But now, the “chickens have come home…to roost!” OMG! This are so damning! The whole country needs to see those checks and hear the rest of this sordid story. Why can’t this administration find ANYONE who isn’t corrupt? The only one who wasn’t corrupt was the Republican. And he quit for moral reasons. Just keep nominating people, Obama. That way, we can destroy the corruptocrats one at a time.
As is sonofdy I too am sure all of that accurate and detailed reporting is somehow racist and/or hate mongering. Disagreeing or challenging anything Obama and/or Leftist is racist and/or hate mongering. Going to work, paying your bills and taxes and waiting until marriage to have children seems to be racist and/or hate mongering too so why try?
Good job Michelle Malkin, good catch sonofdy!!!
—
ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND FIREARMS
Should be a convenience store
NOT a Government Agency
It’s just so difficult to find an ethical demoncrat now days.
What’s a messaih to do?
The one question you haven’t answered for us Michelle. . . .did he pay his taxes? If not, then he’s obviously qualified and your just a racist. /sarc
It’s a target rich environment.
Time for the MSM to unleash the full extent oftheir investigative reporting of all things Obama and assume the “ostrich position.”
Well, they actually did. Problem is, they’re so corrupt he didn’t want anything to do with them.
The liberal stench in this state is overwhelming! Now, it appears we’re going to spread the stench across the whole country!
A friend of mine in UK tried to sign up to assist McCain-Palin, but she was unable to, as it read that her ISP was not American. Not surprisingly, she was able to sign up on BO’s site! Which means he could have received donations from anywhere in the world, so am I surprised at this? Nope!
ethical democrat = oxymoron
I guess OwlGore is busy elsewhere or else he could once again intone something about, “No controlling legal authority.”
That is very funny and very true.
Some more birds of a feather. My God will we ever run out of them? We cannot wait for the MSM to do something, because that will never happen.Tea party time is drawing near. You know if they spent all that stimulus money building jails, there still would not be enough room for all these crooks.
Thank you, Michelle, for working so tirelessly to expose these corruptocrats. I just pray that someone will finally take note of the new administration’s abject failure to perform in an ethical manner on any level at all, for even a tiny itty bitty length of time.
This is Fat Tuesday??? I had forgotten that. How appropriate that Obama will be speaking about the federal budget tonight. Nothing is fatter than that. And New Orleans can “fiddle around” while this country burns.
SHOCKED, SHOCKED I SAY!!! And the wheels on the bus go round and round, then THUMP, THUMP… “TRANSPARENCY” that’s what this administration will have… UH HUH!!!
Fat Tuesday…
Yeah, pork fat
Obama is going to have a very hard time finding someone to fill his positions. He is so used to dealing with the crooked politicians in Chicago that he doesn’t know any other way to go.
Oh those lovable knuckleheads! What will they do next!
Spot on! He not only is used to dealing with crooked politicians, he IS one! He does not know how to be anything else. Now I am going to say something nice about Obama. He seems to be a loving husband and father. I think he should spend more time with his family, like the other unemployed people in this country.
Excellent job, Michelle!
You seriously deserve a Pulitzer Prize.
Never trust a politician named ‘Gary’
Looks like somebody else is listening to Laura Ingraham this morning.
I could, and should, make an ugly analogy here but I won’t-yet. But it isn’t ostrich.
—
ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND FIREARMS
Should be a convenience store
NOT a Government Agency
Michelle, me thinks BHO will sorry he didn’t nominate you for his press secretary just to keep you quiet! I love it. . .keep it up! Can we start impeachment proceedings yet?
She doesn’t fit the criteria. She doesn’t work for the NY Times or Washington Post, and she isn’t a shrieking, wild-eyed liberal.
Actually, NO. But if I said some of the same things that she said, I am very happy! I wouldn’t repeat another person’s statements without giving them credit. I do have a mind of my own.
RedPill,
Off Topic….. Did you see this?
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=89837
Someone is taking their oath seriously. Hoooah.
Doggoneit, Michelle! Stop with all the responsible journalism and ironclad fact-checking. You’re totally ruining this for
Obama’s propaganda machinethe other media outlets!Interesting. All this talk about Chinatown in New York and today there is a huge fire in NY Chinatown.
No, I think it’s neither. I think it’s choice C: Trying to control the message.
The Obama administration is, after all, used to the media going along with whatever they say, no matter how preposterous. So they are putting out what they want people to hear, without regard to the fact that it makes absolutely no sense.
Doing the work mainstream journalists used to do. Thank you, Mrs. Malkin!
— a lawyer for an international firm who specializes in communist China
- his close ties to campaign finance crook
- Plays the race card and play the victim
He meets all of Obama’s criteria for Commerce Secretary
I just ate breakfast an hour ago, and I am already hungry!
What is it with Democrats and connections to Red China? Oh, yeah. Communism.
A hostile foreign power with an alien ideology is actively funding a major American political party, and has been doing so since at least the Clinton administration. Why do we not see more about this in the media? Oh, yeah. Communism.
Someone had to say it!
Hey, great to see you all here this evening.
Hey, what’s the difference between Jesus and Obama?
Jesus knew how to put a cabinet together!
ba-doom!
Goodnight.Drive carefully!
Because they don’t pal around with honest folk! Everyone in their playpen is corrupt!
Thank you Michelle. I am sure this story won’t get out and the masses will remain blissfully ignorant, but I appreciate your work so much.
Huang him high!
Again, I say the Commerce Secretary position is starting to look like the Defense Against the Dark Arts position!
AFP (aka The Phrench AP) love shim
Locke: Son of immigrants to pave path for US-Chinese trade
Fiscal conservative. I like that. Snort.
Interweb says Gary Locke is an Anglicization of his Chinese name, Lok Ga-Fai.
If only he weren’t corrupt.
But at least he didn’t steal an election like his successor
(Glass one sixteenth full)
OT
Obama to Halve the Budget Deficit
No, really, that is what the headline says
Rumor has it, (listened a bit to Mark Levin and reading the interweb) after consulting with the private sector union, the AFL-CIO, and various state and federal government workers unions, like the Service Intenrational and AFSCME, a plan has been put together based on sharp tax hikes on businesses and rich people (combined income over $250k, but that is flexible), combined with sharp reductions in military spending with an as yet unexplained end of US involvement in both Afghanistan and Iraq within 8 years, to give us British style socialized healthcare and shrink the budget deficit.
Of course, a year without bank and automaker bailouts and a trillion dollar porkulus package would probably have a much smaller yearly deficit. I see the tax hikes as being much more revenue neutral than the Demonrats anticipate.
Dear Lord, give me the strength to fight this. If I refuse to pay my taxes, will you keep me out of jail? Amen.
Errah as I said yestreday, BHO needs to build a Presidential Library ASAP so he is able to launder all those overseas checks he will be getting. I’m sure Bill and Hillary can give him some pointers on the operations and tax advantages. Clinton’s daughter and pets probably now have their own libraries in Little Rock overlooking Whitewater. BTW how id Chelsea doing as a wall street hedge fund manager????!!!
Ah, the good ole days in Seattle. Sometimes I miss them, then posts like this remind me why I was so eager to leave.
Errah the deficit for 09 10 & 11 will have to come down. The democrats will run out of pork projects after the third stimulus package and the country is in bankruptcy.
Excellent!
Another day of great, original, reporting Michelle. You’re gonna have to start using photos of you wearing that newsboy cap and go back to using that Longfellow phrase “her pen became a clarion”…
By picking out of Washington state, it looks like Obama is right in MM’s discipline. This should be entertaining for a few weeks, and MM should get some extra TV dates.
People, People, People! What’s all the excitement about? Nothing new to see here. Just remember this line and everything will be understood: “It’s the Chicago way!”
There now. Don’t we all feel better?
Boy oh boy. When BHO decides to do a rerun of the Clinton era, he does it up right, doesn’t he? John Huang, magically disappearing Buddhist monks, dirt poor folks donating more than two months earnings to political candidates. This clown Locke, he’s perfect for BHO. Hey! Three swings and you’re out! Does that count in DC politics too?
Obama is the consummate street huckster.
First he sets up the mark (the MSM) with his Pelosi-like promise of creating the most ethical administration ever, announces what must be a bulletproof 60+ page questionnaire to vet candidates and then while the mark is dazzled and distracted he steals their watch and belt. The mark then waddles away with his pants around his ankles marveling at the great card trick they just saw.
Dems at work…
I guess this just proves the entire system is utterly corrupt. I just don’t see how we fix this. Frankly, I don’t think the dems or GOP can’t find an honest man or woman.
The problem is that nobody can any longer say “There is no controlling legal authority” because there clearly is but and even when there is a clear and obvious “controlling legal authority” no “ethics board” or election commission has the balls to actually enforce the law or they won’t get their appointments reviewed.
We have done this to ourselves. Great nations don’t die, they commit suicide.
BTW Michelle – you’ve got more stuff on your servers than Google. Don’t you ever lose anything?
Hahahahaha.
Where are the trolls to tell us that this is all well and good?
Do we really need a commerce secretary? Why not just leave some of those pesky positions vacant.
I think I have figured out where the Obama Administration is getting it’s list of potential appointees.
If I were POTUS for a term I would eliminate not only Commerce, but HHS, Agriculture, Interior, Labor, HUD, Energy, Transportation, Treasury (primarily because of the IRS) and, of course, Edgumuhkashun.
Leaves only Defense, State, Homeland Security, VA and Justice. Fits MY interpretation of what the federal government is supposed to do…
Note to the trolls — promote the general welfare DOES NOT mean to put the general population on welfare!
You are KILLING me! The sad fact is that it is obviously TRUE!
It seems that Obama is getting all the bums from this state.Now if he would only take Patty Murray,Maria Cantwell and Chris Gregoire maybe Washington State could get their house in order.Unfortunately at the expense of the country though.
Unfortunately this state is as blue as they come.They don’t report anything the dems do.Shoot you can steal an election right in front of everyone’s eyes and no body says a word.Even if you do say anything it’s shot down and the liberal judges put it through.
Nail49: I would add the expensive but useless Homeland Security to that list of departments to be eliminated. They won’t even defend the borders so what exactly are they doing other than playing red light/green light?
Good point. We should finish building a good fence and use military with actual bullets in their guns all along the border. We can do better than that useless federal government do-nothing agency. And we are definitely going to need the military when Mexico’s economy collapses and they all spill over into our country. If we don’t keep them out, we are doomed.
Just like an accuracy rating a bank would envy…lol
I forgot to add the Cabinet positions I retained as POTUS would be revamped. Homeland Security would include a revitalized, well-armed Border Patrol and the DOJ would be directed to send illegals home.
On an earlier thread I posted about the trebuochet — to be approved by my administration for deporting illegals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trebuchet
I keep noticing that MM has a problem with ALL of duh1’s Commerce nominees.
I suggest that sooner or later duh1 is gonna get “his” crooked SOB in there so just, as they say, “move on”.
Errah not much differnece between Locke taking these checks and hillary’s current begging in Bejing. I mure the cash will curry a favorable decision either way with our elected officials.
So Clinton’s pimpin the USA trip to China over the weekend is starting to make even more sense.
nail49:
Trebuchet. Tish! That’s French!
I knew that Michelle would give us the real story on Locke as soon as I saw he was the likely pick yesterday.
Here is more news coming out of Wa state,
from the
Washington Policy Blog
Nearly half the signers of economists’ letter calling for a tax increase are not economists…
PPhil: Who cares!?!?! It would be an effective detterent to others who would flaunt our laws!
dadinseattle: However, they all slept at a Holiday Inn last night!
Errah
, LOL!!!!!! Unfortunately Geitner has Motel 6 Rewards Points!
No- they would invent Trebuchet Free Zones
or make this an union only job, and use it to shoot money from us to the illegals!
Errah, OSHA would limit the weigh capacity so as not to cause undo harm to occupants and you would need to carry $1M insurrance for each usage . . . .
dadinseattle: Hey, this is MY fantasy and if I am POTUS, those things wouldn’t be allowed to happen!
Errah, dadinseattle; I believe you may have touched on something here. the administration appears to be implementing the new “Holiday Inn Policy”. In order to be put in charge of something, you must be completely oblivious or have a severe conflict of interest on the topic but you have to sleep in a Holiday Inn!! This is the same thing they did with the morons they put in charge of the auto bailout. None of them own Amurikan cars or have ever had to design and build anything but they are going to tell GM and Chrysler how to run their businesses. Brilliant!!!!
Giving credit where credit is due
Errah, nail49 sorry for the error.
TK: No blood no foul
So, what else is new for a POTUS who has run nothing but his mouth, voted “Present” on the tough issues, and can’t decide if he should be FDR, Honest Abe or Ron Reagan reincarnated.
Wow, great work as always MM.
Re:
This is what scares me the most. I really don’t want to see him as Sec. Of Commerce.
Does the democrat party even HAVE any untainted members?