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EducateWorthington.org

The 912 Project - Glenn Beck

912 Group of Central Ohio

Please let me know if you'd like your link added

What makes the Beatty's different from any other business owner affected by a construction project? That would be other than Joyce Beatty is sitting in the statehouse? Starting to smell of some other Republicans who just vacated their offices.

Parking Garage Put on Hold

Tuesday,  January 29, 2008 3:08 AM
By Robert Vitale and Mark Ferenchik
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

City Council members held up approval of a new Downtown parking garage last night after a high-ranking state lawmaker and a member of the panel that rules on such plans told them it would drive tenants from their nearby property.

Ohio House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty accused city officials of ignoring her calls and dismissing her fears that 15 months of construction and the street closings that come with it would kill off a clothing shop she owns at S. High and Rich streets.

Her husband, Downtown Commission member and former state Rep. Otto Beatty Jr., told council members the city should just buy the S. High Street buildings that the couple own. They house his wife's business and several tenants and are valued by the Franklin County auditor at more than $1.4 million.

"We have a major investment in this building and we're going to be losing revenue," Otto Beatty Jr. said.

Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Columbus, paraphrased a standard campaign line of Mayor Michael B. Coleman, whom she said didn't return her calls, either.

"We talk about this being the best city to work in," she said. "Our businesses are being eroded and it didn't seem to matter."

Council members tabled a resolution that would have allowed work to begin on a $14.5 million public-parking garage planned to replace a condemned garage at S. Front and Rich streets.

complete article

Then what is this about?


Otto Beatty asked city officials to purchase his property, valued at more than $1.4 million

Monday, February 4, 2008
11:09 PM
By Dean Narciso
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Additional parking is essential to keep business Downtown, and plans will move ahead to build it, Columbus City Council concluded tonight.

Council’s unanimous vote came a week after charges that an eight-story, 773-space parking garage at Front and Rich streets would depreciate adjacent commercial property owned by Ohio House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty and her husband, Otto Beatty Jr., a Downtown Commission member.

The couple didn’t attend tonight’s meeting. But council was responding to objections that the Beattys had raised at a Jan. 28 council meeting, which prompted the tabling last week of legislation to move ahead on the project.

The couple had said that city officials have been unwilling to listen to their concerns that the garage would decimate business at Mrs. Beatty’s clothing shop and drive other tenants away.

Before the vote, council was given a memo from Finance Director Joel Taylor that concluded:

* Otto Beatty had repeatedly asked city officials to purchase his property, valued at more than $1.4 million, as early as last April.

* Beatty sent out a letter supporting a RiverSouth area parking garage, but suggested it be located on his property.

complete article

[We could say [Democrats] spend money like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors. It would be unfair, because the sailors are spending their own money. --Ronald ReaganAl Gore didn't invent the internet, he invented global warmingThe welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants - CamusThe person who advocates government planning of the economy always assumes that it is his plan that will be put into effect. --Hayek]

NY Union Members Charged With Extortion

By CAROLYN THOMPSON

Associated Press Writer

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - A dozen leaders and members of a construction union were arrested Tuesday and charged with a decade of attacks against nonunion workers and their families, and prosecutors said some of the crimes were aided by the local's access to state motor vehicle records.

The president of Operating Engineers Local 17, Mark Kirsch, was among those charged with extortion and racketeering after a five-year investigation. The union, headquartered in Buffalo, operates in six western New York counties.

At job sites where non-Local 17 members were hired, union members caused more than $1 million in damage to more than 40 pieces of heavy machinery by pouring sand and grinding compound into the oil systems, breaking windows, destroying tires and cutting fuel lines, investigators said.

U.S. Attorney Terrance Flynn said investigators were particularly unnerved by the union's ability to run potential victims' license plates through the state Department of Motor Vehicles database to obtain personal information, including their wives' names and addresses.

The union had an account with DMV that was meant to allow it to ensure its own vehicles were properly registered and inspected, but the account was abused on several occasions, Flynn said. The practice abruptly stopped after investigators required the DMV to conduct an audit in 2006, he said.

A DMV spokesman had not heard about the allegations Tuesday and said he would look into them.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7447582

Dann's Office Under New Scrutiny

The attorney general embroiled in allegations that a close friend sexually harassed two women.

By Laura A. Bischoff
Staff Writer
Thursday, April 10, 2008
COLUMBUS

Democrat Marc Dann captured the attorney general's office on promises of ending the culture of corruption in state government.

"Our effort ... will start by insisting on transparency and accountability in all government institutions, including the Attorney General's Office," Dann said the day he took office.

Less than two years into the job, Dann has made headlines for a succession of questionable judgment calls.

The latest mess involves Anthony Gutierrez, Dann's close friend and neighbor, whom Dann put on the state payroll despite a blemished record.

Gutierrez, who is paid $87,500 a year to supervise the maintenance, purchasing and mailroom operations, is now on paid leave while the attorney general's office investigates claims that he sexually harassed two female employees half his age. As a state senator, Dann raised issues of who should investigate the Bureau of Workers' Compensation financial scandal.

"(Attorney General Jim) Petro and (Auditor) Betty Montgomery must get out of the way so that truly independent investigators can do their job," Dann said at the time.

GOP leaders have kept mum on the Gutierrez investigation, waiting to see what else gets reported.

"No comment at all," said Ohio Republican Party Deputy Chairman Kevin DeWine, who normally seizes an opportunity to criticize Dann.

Democratic political consultant Greg Haas said the problems aren't fatal for the Dann administration.

"Marc can survive all of this," Haas said. "A lot of administrations start off by taking on water ... but they righted themselves by looking in the mirror and saying, 'These aren't just nicks and scratches. These wounds are infected. Even if it's just perception, and to survive I must take strong steps.' ''

Since Dann took office, he had to fire his "top cop" Rick Alli for keeping his city of Youngstown job while on the state payroll, and his driver David Nelson, who was responsible for another man's shooting death. Dann spent $145,000 on personal security without disclosing what sort of threats he faced and he used the state planes more than a dozen times, including once for political purposes, at a cost of more than $22,000.

He disciplined a Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation agent and supervisor who criticized Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck and reprimanded communications director Leo Jennings for sending an abusive, profane e-mail to another manager.

Dann himself took lumps for shouting an obscenity at a reporter while TV cameras were rolling, buying an SUV from a campaign contributor instead of through the state purchasing system, and sending an insensitive e-mail to Jennings, saying "Jesus had it better on Good Friday."

Despite the bad publicity and negative headlines, Jennings said on Dann's behalf. "I have lots of flattering (headlines), including the ones from the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. I have a record of accomplishment in a year that I'll put up against the last two predecessors, combined, in 12 years. We have a staff 1,400 people and we've had issues with four."

[We could say [Democrats] spend money like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors. It would be unfair, because the sailors are spending their own money. --Ronald ReaganAl Gore didn't invent the internet, he invented global warmingThe welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants - CamusThe person who advocates government planning of the economy always assumes that it is his plan that will be put into effect. --Hayek]

Obama's name mentioned in Chicago fundraiser's trial

The government's star witness at the fraud trial of Tony Rezko testified Monday that Sen. Barack Obama and his wife attended a party four years ago at the home of the indicted political fundraiser.

Stuart Levine said the party took place in April 2004 and was held to honor Iraqi-born Nadhmi Auchi, a London-based billionaire who was visiting the USA at the time. Rezko, 52, was a major fundraiser for Obama and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and the trial has been closely watched because of Obama's presidential campaign. Very little has been said about the senator.

Neither Blagojevich nor Obama has been accused of wrongdoing. The Obama campaign has given to charity nearly $150,000 in contributions received by Obama's House and Senate campaigns that came from Rezko, his employees, his associates and his family. Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said the senator "does not recall meeting Nadhmi Auchi at any time or on any occasion" and that Obama and his wife do not remember attending the party.

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/...eline15.art.htm

Ex-Newark Mayor Convicted of Fraud

By JONATHAN MILLER and RICHARD G. JONES
April 17, 2008
NEWARK

A federal jury today convicted the former longtime mayor of Newark, Sharpe James, of fraud for conspiring to sell city-owned properties to a former girlfriend, who quickly flipped them and earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits.

On the sixth day of deliberations, the jury found Mr. James, 72, guilty on all five counts he faced. His former girlfriend, Tamika Riley, 39, was convicted on the same fraud and conspiracy charges as well as eight others for numerous tax violations in connection with what the authorities said was her failure to file income tax returns for her public relations firm.

Under federal guidelines, prosecutors say the two face up to about eight years in prison. For now, both are free on bail and will face sentencing on July 29. Mr. James’s lead attorney, Thomas Ashley, said he intended to appeal the verdict.

Mr. James stood stony-faced and Ms. Riley appeared stunned as the jury foreman delivered the verdict, then quickly left the courtroom. Mr. James then took an elevator to the first floor of the federal courthouse, where he kissed his wife, Mary, on the cheek. They drove away with Mr. Ashley.

It was a precipitous and somewhat tawdry fall from grace for Mr. James, who was the powerful Democratic mayor of New Jersey’s largest city for 20 years, until 2006, and a state senator from 1999 to 2008.

It was a major victory for the United States attorney for New Jersey, Christopher J. Christie, who in six years in office has won indictments against Republicans and Democrats alike and has obtained convictions or guilty pleas against more than 125 public officials without losing a case.

“Justice has finally been done,” Mr. Christie said in a news conference outside the courthouse. “Justice for the city of Newark.”

Mr. Christie said that Mr. James had acted in a “grossly inappropriate way.”

“For 36 years, Sharpe James has reigned over this city and today he is taught the lesson,” Mr. Christie said.

That lesson, Mr. Christie said, was that for an elected official who betrays the public trust, “the only place for you is federal prison.”

complete article

I never thought this would be something that would happen, actually posting a Joe Hallett article. Don't worry Joe at the rate the Dispatch's financial condition is sliding you and Benjy Marrison will have plenty of time to clean those rose colored glasses in the unemployment line.

That's a nice touch reformatting the website like the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Don't worry we already know you wouldn't take any of the local conservative bloggers as seriously as you do from the Dimocrats.

Democrats appear determined to wreck their state office inroads

Sunday, April 20, 2008
3:37 AM
By Joe Hallett

Scandal and arrogance swept Ohio Republicans out of power in the 2006 election. Democrats are tempting the same fate.

Just 16 months after ceding four of five statewide executive offices to Democrats, the Ohio Republican Party already sees openings to win back two of them in 2010 and retain their legislative majorities in the next decade.

Although Gov. Ted Strickland and Treasurer Richard Cordray have performed admirably, the two other Democratic officeholders, Attorney General Marc Dann and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, have been mired in controversy.

Dann, lead crusader against GOP malfeasance two years ago, especially is vulnerable, threatened by a sex-scandal in his office that has the potential to chase him from office even before his term ends. Republicans would relish beating him.

But Brunner is the big prize. She, along with Strickland and Republican state Auditor Mary Taylor -- whose strong performance so far sets her up nicely for re-election -- are members of the State Apportionment Board. Whichever party wins two of those three seats in 2010 will have the power to draw legislative districts and control the General Assembly for the ensuing decade.

Brunner has drawn heat for pushing the state to scrap millions of dollars worth of voting machines for expensive paper ballots that many election officials don't want. She also has been criticized for removing some election officials -- many of them Republicans -- who oppose her plans or criticize her.

Ohio GOP Deputy Chairman Kevin DeWine marveled last week that Democrats so quickly had provided fodder for their defeat.

"Any political party will look for an opportunity when the other party's officeholders fail to deliver on their promises, and that's been the case with Jennifer Brunner and Marc Dann," DeWine said.

"Brunner said she would keep partisanship out of the office, but has engaged in partisan maneuvering that has created a culture of fear and intimidation in election circles and county boards, and she will go down as one of the most partisan secretaries of state in the history of Ohio."

State Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern refuted that assessment, contending that Brunner will prove to be one of Ohio's most innovative and reliable secretaries of state.

"Every policy initiative she's pushed has been substantive and progressive and, by and large, most voters support them," Redfern said. "Didn't we all long for the day the secretary of state would think big?"

complete article

[We could say [Democrats] spend money like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors. It would be unfair, because the sailors are spending their own money. --Ronald ReaganAl Gore didn't invent the internet, he invented global warmingThe welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants - CamusThe person who advocates government planning of the economy always assumes that it is his plan that will be put into effect. --Hayek]

The article doesn't mention party affiliation...can I assume that he is a Democrat?

Mayor Wilder repays $25,900 for car allowance

Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder's repayment of car allowances -- a total of $25,900 -- has landed.

A check covering the allowances paid to Wilder while he also had access to a city vehicle was received yesterday by the city's finance division, Chief Administrative Officer Sheila Hill-Christian announced in a late-afternoon statement.

The amount represents 37 months of the $700-per-month allowances. Wilder authorized the repayment through his deferred compensation, officials said this week.

Earlier reports had estimated the amount Wilder needed to repay at about $23,000, but city officials had never confirmed that figure.

Wilder's plan to reimburse the city was announced April 14 along with the resignation of Benjamin Johnson as the city's emergency-management director. A recent city audit found that Johnson had received a $500-per-month car allowance in addition to a city vehicle for 34 months.

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-co...04-26-0184.html

[We could say [Democrats] spend money like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors. It would be unfair, because the sailors are spending their own money. --Ronald ReaganAl Gore didn't invent the internet, he invented global warmingThe welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants - CamusThe person who advocates government planning of the economy always assumes that it is his plan that will be put into effect. --Hayek]

Hmmm...paragraph 8 tells you the party...can you guess which one?

Former congressman accused of assault with weapon

By MIKE TOLSON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Local criminal defense attorney and former U.S. Congressman Craig Washington was indicted Thursday on a charge of aggravated assault in connection with a New Year's Day shooting incident outside his law office.

Washington, who was out of town when the indictment was unsealed, is accused of firing at Taylor Brooks, an 18-year-old senior at Cy-Fair High School. Bail was set at $30,000. An initial hearing will be scheduled once Washington surrenders and posts bail.

According to the police report on the incident, Brooks told officers Washington confronted him in the parking lot at the attorney's office in Midtown about 8:30 p.m.

As Brooks tried to drive away, Washington is alleged to have fired at his 2002 Chevrolet Camaro, with three bullets striking the passenger side. Brooks' friend, Evan McAnulty, 18, also was in the car at the time.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5727586.html

[We could say [Democrats] spend money like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors. It would be unfair, because the sailors are spending their own money. --Ronald ReaganAl Gore didn't invent the internet, he invented global warmingThe welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants - CamusThe person who advocates government planning of the economy always assumes that it is his plan that will be put into effect. --Hayek]

Obama doesn't recall '04 Rezko party

—John McCormick
   
The question has lingered since it arose last week during the federal corruption trial of Antoin "Tony" Rezko: Why, just weeks after winning the Democratic U.S. Senate primary in 2004, would Barack Obama attend a party for a controversial Iraqi-born billionaire whom Rezko was trying to lure into an investment?

In an interview Friday, Obama didn't deny the assertion by Stuart Levine, the government's star witness in the Rezko trial, about the party honoring Nadhmi Auchi, a British citizen who is appealing a fraud conviction in France. Obama said he didn't recall the event.

"I mean this has been, I guess, four years ago," he said. "My understanding, through his lawyer, Mr. Auchi doesn't recall meeting me."

Asked if he thought Rezko may have been using him to impress potential investors, Obama replied: "I just don't have a recollection of the event. As I said, I was in the middle of running a U.S. Senate race. So, you know, I was speaking all the time, probably six, seven, eight times a day."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-oba...0,3990713.story

[We could say [Democrats] spend money like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors. It would be unfair, because the sailors are spending their own money. --Ronald ReaganAl Gore didn't invent the internet, he invented global warmingThe welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants - CamusThe person who advocates government planning of the economy always assumes that it is his plan that will be put into effect. --Hayek]

Rep. McDermott pays $1 M to Rep. Boehner in taped call case

By MATTHEW DALY

Associated Press Writer

Rep. Jim McDermott has paid more than $1 million to House Minority Leader John Boehner, ending a decade-long dispute over an illegally taped telephone call.

McDermott, a Seattle Democrat, paid $1,093,297 to the Ohio Republican's campaign committee earlier this month, spokesman for the two men said Monday.

The payment is in addition to $64,000 McDermott paid Boehner in January, as part of court-ordered punitive damages in the long-running case.

A federal judge ordered McDermott to compensate Boehner for attorney's fees after Boehner sued McDermott for leaking the contents of a cell phone call that was illegally recorded in 1996.

A federal court found last year that McDermott had no right to release the call, in which Republican leaders discussed an ethics case against then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.

A Florida couple recorded the cell phone call on a radio scanner and gave the tape to McDermott, who at the time was a senior member of the House ethics committee. McDermott leaked the tape to two newspapers, which published articles on the case in January 1997.

The Supreme Court decided in December not to revisit the case.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/loca...dwritethru.html

[We could say [Democrats] spend money like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors. It would be unfair, because the sailors are spending their own money. --Ronald ReaganAl Gore didn't invent the internet, he invented global warmingThe welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants - CamusThe person who advocates government planning of the economy always assumes that it is his plan that will be put into effect. --Hayek]

Republican blogger has Al Franken's Senate campaign reeling

By PATRICK CONDON

EAGAN, Minn. - Senate candidate Al Franken wants to talk about jobs, health care and global warming. Republican blogger Michael Brodkorb wants to talk about Franken's failure to pay all his income taxes on time.

Guess what everyone is talking about?

From the kitchen table in his tranquil suburban neighborhood, Brodkorb for the last year has used his blog "Minnesota Democrats Exposed" to launch a furious political assault on Franken. He's labeled the former comedian and liberal commentator a "mean-spirited and un-Minnesotan" candidate who's running a "desperate and ridiculous" campaign.

That's routine stuff in the world of political blogging, but in the last two months Brodkorb has scored two direct hits that have the Franken campaign reeling. Brodkorb scooped the traditional media by detailing extensive bookkeeping problems in New York and California that ultimately prompted Franken, this week, to pay about $70,000 in back taxes to 17 states.

The stories have knocked Franken off balance as he prepares to take on Sen. Norm Coleman, in what's expected to be one of the most expensive and toughest-fought U.S. Senate races this year.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080502/ap_on_...e/franken_s_foe

[We could say [Democrats] spend money like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors. It would be unfair, because the sailors are spending their own money. --Ronald ReaganAl Gore didn't invent the internet, he invented global warmingThe welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants - CamusThe person who advocates government planning of the economy always assumes that it is his plan that will be put into effect. --Hayek]

Obama unstained by Chicago Way
The Swamp

by John Kass

Will Barack Obama's presidential candidacy serve his state and city by finally drawing national attention to the sleazy and corrupt politics of Illinois and Chicago?

It is all about context. The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate's politics were born in Chicago. Yet he is presented to the nation as not truly being of this place, as if he floats just above the political corruption here, uninfected, untouched by the stain of it or by any sin of commission or omission. It is all so very mystical.

Perhaps viewing Obama as a Chicago political creature would conflict with the established national media narrative of Obama as a reformer. Actually, there's no "perhaps" about it.

"I think I have done a good job in rising politically in this environment without being entangled in some of the traditional problems of Chicago politics," Obama told reporters and editors at a Tribune editorial board meeting several weeks ago.

Yes, an excellent job. Except for his dalliance with his indicted real estate fairy, Tony Rezko, a relationship Obama considers a mistake, the senator has not played the fly to Mayor Richard Daley's spider. Almost, but not quite.

"I know there are those like John Kass who would like me to decry Chicago politics more frequently, and I'll leave that to his editorial commentary," Obama said.

Not the politics, just the corruption, I said then, wishing silently that he had decried it all, that he'd stood up years ago and pointed to the list of sleazy deals, pointed an angry finger at the Duffs, the white, Outfit-connected drinking buddies of Daley who received $100 million in affirmative action contracts through City Hall.

That's an easy political commercial for the Republicans: Mobbed-up white guys party at the old Como Inn with Daley, and they get $100 million in city affirmative action contracts and Daley doesn't know how it happened and Obama endorses the mayor in the name of reform.

Obama had nothing to do with the Duff deal. But he kept mum.

http://weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/pol...hicago_way.html

[We could say [Democrats] spend money like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors. It would be unfair, because the sailors are spending their own money. --Ronald ReaganAl Gore didn't invent the internet, he invented global warmingThe welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants - CamusThe person who advocates government planning of the economy always assumes that it is his plan that will be put into effect. --Hayek]

Kilpatrick stocks city payroll with friends, kin
Mayor's office defends hires; totals excessive, critics say

BY M.L. ELRICK, JIM SCHAEFER and KRISTI TANNER • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS •

As Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick cut thousands of city jobs, one group has fared well -- the mayor's own friends and family.

A Free Press examination of city records shows that at least 29 people with close connections to the mayor have been appointed by Kilpatrick to city jobs since he took office in 2002. That's a significant departure from Detroit's last three mayors, who appeared to have hired far fewer family members or friends.

Of those with ties to Kilpatrick, at least eight are relatives. The jobs held by friends and family range from secretarial positions to department heads.

Among those Kilpatrick appointed to city jobs are two relatives of Christine Beatty -- the mayor’s former chief of staff with whom he carried on an affair.

Many of these appointees prospered, even in Detroit's bleak economy. On average, longtime appointees within the mayor's office with family or personal connections to the mayor or Beatty saw a 36% salary jump from 2002 to 2007.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...EWS01/805110582

[We could say [Democrats] spend money like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors. It would be unfair, because the sailors are spending their own money. --Ronald ReaganAl Gore didn't invent the internet, he invented global warmingThe welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants - CamusThe person who advocates government planning of the economy always assumes that it is his plan that will be put into effect. --Hayek]

Special House Committee to Begin Hearing on 'Stolen' Vote in 2007
Hoyer to Be a Witness in Case of Disputed Maneuvering

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 13, 2008; A13

Nine months after Democrats allegedly stole a parliamentary vote in the House, the long-running "Select Committee to Investigate the Voting Irregularities of August 2, 2007" will haul House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer to the witness stand today for what Republicans insist will be the Maryland Democrat's comeuppance.

The events of that day have been long forgotten by all but the most partisan of Republicans or the wonkiest of C-SPAN watchers. In the meantime, an investigative committee created to salve wounded feelings in the House has spent nearly half a million dollars, mainly on high-priced K Street lawyers.

For taxpayers wondering what that money has yielded, today could be the payoff -- at least according to Republicans. [Notice liberal media types only complain about the cost of investigations when it involves Democrats]

"Tomorrow's hearing will begin to pull back the curtain on one of the most shameful chapters of this Congress: a stolen vote on the floor of the United States House of Representatives," House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said yesterday.

Republicans say they will present incontrovertible evidence -- in interviews, transcripts and videotape -- of "discrepancies" between Hoyer's account of the events of that day and the explanation of the two other primary witnesses: Rep. Michael R. McNulty (D-N.Y.), who wielded the gavel on the disputed vote, and Catlin O'Neill, a staff member who was helping manage the floor for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

"The chaos of August 2, 2007, was a dark moment in the history of the United States House of Representatives and must never be allowed to happen again," Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.), the investigating committee's senior Republican, will say today, according to an opening statement obtained by The Washington Post. "The imperious actions of the Democratic leadership unduly influenced the chair and undermined the will of the American people."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1202522_pf.html