From the Empire State

From an AP report via Fox News:

New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was arrested Thursday on public corruption charges and accused of using his position as one of the most powerful men in Albany to obtain millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks masked as legitimate income. 

Of course, the fact of interest to me is that it isn't until the TENTH paragraph til you read:

As speaker of the Democrat-controlled Assembly, Silver is one of the most influential people in New York state government.

And, you notice, they never say that he himself is a Democrat.  Just that the assembly is controlled by the Ds and you're left to figure out the rest.

Nice that there's some work against corruption by the US prosecutor.  Bad that there's still journalistic bias from the AP.

But what else would you expect.

Charlie, my boy

Oops....can't use that word "boy".  Might be racist.  Anyhow, we're talking about Charlie Rangel here.  Yep, Mr. Clean.  As you may or may not remember, Charlie was censured by the House of Representatives and stripped of his chairmanship.  So, what did he do?  Yep, just like any self-respecting liberal, he sued.  However, it didn't turn out as he hoped.

A civil lawsuit against members of the House and Congressional staff filed by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) was dismissed by the U.S. District Court of Columbia on Wednesday. Rangel sued House Speaker John Boehner and other House members in April over his 2010 censure in the House of Representatives.

The court granted the dismissal on the first three of those grounds and concluded:

In the end, everything on Rangel’s wish list implicates insurmountable separation-of-powers barriers to the Court’s exercise of authority. This Court is a court of limited jurisdiction under Article III, and Rangel has not properly asserted any claim within the bounds of that jurisdiction. The House has wide discretion to discipline its Members under the Discipline Clause, and this Court may not lightly intrude upon that discretion. Moreover, Members of Congress (along with their aides) are entitled to broad—although not unlimited—immunity under the Speech or Debate Clause. And perhaps most problematic is Rangel’s unprecedented view that this Court may order the House to, in effect, un-censure him. Rangel’s quarrel is with the House, and it must stay there; he may not under these circumstances enlist the Court’s involvement in that quarrel.

Damn.  Some common sense from a federal judge.  Must not have been an Obama appointee.

For those who may want some history, Rangel succeeded Adam Clayton Powell Jr. for his congressional seat.  And old Adam had ethics and corruption issues as well.  Maybe there's something in the water there in Harlem.

H/T to Big Government at Breitbart.

The Chicago Way

In these days of tough economic conditions, it's nice to know that some folks have work.  Take this fine upstanding fellow from Illinois:

Xadrian McCracken may be the poster child of the dysfunction of Illinois government. Fired last year from a state job, McCracken took a senior position in July with the Illinois Department of Corrections, earning $110,000 a year. He secured the position advising on parole policy in spite of a criminal history with "at least" 24 criminal arrests.  

McCracken's criminal history includes arrests for arson, illegal gun possession, attempted robbery, drug possession and aggravated assault. He plead guilty to a weapons charge in 1989 and was found guilty in 1999 for a charge related to domestic battery assault.

He has worked for IL state government since 2000. Prior to that, McCracken had sought to become a Chicago police officer. His application was rejected after a criminal background check. McCracken sued the department, arguing that the background check was racial discrimination.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys threw out McCracken's suit, noting in his ruling that the police background investigation found McCracken to be a known “drug dealer, gang member and supplier of guns to other gang members."

Keys' ruling was in August 2000, the same year McCracken went to work as a child protection worker with the state's Department of Children and Family Services. He has been in and out of state government since then.

Just remember....that's YOUR tax money funding his employment.  And given the lousy state of Illinois finances, you can be sure that federal funds will be there to prop up the corrupt Democratic government.  Word to the wise -- whenever you hear the words "federal funds", that means it's coming from your taxes.  Not some mystical pot of money found in the forest.  And there's no Rumpelstiltskin to spin gold from straw.

But hey...you gotta admit McCracken's got a nice gig at the taxpayer's expense.  After all, that's the Chicago Way.

H/T to Big Government at Breitbart.