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Ron the Cop
Maxine Waters intervened with regulators to protect personal investment
posted at 10:48 am on March 13, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) intervened with regulators on behalf of a bank to which she had personal financial ties, the Wall Street Journal reports. Waters also greased the skids with Treasury to get the bank a meeting it desired. Waters and her husband own as much as $500,000 in OneUnited stock . . .
UPDATE:
I just received this comment from Larry Shook an award winning investigative reporter on a related note re the nomination of Michael Ormsby to US Attorney for the Eastern District of WA. This all goes to the credibility of those whom we choose to govern. From my street cop mentality there are folks from both sides of the aisle that need to go to jail. And I wouldn’t overlook folks at the SEC who were asleep at the switch for a decade for unk reasons after receiving prior ample warnings of Madoff’s $50B Ponzi scheme.
Ron the Cop
*****
Ron:
I see in today’s Wall Street Journal that President Obama’s approval ratings have dropped substantially since he took office. ((“Obama’s Poll Numbers Are Falling to Earth,” p. A11). “The president’s approval rating is below George W. Bush’s in the same period of 2001,” note the authors of this opinion piece. Mike Ormsby epitomizes the spectacular corruption that has sucked the U.S. and global economy through a worm hole toward some part of the financial/economic/political universe we can’t now know. The evidence recently provided the Obama administration by former mayor Talbott, former councilwoman Rodgers, former sheriff Bamonte, and award-winning journalist Tim Connor proves this. As Mr. Connor has said, appointing Ormsby to be a U.S. attorney would be like installing Bernie Madoff as Treasury Secretary. If President Obama approves Ormsby’s nomination to be U.S. attorney for Eastern Washington, I fear it will portend disaster for the Obama administration–and for a global community that desperately needs his administration to succeed and govern capably. Let’s hope our new President is at least well enough qualified for office to avoid a fiasco like this. The evidence is simply overwhelming that Ormsby, and his many co-conspirators in the $100 million public funds River Park Square fraud should be wearing orange jumpsuits, picking up cigarette butts along country roads. God help us if President Obama allows Ormsby and his ilk into public office. Anyone wishing to review the case against Ormsby can contact Tim Connor at the email address above. I’m sure he would be happy to share the letter Mayor Talbott, Councilwoman Rodgers, Sheriff Bamonte and he recently sent to President Obama [Note: letter is posted here]. Anyone wishing a quick orientation in the corruption in which Mr. Ormsby remains a central figure can see “Deathtrap” at www.girlfromhotsprings.com. All recipients of this email are free to circulate it as they choose.
Best wishes, Larry Shook
*****
UPDATE II:
Larry Shook wrote back re the SEC also turning a blind eye on the Cowles RPS bond scam in Spokane, WA:
Thanks, Ron.
Re the SEC’s culpability, I still have the tape of the 8/31/98 Spokane City Council meeting at which Pennsylvania attorney Mark Schwartz presented to the council the RPS complaints he had filed with the SEC and IRS. By simply acting on Mr. Schwartz’s complaints–in other words, doing their jobs–these agencies could have prevented the RPS financial fiasco, and perhaps the 4/8/06 death of Jo Ellen Savage in the RPS garage. Mr. Schwartz, of course, has a national reputation as one of America’s foremost authorities on the corruption that has long plagued the municipal bond industry. As our current crisis shows, unchecked public corruption is one of the deadliest enemies this nation faces. By the way, I think the Madoff Ponzi scheme is now estimated at $65 billion, and I understand Justice seeks to recover well over $100 billion.
Larry
For those interested in reading a succinct summation of the RPS bond fraud as led by the Cowles Co (Owner of the Spokesman-Review and the RPS mall and parking garage) and the direct involvement of US Attorney nominee Michael Ormsby in this bond fraud, read the letter that Tim Connor (investigative journalist), Cherie Rodgers (Former Spokane City Council member), John Talbott (Former Spokane Mayore), and Tony Bamonte (Former three term Sheriff of Pend Oreille County, WA and nationally known for solving the longest active murder case in the US – Breaking Blue) sent to President Obama in opposition to Obama’s selection [ See excerpt below]. As Shook noted Connor retorted:
As Mr. Connor has said, appointing Ormsby to be a U.S. attorney would be like installing Bernie Madoff as Treasury Secretary.
And lets not forget this political corruption in my opinion directly led to the horrifying death of Jo Savage in the RPS parking garage in 2006. The statute of limitations on this case will toll on April 8, 2009. Spokane County Prosecutor [Steve Tucker] is still dithering whether to file manslaughter charges in this case. As Sheriff Bamonte and I have said on multiple occasions, it is our independent opinions that the facts and circumstances surrounding the Savage death amount to a 1st Degree Manslaughter under WA state law with the owners of the RPS parking garage being the principal suspects. It is our belief Savage case needs to be filed and go to trial. A jury should decide the guilt of the parties involved and not be brushed aside by a prosecutor that can be politically swayed by the Cowles. See the very damning archive photo below from the S-R that is direct evidence that the owners of the RPS parking garage knew of this imminent public hazard and failed to act over some FIFTEEN years until Savage fell to her death after one of these parking barriers failed in a similar manner. The S-R Editor Gary Graham attempted to kill this photo on Shook’s Girl from Hot Springs website two days ago.
And finally let it be known to all involved that have chosen to ignore their oaths of office and responsibilities to the citizens of Spokane that I’m as serious as a “heart attack” that I fully intend to bring a civil class action RICO lawsuit to root out this political corruption in Spokane:
. . . That question goes to the second reason Wright says he planted the seed of RICO: he wanted to telegraph his own plans. He quotes from the Civil Recourse section of RICO under USC 1962: “Section 1964 (c) permits any person whose property or business has been injured by a RICO violation to recover treble damages, plus costs of the suit and reasonable attorneys’ fees.”
“I have now documented that I have made multiple requests of law enforcement and government officials to do their jobs and properly investigate the evidence of RPS-related crime that I have provided them,” says Wright. “I’ll give them a chance to do their jobs. Because of the statute of limitations on Savage’s death, they don’t have much time left. If they don’t do their jobs, I intend to bring a civil RICO action against the perpetrators of River Park Square, which includes every complicit public official. I’m now in the process of searching for representation from a major class-action law firm.”
[Complete text of letter is posted here]
March 9, 2009
President Barack Obama
The White House
1 600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C.20500Senator Harry Reid
Majority Leader, U.S. Senate
522 Hart Senate Office Building
washington, D.c.20510Senator Patrick Leahy
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
433 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C.20510Dear President Obama, Senator Reid, and Senator Leahy:
As citizens and former elected otficials from Eastern Washington we are writing to request that Mike Ormsby’s name not go forward for confirmation as the next U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.
Because of his central involvement, over a three year period, in the fraudulent River Park Square garage transaction, Mr. Ormsby’s appointment would be a serious mistake both for Eastern Washington and the nation. At a time when it’s vital that the Justice Department send a message that it will not tolerate private fraud and public corruption, Mr. Ormsby’s appointment would send the opposite message.
Given the well-documented facts about the River Park Square garage fraud and Mr. Ormsby’s role in organizing and facilitating the debacle, and the fact that he was publicly accused by the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility of unethical conduct barely a year ago, it’s stunning that he was nominated for a U.S. Attorney’s position.
Background
Public corruption was at the heart of the River Park Square transaction. The beneficiary was the Cowles family, which publishes Spokane’s only daily newspaper, owns its NBC- TV affiliate, and has vast private holdings in the Spokane-area, including valuable real estate in the City’s downtown core. . .
Former garage manager Rex Franklin secures damaged portion of barrier at RPS garage after vehicle impact (Dan Pelle file photo/ March 11, 1991 – Spokesman-Review)
UDPATE III:
Michelle Malkin has now weighed in on this debate regarding holding the crooks accountable: