House Intel Chair suspends (DEMOCRAT) staff member

[Calabrio]

House Intel Chair suspends staff member
By KATHERINE SHRADER
Associated Press Writer Thu Oct 19, 9:31 PM ET

WASHINGTON - House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra has suspended a Democratic staff member because of concerns he may have leaked a high-level intelligence assessment to The New York Times last month.

In a letter obtained by The Associated Press Thursday night, Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., a committee member, said that an unidentified staffer requested the document from National Intelligence Director John Negroponte three days before the Sept. 23 story about its conclusions.

The staffer received the National Intelligence Estimate on global terror trends on Sept. 21.

"I have no credible information to say any classified information was leaked from the committee's minority staff, but the implications of such would be dramatic," LaHood wrote Hoekstra, R-Mich., late last month. "This may, in fact, be only coincidence, and simply 'look bad.' But coincidence, in this town, is rare."

A spokesman to Hoekstra, Jamal Ware, confirmed that a committee staff member was suspended this week. He said the staff member is being denied access to classified information pending the outcome of a review.

"Chairman Hoekstra considers security highly important, and the coincidence certainly merits a review," he said.

An aide to California Rep. Jane Harman (news, bio, voting record), the committee's top Democrat, did not have an immediate comment Thursday night.

The New York Times did not immediately answer a telephone message seeking comment.

 

[fossten]

Still waiting for the mainstream media's "investigative" wing to kick into high gear...

*crickets*

 

[JohnnyBz00LS]

GOD FORBID that actual facts might get into the hands of the American people. We can't let that happen.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15343606/

GOP candidate in Calif. vows to stay in race
Party urges Nguyen to drop out after learning of letter to Hispanic voters
Updated: 8:17 a.m. ET Oct 20, 2006

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. - A Republican congressional candidate who acknowledged his campaign sent a letter threatening Hispanic immigrant voters insists he will stay in the race despite mounting pressure for him to step aside.

Tan D. Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant trying to unseat a popular Democratic incumbent, resisted calls on Thursday from leaders in his own party to quit the race. He said he had no prior knowledge of the letter that wrongly told thousands of Orange County immigrants they could be jailed if they voted.

"I did not do this. I did not approve of any letter," Nguyen told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. He said he has since fired his campaign's office manager, who he said helped produce the mailer.

County Republican Chairman Scott Baugh said that after speaking with state investigators and the company that distributed the mailer, he believes Nguyen had direct knowledge of the "obnoxious and reprehensible" letter. He said the party's executive committee voted unanimously to urge Nguyen to drop out of the race against Democratic U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez.

"I learned information that allows me to draw the conclusion that not only was Mr. Nguyen's campaign involved in this, but that Mr. Nguyen was personally involved in expediting the mailer," Baugh said in a telephone interview.

'Political intimidation and a hate crime'
State and federal officials were investigating the mailing for possible violations of election law. Investigators met with Nguyen for two hours Thursday, said his attorney David Wiechert, who declined to elaborate.

"Mr. Nguyen has no intention of dropping out of the race. He would do the public a disservice if he dropped out," Wiechert said.

The letter, written in Spanish, was mailed to an estimated 14,000 Democratic voters in central Orange County. It warns, "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time."

Immigrants who are adult naturalized citizens are eligible to vote.

Numerous political leaders denounced the letter, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who called it "a despicable act of political intimidation and a hate crime."

Illegal immigration has been a centerpiece of Nguyen's campaign to oust Sanchez, a five-term congresswoman who said she hasn't spoken to Nguyen and never saw him as a threat to her re-election.

"If it is in fact this guy (who sent the letter), the most disgusting and saddest thing about it is that it comes from another immigrant," said Sanchez, who was born in the U.S. to Mexican parents. "These communities have spent years trying to get naturalized immigrants to vote."

Nguyen's campaign Web site says he was born in 1973 in Vietnam, where his family fled the communist regime.

In 2004, he unsuccessfully ran in the Democratic primary to challenge GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in a heavily Republican coastal district. He later changed his party affiliation and declared his bid to upset Sanchez.

Orange County for years has been a battleground on immigration issues.

One founder of the Minuteman civilian border patrol group ran for Congress here and cities have debated issues such as the value of public centers for day laborers and the use of local police to arrest illegal immigrants.

If that had been a democrat, the GOP posse would've had him dragged behind a pickup truck until there was nothing left.

 

[fossten]

Right, but Steny Hoyer can make a "slave" comment regarding Michael Steele, but Ben Cardin, who Hoyer is campaigning for, doesn't condemn it, nor does Steny Hoyer have to resign.

Neither does Chuck Schumer, whose office illegally stole Michael Steele's credit report.

Nor does William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, have to resign REGARDLESS of the FACT that he was caught by the FBI with $90,000 of bribe money in HIS FREEZER.

Your hypocrisy knows no bounds.

*owned*

 

[MAC1]

It looks like there are still not enough facts to draw a definitive concusion. Nguyen denies invlovement despite the appearance to the contrary. It's the same ol', same ol'.