Redstate

Say hi to Duke for me while you're in there, Bob.

By Moe Lane Posted in 2006 — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

GOP Rep. Bob Ney goes away:

WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - A Republican congressman has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and lying, the first U.S. lawmaker convicted in the political corruption scandal involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, court documents showed on Friday.

The plea deal represented a sharp reversal for Ohio Rep. Bob Ney, who had denied any wrongdoing. He was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 and abandoned his race for re-election last month as the federal investigation intensified into his links to the convicted lobbyist.

According to the plea deal, U.S. Justice Department prosecutors will recommend the 52-year-old Ney be given a 27-month prison sentence. U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvellle scheduled an Oct. 13 hearing for Ney to enter his guilty plea.

And not before time, either. It'd been nice if Ney had not dragged this out for the country in general and the State of Ohio in particular (not to mention the GOP). Nicer yet if he hadn't been dirty in the first place, obviously. Darned if I know whether that 27 month sentence represents the before or after of the man singing like a canary: either way, my sympathy is, as you might have guessed, nil. I know that all that money's a temptation. Deal.

Read on.

Meanwhile, the race to replace the corrupt little weasel - hey, he confessed - has resulted in Joy Padgett being picked to face Democrat Zack Space in November. The Democrats had been toying about trying to DeLay her, but decided against it. Whether this was due to confidence, prudence, poverty or merely a desire to avoid making the 2006 Ohio elections even more of a shambles (word choice deliberate) than it is now is, of course, up to the cynicism of the individual reader.

Good luck, Ms. Padgett: if you win, don't be a corrupt little weasel.

Moe

PS: That goes for you too, Mr. Space.