St. Petersburg Republican Takes Charge Of 'Scooter' Libby's Legal Defense

[seafan]

Nov 24, 2005
By WILLIAM MARCH

TAMPA - -- Mel Sembler of St. Petersburg, a Republican fundraiser and former ambassador, is chairman of the legal defense fund for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney.
.....
A longtime political supporter of Cheney, Sembler was recruited to join the effort by Barbara Comstock, a Washington lawyer and friend of Libby, Comstock said.

--snip

Sembler is a developer and longtime fundraiser for Republican candidates in Florida and nationwide.

--snip

Sembler backed Cheney as the Republican nominee for president in 1996, but Cheney dropped out of that race. In 2000, Sembler said in an interview that he felt vindicated and "ecstatic" when George W. Bush made Cheney his running mate.

Sembler was one of the chief fundraisers in the 1988 campaign of former President Bush, who then appointed him ambassador to Australia. He later became finance chairman for the national Republican Party, and the current President Bush named him ambassador to Italy.

http://tampatrib.com/floridametronews/MGBO5Y2KEGE.html

[rosesaylavee]

1. That's nice.

x(

[Demeter]

2. It'll Be Interesting To See How Many Friends Scooter Has

both before and after the trial. And there better not be a pardon--that would be grounds for impeachment, I think. As if we needed any more.

[soup]

3. Sembler.

That name is triggering something...

Straight... an abusive system for kids with drug problems. Wasn't he involved in that?

Doesn't he own a big chunk of downtown St Petersburg? and was trying to get anti-war protestors removed from the sidewalk in front of his Plaza by having the city cede ownership of the sidewalk to his corporation?

Or, maybe he has a brother. They're all so corrupt and intertwined, who can keep up?

[Binka]

4. Sembler=Straight Read The JUICY Story At The Link Below

He is a nasty POS.

http://media.orkut.com/articles/0145.html

[darkmaestro019]

5. Sunlight Gardener. That's what these places make me think of,

for those who have read King/Straub's The Talisman. Unfortunately, these kids don't have a better world to "flip" into to get away from this craziness.

I did something like this in a sci-fi novel; kind of a fundy reprogramming camp. Ten years gone, this book, and I keep seeing my most paranoid fantasy-structures in the freakin news, coming true. (shudder)

[soup]

8. *shudder*

What a piece of work.

and yet there's the fact that he also founded the Florida Holocaust museum. How strangely disconnected from a constant feeding of greed and power and wealth.

[seafan]

7. Oh, yes, that's the guy. See these links:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mel_Sembler

http://www.blogwood.com/archives/000576.html




Also from the original story in the Tampa Tribune:

She (Comstock) said the committee, which still is adding members, includes former Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, former presidential candidate Steve Forbes, former Sens. Fred Thompson and Alan Simpson, and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp.

Comstock said the group is "bipartisan" because two members, former CIA Director Jim Woolsey and former Ambassador Dennis Ross, have held appointments in Democratic as well as Republican administrations.

--snip

Sembler backed Cheney as the Republican nominee for president in 1996, but Cheney dropped out of that race. In 2000, Sembler said in an interview that he felt vindicated and "ecstatic" when George W. Bush made Cheney his running mate.

http://tampatrib.com/floridametronews/MGBO5Y2KEGE.html



Lovely.

[recoveringrepublican]

12. It's the entire family. Was assaulted by Greg Sembler at baywalk.

With the barricade that was placed there for my "safety" no less.

[leesa]

6. He must have a huge chunk of change invested in the Bush Crime Syndicate.

Soon we will see who the REAL shakers and movers are. I think this is what Fitzgerald is doing. Dragging the cockroaches into the light.

[Toots]

9. Chairman of the Legal Defence Team

Sounds like a Corporation has been formed. I get in trouble I hire a Lawyer, these guys form Corporations....

[annabanana]

10. interesting stuff...

If these bug guns guys all come out to fund Libby's defense.. they expose themselves to scrutiny.

[recoveringrepublican]

11. Not surprised here, this guy and his family personally tried to silence me

along with many others. Check it out.

http://www.google.com/custom?sitesearch=stpeteforpeace.org&q=Sembler&sa=Search&cof=&domains=stpeteforpeace.org

[saltpoint]

13. I appreciate what others have said in response to this news on --

-- Mel Sembler.

I am surprised that Libby agreed to take Mel Sembler on, given Mel's shadowy work in dodging legal difficulties in many rehab center cases in which financial misrepresentations and alleged physical abuse of young people were the charges in question.

What occurred to me was that the WHIG folks would feel compromised if an ethically sturdy staff were brought in to lead them from legal vulnerability. They must feel it's necessary when you're in as deep as this WHIG folks are to bring in someone as ethically contaminated as you are.

Given that criterion, Sembler's perhaps over-qualified.

[daleo]

14. Sembler - an interesting name

dissembler - a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he does not hold

dissembling, the act of deceiving

[bunny planet]

15. Holy shite, this is the guy who shuts down the peace protest at Baywalk

in St. Pete all the time, had a fourteen year old boy arrested for protesting too.

This so sucks.

[Thom Little]

16. Give a GOP lawyer a chance at big $$$ + puke political connections....

...and he'll take the side of evil most every time.