More on Jerry Lewis, CA-41

by Duckman GR

As further illustration of why lewis needs to go, I present some articles from the Victorville Daily Press, starting with this call for him to go.

According to the [San Diego] Union editorial, "A Dec. 23 Copley News Service story detailed the extraordinarily close ties between Lewis and lobbyist Bill Lowery, whose clients — with Lewis' help — have won hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for dubious projects. In return, Lowery, his partners and his clients donated 37 percent of the $1.3 million given to Lewis' political action committee from 1999 to 2005."

What does Jerry Lewis need with $1.3 million? Certainly it's not to achieve re-election. A campaign war chest of, oh, $10,000 or so would suffice in a district where Lewis has never won less than 60 percent of the vote. [...]

Has the time come for Jerry Lewis, now that his disdain for conservative principles has been revealed through actions that seem motivated more by a desire for political gain than by any thought of what's good for not only his district but the country at large, to call it quits? Has Lord Acton's dictum that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, infected a career that's lasted for 28 years?

More corruption below the fold.

Hey, here’s another one on his corruption, or maybe his corruptibility. Actually, it seems quintessential to his standing, as open for business.

On July 7, Cerberus executives held a fundraiser for Lewis in New York. Company officers, spouses, and associates gave Lewis' political action committee, the Future Leaders PAC, nearly $133,000 that night and in the following weeks.

[…]

The day after the fundraiser, the House passed Lewis' defense spending bill that preserved funding for the Navy project. [...]

Lewis, meanwhile, was preparing his bid to become House Appropriations Committee chairman - a contest in which fundraising is key. Lewis' Future Leaders PAC gave $407,000 to 69 House candidates in the 2004 election. The Cerberus-related money amounted to nearly a third of that amount.

Lewis told USA Today that Cerberus' fundraising "played a very significant role" in the fact he won the post a year ago.

So he’s a made Cerebus Man now, isn’t he? And what has he done for his district? I noted the underaverage figures in my post yesterday for a couple of basic economic measures, well, here's some more.

County and local officials reacted with disappointment to President Bush's signing of a $286.4 billion transportation bill that was expected to give San Bernardino County $225 million and it only amounted to a total of $31 million.

Something that benefits everyone, that gets cut, but the defense contractors, they get taken care of, don’t you worry. Oh, and Lewis still gets a street named after him, like it or not. Sweet.

I bring this up because I’m still bothered by that post over at MyDD about whether Dems should be running against gopper corruption or not.

Jeebus, their corruption is intrinsic to what they are, and why they are so bad for this country, and to run away from that is as foolish as running away from their failed invasion and occupation of Iraq.