36 Senators Urge Gonzales To Appoint Special Counsel to Lead Abramoff Case

[kerrygoddess]

36 Senators Urge Gonzales To Appoint Special Counsel to Lead Abramoff Scandal Case
February 2nd, 2006 @ 2:13 pm

Today, Senators Harry Reid, Charles E. Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, and others sent a letter signed by a majority of Democrats to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking him to appoint a special counsel to continue the investigation into and prosecution of the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal. The NY Times reports, Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said he signed the letter because “we need an independent investigation, not a whitewash led by Attorney General Gonzales, President Bush’s best friend.”

The text of the letter is below:

February 2, 2006

The Honorable Alberto Gonzales
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20530

Dear General Gonzales:

We write to join the request made last week that you appoint a special counsel to continue the investigation and the prosecution of those involved in the corruption scandal surrounding Jack Abramoff’s dealings with the federal government. The Department’s response to the press regarding that request did not address the fundamental issue of a conflict of interest or the other serious issues raised by the letter.


MORE & LINKS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=1837

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

1. Gonzales Reply: "LOL....Democrats." nt

[FormerRepublican]

2. Another request for justice 'pukes will just ignore.

[radio4progressives]

3. Here are the 36 Senator Signers - Who are the Missing Signers?

Harry Reid,
Charles E. Schumer,
Ken Salazar,
Barack Obama,
Dick Durbin,
Robert Menendez,
Ted Kennedy,
Daniel K. Inouye,
Blanche L. Lincoln,
Kent Conrad,
Jack Reed,
Evan Bayh,
Carl Levin,
Joe Lieberman,
Debbie Stabenow,
John F. Kerry,
Bill Nelson,
Frank R. Lautenberg,
Barbara Mikulski,
Dianne Feinstein,
Patty Murray,
Daniel K. Akaka,
Maria Cantwell,
Hillary Rodham Clinton,
Ron Wyden,
Barbara Boxer,
Jim Jeffords,
Max Baucus,
Joe Biden,
Chris Dodd,
Patrick Leahy,
Russell D. Feingold,
Tim Johnson,
Paul Sarbanes,
Tom Carper,
Jeff Bingaman


This list should have all the Democratic Party Signers but it does not. Jefferd's is a signer, but he's an Independent.

Who is missing from the above list of Democratic Party Signersin the Senate?

Not on List of Signers: (are there any others missing?)

Rockefeller's
Robert Byrd,
Ben Nelson

[kerrygoddess]

4. Looks like 9 from my count

Near as I can tell it looks like Byrd, Bond, Dayton, Dorgan, Kohl, Landrieu, Ben Nelson, Pryor and Rockefeller

[StoryTeller]

5. Of course, Ben Nelson did not sign...

What a senator I have. *sigh* It's so embarrassing. But the guy running against him would be much worse, so... what a choice. :(

[radio4progressives]

12. I caught a clip of Ben Nelson being the only Democrat to stand up and

applaud Bush following something about our "Terrorist Surveilance" program, if i remember accurately.

He jumped out of his seat and applauded with such enthusiasm.

he really is a REPUBLICAN at heart and i think it's really imperative that we replace these moles immediately.

[DCal]

7. Harkin is not their either

Bond is a Republican, so he is not one of the 9 Democrats not signing.

[0007]

10. What's up with Harkin? Must be a mistake somewhere, eh?

[radio4progressives]

13. excellent question... that's what i want to know..

[kerrygoddess]

17. Oops..

I was comparing off of two screens and trying to figure out who did and did not - guess I goofed.

Signers:

Harry Reid, Charles E. Schumer, Ken Salazar, Barack Obama, Dick Durbin, Robert Menendez, Ted Kennedy, Daniel K. Inouye, Blanche L. Lincoln, Kent Conrad, Jack Reed, Evan Bayh, Carl Levin, Joe Lieberman, Debbie Stabenow, John F. Kerry, Bill Nelson, Frank R. Lautenberg, Barbara Mikulski, Dianne Feinstein, Patty Murray, Daniel K. Akaka, Maria Cantwell, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Ron Wyden, Barbara Boxer, Jim Jeffords, Max Baucus, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Patrick Leahy, Russell D. Feingold, Tim Johnson, Paul Sarbanes, Tom Carper, Jeff Bingaman

[radio4progressives]

8. So does the math add up?

How many Democratic Party Senators do we have?

So far current DP non-signers are 9 :

Byrd
Dayton
Dorgan
Kohl
Landreiu
Ben Nelson
Pryor
Rockefeller
Harkin

(edited to include Harkin)

[radio4progressives]

9. We have 45 Senators with a "D"after their name, is that correct? n/t

[DCal]

14. 44 D's plus 1 IND (Jeffords) who signed.

[Lerkfish]

6. interesting.

those three names have some significance.

[ncteechur]

11. They will just get named to the bench in a recess appointment

[Wilms]

15. .

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

16. This puts the "it's a bi-partisan scandal" lie to bed for good

To all the uniformed Katie Couric types -

Do you think the Dems would be calling for a special counsel to investigate and prosecute the miscreants if they WERE the miscreants?!

[SONUVABUSH]

18. Alberto Gonzales

is the biggest communist snake in the grass in the Government. A Bush Wiretapping supporter. F___ that guy!!