Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell says he's proud to be leading the nation's Republican resurgence. Now he appears to be leading it right into the ditch, rolling out the Governor's Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring with Fred Malek as chairman. Malek served President Richard Nixon by counting the Jews who worked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics to make sure there weren't too many.
In 1988, Malek resigned his deputy chairmanship of the RNC after his Nixon-era work came to light. Ben Tribbett writes:
Some people might ask- what is the statute of limitations on a mistake someone made like this 40 years ago?
I don't think such a thing exists when you are talking about identifying and counting the number of Jews in government positions less than 30 years after the Holocaust. . It's petrifying that this could have happened in this country.
More recently, in 2003, the Washington Post reports that Malek's firm paid a civil penalty of $150,000 to settle SEC allegations of fraud involving Connecticut state pension money and a friend of the state treasurer. Malek himself paid a civil penalty of $100,000. And then there's this, which is strange and awful. From WaPo columnist Colbert I. King, who reaches back to 1959:
One of the men arrested in the incident, in which a dog was killed, skinned, gutted and barbecued on a spit, was Frederick V. Malek, 22, of Berwyn, Ill.
Charges of cruelty to animals were later dismissed against Malek and three other men after Andrew P. O'Meara testified that he had struck and killed the dog with a piece of 2-by-4, and that he alone had skinned the animal and tried to cook it. O'Meara said he was trying to show Malek and the others something about living off the land.
Leave a Comment:
Virginia - the gift that keeps on giving.
"....By the Peckerwoods, For the Peckerwoods."
Just when you think it can't possibly get any stranger...
North Carolinians historically look upon Virginia with the same sort of fascinated distrust with which one views dangerous wild animals in domestic settings: white tigers in Vegas floorshows, pythons and anacondas kept as housepets, etc. North Carolina did not vote to secede from the Union until after Virginia did. However crazy the South Carolinians were and are, we were not ready to abandon hope until we were surrounded by Confederates. Please don't let it happen again!
I agree. I'm also from North Carolina, which is beginning to feel like the eye of the hurricane again. We're surrounded by chaos and unbelievable madness.
As an ashamed Virginia resident, I can only say that we do limit our governor to a single term. Though these 4 years are likely to drag almost as long as Bush's last 4.
Longer, D & L, longer!
For those who do not live here, in the Commonwealth, it may be hard to believe how truly scary it is. As the niece of Holocaust survivors, and a Democrat, I have been warned, to keep my identifying jewelry tucked in to my shirt, when I worked the polls, on the last 2 election days.
Wow. I have to agree with Tribbett. This is a nation of immigrants and everyone (excluding children to young to know) knows about the Holocaust. I realize there are people out there who try to say it didn't happen; they are merely people trying to rewrite history to fit themselves. I'm not sure this is something he can get ahead of in most of the country.
Are these people for real?
Virginia is the state where the Virginia State Bar an agency of the Supreme Court of Virginia. In 2000, the year that my girlfriends attorney was caught stealing settlements I noticed that the Bar had discarded its ethics. She was a probono client of the attorney with a damaged case, the Bar did not ensure the integrity of the profession by appointing counsel for a probono client and billing their offending member. Since then we have had need to retain members, they have chosen to ignore evidence, documents and witnesses to process their clients - losing the zealous representation.
One has to ask who is protected by removing the one slight avenue a damaged client has to address failed representation.
Virginia Republicans have been gaming the system for decades, there is no expectation of competent legal counsel.
So is it any wonder that our newly elected Governor is further dismantling / restructuring this State. This is a State where Rule of Law does not apply, for us it was the model for the Bush administration, we had heard the religious rhetoric in the courts during the early 90's. 2000 the attorney deserts, we notice the missing ethics and any complaint about counsel is dismissed as "strategy" and not addressed by the Bar. "Strategy" is the service provided by an attorney. Then came Bush, 9/11 and we heard the same craziness from the nation as we had heard in court.
I know that I twisted this thread, but without competent legal counsel in a infected system one is defenseless, especially if one is not considered one of the entitled.
http://www.vsb.org/site/regulation/code-of-professional-responsibility/
http://home.comcast.net/~styx.cml-lsm/01/Cases/TheStyxBlog/BLOG_20080919.htm