Crime, Greed, Money, Corruption: The Gang of Four Starring Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum

Every Tuesday morning, Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., meets with a couple dozen Republican lobbyists. Here is how Nicholas Confessore describes the ritual in the July/August  Washington Monthly:

“[T]he lobbyists present pass around a list of the [lobbying] jobs available and discuss whom to support. Santorum’s responsibility is to make sure each one is filled by a loyal Republican — a Senator’s chief of staff, for instance, or a top White House aide, or another lobbyist whose reliability has been demonstrated. After Santorum settles on a candidate, the lobbyists present make sure it is known whom the Republican leadership favors.”

From a July 13, 2003, Slate Magazine column by Timothy Noah

By Gary P Jackson

With far too many people focused on the horse race and who will “save us” from “The Great Satan” Mitt Romney, one thing is continually overlooked: Just how corrupt Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are. As much hand-wringing that is going on over the possibility of Mitt Romney being the Republican nominee, few are paying attention to the alternatives.

That both Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are Big Government Statists is well documented. So is Newt’s record of selling his soul to anyone with some ready cash, be it Freddy Mac who paid him $1.6 million for “history lessons” or Big Pharma and Big Insurance who paid him $37 million to shill for government mandated health care insurance.

Thing is, Rick Santorum isn’t much better.

Back in 1995 Newt, Santorum, Tom Delay, Dick Armey, and others teamed up with Grover Norquist to create the “K-Street Project,” an effort to get Republicans hired on to top positions in major lobbying firms. In turn these lobbyists would co-ordinate with lawmakers for fun and profit.

This effort was so egregious that in 2007 Congress made the practice illegal.

Santorum was the liaison between Congress and the lobbyists. Rick met weekly with corrupt lobbyists and gave them their marching orders. It was understood that if they didn’t fall in line, precious access to influential members of Congress would be denied.

In addition to this, Santorum took money from a group in Saipan that was involved in the sweatshop business.The Tan Family engaged in many human rights violations, was involved in the illegal sex trade, and forced female workers to have abortions if they wanted to keep their jobs.

That’s pure evil, and Santorum was paid, not just to look the other way, but to help defeat legislation that would have stopped much of this.

Here’s a devastating video that spells it out:

The Gang of Four is a about crime, greed, money, corruption. The power of money. Washington insiders. Influence Peddlers. How the influence of Money influences Washington, Politicians and Congress. Starring Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff. The K Street Project turns corruption into scandal, bribery, money-laundering, fraud. Lobbyist influence politicians and Politicians stacking the lobbying firms with Republican staffers. See how the sweatshops of Saipan are protected when lobbyist use their financial clout to influence Washington politicians, decision-makers in Congress, the House and/or Senate

Sickening. And yet, many voters think one of these two are the answer to our problems. That continually blows my mind.

With all of Santorum’s talk about “family values” and the like on the campaign trail, his disgraceful actions regarding Saipan are unforgivable, and just show what an absolute hypocrite he is.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results.

We keep electing and re-electing the same feckless, corrupt bastards, and we wonder why the United States is on the brink of destruction!

More on Santorum:

Rick Santorum’s integral involvement in the corrupt K-Street Project is nothing less than full-on Crony Capitalism. Santorum enthusiastically kept the revolving door spinning between Lobbyist and Party Loyalists. Again, because this was in the interests of the Republican Party, perhaps the Tea Party will now gladly look the other way. However, it would smack of sell-out hypocrisy for the Tea Party, known for condemning government corruption, to now support one of its most active participants. They might want to question Sen. Santorum on his well-documented participation with, and close ties to, disgraced ex-con lobbyist Jack Abramoff – whose new book, profiled recently on 60 Minutes and The Colbert Report, condemns precisely the process Santorum coordinated for the GOP: facilitating post-Capitol Hill lobbying positions to those holding Congressional office and their staffers.

Crony Capitalism – The K-Street Project

The K Street Project is an effort by the Republican Party  to pressure Washington lobbying firms to hire Republicans in top positions, and to reward loyal GOP lobbyists with access to influential officials. It was launched in 1995 by Republican strategist Grover Norquist and then-House majority whip Tom DeLay. It has been criticized as being part of a “coziness” between the GOP and large corporations which has allegedly allowed business to rewrite government regulations affecting their own industries.

Shortly after the 1994 elections which gave a majority of seats to Republican candidates, DeLay called prominent Washington lobbyists into his office. He had pulled the public records of political contributions that they made to Democrats and Republicans. According to Texans for Public Justice, he reminded them that Republicans were in charge and their political giving had better reflect that—or else. The “or else” was a threat to cut off access to the Republican House leadership.

The project is named for K Street in Washington, D.C., where the largest lobbying firms have their headquarters. Lobbyists are, in some circles, referred to as the “fourth branch of government,” as some have great influence in U.S. national politics due to their monetary resources and the “revolving-door” practice of hiring former government officials. It is widely believed to be common practice for politicians to solicit money from lobbying firms in exchange for better access to officials, especially members of the United States Congress, and to buy favoritism in policies.

Candidates seeking to succeed DeLay as majority leader sought to distance themselves from the project, and as of January 15, 2006, all three announced candidates had vowed to dismantle it and overhaul the lobbying process. The fundamental quid pro quo at the center of the K Street Project — the withholding of policy favors from interest groups and lobbying firms that hire Democrats — is now illegal: the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, Sec 102, bans members of Congress and staffers from using their political power to influence the employment decision of any private entity “on the basis of partisan political affiliation”.

Read even more here.

Some of our readers get upset that we don’t trash Mitt Romney enough for their tastes and have the audacity to point out the sort of lying, corrupt, weasels the other candidates are. I constantly hear from readers who equate fully vetting these bottom feeders to a form of “hate speech.” All I can say is get over it!

The fact is, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are corrupt Washington insiders. Both have a long history of being “team players” when there is cash involved. Both have sold their influence, with Santorum hooking up with some down-right evil sons-a-bitches.

Ron Paul is no prize either, as he is one of the biggest porkers in Congress, collecting earmarks by the millions and feeding them to his cronies. He’s been caught double billing the taxpayers for trips, and other assorted shenanigans.

The bottom line is all three of these candidates, but most especially Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, represent everything that is wrong with American politics. They are the sort that need to be run out of politics forever if our beloved Republic is to survive.

Sadly, far too many people are willing to give these corrupt bastards a pass. Far too many are willing to look the other way, just as Santorum did when it came to the women of Saipan. What I want to know is why?

How could anyone who wants a better America support any of them?

America not only deserves better, it must have better, or it’s all over.

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